Sun Microsystems 96257 manual C-86, Sun Confidential Internal Only, Revision A

asynchronous. Not synchronized; not occurring at regu- lar, predetermined intervals. Asynchronous transmis- sions send one data character at a time, at irregular in- tervals, rather than in one steady stream; a start bit and a stop bit notify the receiver when the transmission begins and ends. Contrast with synchronous.

ATA. Advanced Technology Attachment. Official name for the disk drive interface standard commonly known as Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE).

ATM. Asynchronous transfer mode. A networked tech- nology based on transferring data cells or packets of a fixed size.

attenuation. (1) The tendency for a signal to become weaker and more distorted as its transmission distance increases. (2) The loss or reduction of signal magnitude, normally measured in decibels (dB).

AVMn. VTSS volatile memory storage cards; AVM4 cards have 4 MB capacity; AVM16 cards 16 MB.

B

back-end storage. The data storage portion of a stor- age subsystem. In VTSS, the disk arrays.

background. A mode of operation where tasks are per- formed on a low-priority basis to minimize the impact on overall system performance. Contrast with foreground.

backup. The process of producing a copy of a data set for purposes of possible future recovery. Although tape is the most common storage medium for backups, disk is equally usable, although more expensive.

bandwidth. The amount of data that can be sent through a network connection, measured in bits per second (bps). High bandwidth allows fast transmission or high- volume transmission.

base memory. Solid state memory in a controller that stores the functional track directory (FTD) and other in- ternal tables required for subsystem operations. Base memory is not part of user-available cache.

battery backup unit (BBU). A system of batteries that automatically supplies power to nonvolatile storage if AC power is disrupted, to protect nonvolatile cache data. A VTSS battery backup system has redundant batteries that provide at least 72 hours of backup power.

battery charger unit (BCU). A VTSS device that contin- uously charge a battery used to provide backup power.

baud rate. The transmission rate of a serial data stream over communications lines, most often (but not always) measured in bits per second (bps). Baud is a measure of the number of signal-state changes per second; for ex- ample, voltage or frequency changes.

BBU. See battery backup unit.

BCU. See battery charger unit.

BER. Bit error rate.

beta test. The second test phase for new software (after Alpha testing), wherein software is made available to us- ers who evaluate it in what is expected to be typical op- erating conditions.

binary. A numbering system which has 2 as its base and uses 0s and 1s for its notation. Binary code is used by computers because it works well with digital electronics and Boolean algebra. In binary (base 2) numbering, the number one is written as 1, the number two is written as 10, and the numbers three to ten are written as 11, 100, 101, 110, 111, 1000, 1001, 1010, etc.

bit. A binary digit of 0 or 1; a unit of computer information equivalent to the result of a choice between two alterna- tives (yes/no, on/off, etc.). Contrast with gigabit, kilobit, megabit.

block. Also called a packet. (1) A contiguous section of bits considered as a whole, especially in memory. On a disk, a block is the data in one sector; in a modem data transfer, a block is the bits between checksums. (2) A group of bits transmitted as a unit and treated as a unit of information; usually consists of its own starting and end- ing control delimiter, a header, text to be transmitted, and check characters at the end used for error correction. Block sizes are usually a multiple of 512 bytes.

BOM. Bill of material.

bps. Bits per second. The number of bits of data that can be transmitted in one second.

Bps. Bytes per second. The number of bytes of data that can be transmitted in one second.

browser. A text- or graphic-based client program, such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer, that allows users to read hypertext documents on the World Wide Web, and navigate between them.

buffered subsystem. A storage subsystem that pro- vides separation between front- and back-end opera- tions so data transfer synchronization is not required.

bus. A parallel electrical pathway, usually part of a circuit board, that both connects and is shared by the parts of a computer system (CPU, support circuitry, memory, cards, etc.). Typically, the lines in a bus are dedicated to specific functions, such as control, addressing, and data transfer.

byte. A group of adjacent binary digits (bits) that a com- puter processes as a single unit, or ‘word.’ Frequently written as an eight-digit binary number or two-digit hexa- decimal number. One letter of the alphabet in ASCII code takes one byte. Contrast with gigabyte, kilobyte, megabyte.

C

CAB. Customer Advisory Board. At Sun StorageTek, a group of customers who advise a corporate design team about the features and functionality they would like to have engineered into upcoming products.

cache. A block of memory that temporarily collects and retains data before it is sent to a host or destaged to back-end disk arrays, allowing quicker retrieval of fre- quently-used data to improve overall system perfor- mance. In VSM, all data is accessed through cache.

cache fast write (CFW). In VTSS, a write command function wherein host data is written directly to volatile cache memory without using nonvolatile storage (NVS), and then is subsequently scheduled for destaging to back-end disk arrays.

CAM. Central Archive Manager.

CAP. Cartridge access port of a Sun StorageTek library unit.

CBT. Computer-based training.

CCR. Channel command retry. A channel procedure, ini- tiated by a controller, that causes a channel command to be repeated without breaking the command chain.

CCW. Channel command word. CD-R. Compact Disc-Recordable.

C-86	Sun Confidential: Internal Only	96257
	Revision A