Glossary

object

1. A data structure that implements some feature and has an associated set of operations.

2. RPC: For RPC applications, an object can be anything that an RPC server defines and identifies to its clients (using an object UUID). Often, an RPC object is a physical computing resource such as a database, directory, device, or processor. Alternatively, an RPC object can be an abstraction that is meaningful to an application, such as a service or the location of a server. See also object UUID.

3. XDS: Anything in some "world," generally the world of telecommunications and information processing or some part thereof, that is identifiable (can be named) and for which the DIB contains some information.

4. XOM: Any of the complex information objects created, examined, modified, or destroyed by means of the interface.

5. DFS: A file or directory in a file system. Directories can be further classified as container objects.

object class

CDS, GDS: An identified family of objects that share certain characteristics. An object class can be specific to one application or shared among a group of applications. An application interprets and uses an entry's class-specific attributes based on the class of the object that the entry describes.

Object Class Table (OCT)

A recurring attribute of the directory schema with the description of the object classes permitted.

object entry

CDS: The name of a resource (such as a node, disk, or application) and its associated attributes, as stored by CDS. CDS managers, client application users, or the client applications themselves can give a resource an object name. CDS supplies some attribute information (such as a creation timestamp) to become part of the object, and the client application can supply more information for CDS to store as other attributes. See also entry.

object identifier

A value (distinguishable from all other such values) that is associated with an information object (X.208).

object management

The creation, examination, modification, and deletion of potentially complex information objects.

object name

A CDS name for a network resource.

object UUID

RPC: The universal unique identifier that identifies a particular RPC object. A server specifies a distinct object UUID for each of its RPC objects; to access a particular RPC object, a client uses the object UUID to find the server that offers the object. See also object, Universal Unique Identifier.

OCT

See Object Class Table.

octet

An 8-bit quantity of data.

OM

See XOM.

OM attribute

An OM attribute comprises one or more values of a particular type (and therefore syntax).

OM class

A static grouping of OM objects, within a specification, based on both their semantics and their form.

opaque

A piece of data or a data type whose contents are not visible to the application routines that use it.

opaque structure

A data item or data type whose structure is hidden from the code that is handling it.

Open Systems Interconnection (OSI)

The interconnection of open systems in accordance with ISO standards.

open token

DFS: A token that grants the right to open a file. The types of tokens available are as follows: normal reading, normal writing, executing, shared reading, and exclusive writing. See also token.

operation

A set of step-by-step actions specified by a procedure, function, or routine.

RPC: The task performed by a given routine or procedure.

GDS: Processing performed within the directory to provide a service, such as a read operation. It is given some arguments as input, performs some processing, and returns some results. An application process invokes an operation by calling an interface function.

organization

Data that associates a named set of users who can be granted common access rights that are usually associated with administrative policy. Also, the third field of a subject identifier.

orphaned call

RPC: A call executing in an RPC server after the client that started the call fails or loses communications with the server.

OSI

See Open Systems Interconnection.

Glossary