1.1 Glossary
This document uses the following terms:
activation: In COM, a local mechanism by which a client provides the CLSID of an object class and obtains an object, either an object from that object class or a class factory that is able to create such objects.
atomic transaction: A shared activity that provides mechanisms for achieving the atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability (ACID) properties when state changes occur inside participating resource managers.
authentication level: A numeric value indicating the level of authentication or message protection that remote procedure call (RPC) will apply to a specific message exchange. For more information, see [C706] section 13.1.2.1 and [MS-RPCE].
bitness: The distinction between 32-bit and 64-bit address spaces, and the potential differences in instantiation of components that this entails.
catalog: A data store that holds the configuration properties for components and conglomerations.
class identifier (CLSID): A GUID that identifies a software component; for instance, a DCOM object class or a COM class.
component: A representation of a constituent transport address if a candidate consists of a set of transport addresses. For example, media streams that are based on the Real-Time Transfer Protocol (RTP) have two components, one for RTP and another for the Real-Time Transfer Control Protocol (RTCP).
component configuration: A particular component configuration.
component configuration entry: An entry in the catalog that represents a particular configuration of a component.
component full configuration entry: A type of component configuration entry that supports configuration of the full set of services provided by an Object Request Broker (ORB), and to which the configuration properties of its containing conglomeration fully apply.
component instance: An instantiation of a component.
component legacy configuration entry: A type of component configuration entry that supports configuration of only a small subset of the services provided by an Object Request Broker (ORB), and to which only a subset of its containing conglomeration's configuration properties apply. Component legacy configuration entries are typically used to configure components that, for technical reasons, do not support component full configuration entries.
computer name: The DNS or NetBIOS name.
configured interface: A set of methods that is supported by a component with a component full configuration entry, for which configuration at the interface level is supported.
configured method: A method in a configured interface that supports configuration at the method level.
configured proxy: A preferred client configuration for a component or conglomeration that is provided by another Object Request Broker (ORB).
conglomeration: A collection of component configuration entries, together with a component-independent configuration that is conceptually shared by the component configuration entries. A conglomeration is identified by a conglomeration identifier.
conglomeration identifier: A GUID that identifies a conglomeration.
container identifier: A GUID that identifies an instance container.
container pooling: Enabling a conglomeration to support multiple concurrent instance containers.
directory: The database that stores information about objects such as users, groups, computers, printers, and the directory service that makes this information available to users and applications.
dynamic endpoint: A network-specific server address that is requested and assigned at run time. For more information, see [C706].
endpoint: In the context of a web service, a network target to which a SOAP message can be addressed. See [WSADDR].
event: A discrete unit of historical data that an application exposes that may be relevant to other applications. An example of an event would be a particular user logging on to the computer.
event class: A collection of events that are grouped together based on criteria that the publishing application specifies.
export: The process of creating an installer package file for a conglomeration or partition on a COMA server, so that it can be imported onto another server.
global partition: The default, required partition on a COMA server.
globally unique identifier (GUID): A term used interchangeably with universally unique identifier (UUID) in Microsoft protocol technical documents (TDs). Interchanging the usage of these terms does not imply or require a specific algorithm or mechanism to generate the value. Specifically, the use of this term does not imply or require that the algorithms described in [RFC4122] or [C706] must be used for generating the GUID. See also universally unique identifier (UUID).
GUID_NULL: A GUID that has the value "{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}".
import: The process of creating a conglomeration or partition on a COMA server based on modules and configurations extracted from an installer package file.
installer package file: A file that packages together modules and configuration states sufficient to create a conglomeration or partition on a server.
Instance container: A container for the instantiation of components that are configured in a single conglomeration.
instance load balancing: The process of automatically distributing instantiation of components across instance containers on multiple servers, according to run-time information, such as the comparative load on each server.
instance load balancing router: An ORB that performs instance load balancing.
instance load balancing target: A machine that participates in instance load balancing as a target for component instantiation.
instance pooling: The act of enabling component instances that are no longer active to return to a pool for reuse.
interface: A specification in a Component Object Model (COM) server that describes how to access the methods of a class. For more information, see [MS-DCOM].
Interface Definition Language (IDL): The International Standards Organization (ISO) standard language for specifying the interface for remote procedure calls. For more information, see [C706] section 4.
IPv4 address in string format: A string representation of an IPv4 address in dotted-decimal notation, as described in [RFC1123] section 2.1.
IPv6 address in string format: A string representation of an IPv6 address, as described in [RFC4291] section 2.2.
little-endian: Multiple-byte values that are byte-ordered with the least significant byte stored in the memory location with the lowest address.
module: A file used by a server to register and instantiate one or more components. It contains either implementations of the components or metadata that a server can use to find implementations.
Object Request Broker (ORB): A set of mechanisms that collectively enable local or remote clients to create instances of software components, and to invoke operations on these instances.
opnum: An operation number or numeric identifier that is used to identify a specific remote procedure call (RPC) method or a method in an interface. For more information, see [C706] section 12.5.2.12 or [MS-RPCE].
partition: A container for conglomerations. Every COMA server has at least one partition--the Global Partition--and may have additional partitions. A partition is identified by a partition identifier.
partition identifier: A GUID that identifies a partition.
paused: A service that is not available because it has been placed in a suspended state, usually as a result of explicit administrative action.
pausing: Temporarily disabling the creation of new component instances in an instance container.
process: A context in which an instance container can be created, consisting of one or more threads of execution with a shared memory address space and shared security properties. A process is identified by a process identifier.
protected conglomeration: A conglomeration for which configuration changes are permanently disabled; for example, because modifying the configuration would impact system-wide stability.
publisher: An application that needs to publish historical data that may be of interest to other applications.
publisher-subscriber framework: An application framework that allows applications to expose historical data to other applications that might receive this data.
queue listener: A conceptual service that waits for queued messages for one or more components on an ORB that enables queuing.
queuing: A transport protocol stack that consists of an asynchronous remote procedure call protocol layered over a reliable messaging protocol.
recycling: To permanently disable the creation of new component instances in an instance container.
registration: The process of making components known to a server so that they will be represented in the catalog and can be configured.
remote procedure call (RPC): A communication protocol used primarily between client and server. The term has three definitions that are often used interchangeably: a runtime environment providing for communication facilities between computers (the RPC runtime); a set of request-and-response message exchanges between computers (the RPC exchange); and the single message from an RPC exchange (the RPC message). For more information, see [C706].
replication: An administration scenario in which a replication client application automatically copies multiple conglomerations from a replication source to one or more replication targets.
replication client application: A client application that provides automatic copying of conglomerations between COMA servers, typically using COMA export and import functionality.
replication source: A COMA server whose catalog contains conglomerations to be copied.
replication target: A COMA server whose catalog is to contain the copied conglomerations after replication is performed.
role: A set of role members that represents authorization for a set of operations that is supported by a conglomeration. A role is identified by a role name.
role member: A predicate indicating that a particular user account belongs to a role.
role name: A string that identifies a role within a conglomeration.
RPC protocol sequence: A character string that represents a valid combination of a remote procedure call (RPC) protocol, a network layer protocol, and a transport layer protocol, as described in [C706] and [MS-RPCE].
security descriptor: A data structure containing the security information associated with a securable object. A security descriptor identifies an object's owner by its security identifier (SID). If access control is configured for the object, its security descriptor contains a discretionary access control list (DACL) with SIDs for the security principals who are allowed or denied access. Applications use this structure to set and query an object's security status. The security descriptor is used to guard access to an object as well as to control which type of auditing takes place when the object is accessed. The security descriptor format is specified in [MS-DTYP] section 2.4.6; a string representation of security descriptors, called SDDL, is specified in [MS-DTYP] section 2.5.1.
security principal: A unique entity that is identifiable through cryptographic means by at least one key. It frequently corresponds to a human user, but also can be a service that offers a resource to other security principals. Also referred to as principal.
security principal name (SPN): The name that identifies a security principal (for example, machinename$@domainname for a machine joined to a domain or username@domainname for a user). Domainname is resolved using the Domain Name System (DNS).
share: A resource offered by a Common Internet File System (CIFS) server for access by CIFS clients over the network. A share typically represents a directory tree and its included files (referred to commonly as a "disk share" or "file share") or a printer (a "print share"). If the information about the share is saved in persistent store (for example, Windows registry) and reloaded when a file server is restarted, then the share is referred to as a "sticky share". Some share names are reserved for specific functions and are referred to as special shares: IPC$, reserved for interprocess communication, ADMIN$, reserved for remote administration, and A$, B$, C$ (and other local disk names followed by a dollar sign), assigned to local disk devices.
subscriber: An application that needs to receive events that are published by another application.
subscription: A registration performed by a subscriber to specify a requirement to receive events, future messages, or historical data.
target Object Request Broker (target ORB): The ORB for which a COMA server manages configuration.
trust: To accept another authority's statements for the purposes of authentication and authorization, especially in the case of a relationship between two domains. If domain A trusts domain B, domain A accepts domain B's authentication and authorization statements for principals represented by security principal objects in domain B; for example, the list of groups to which a particular user belongs. As a noun, a trust is the relationship between two domains described in the previous sentence.
trust level: A numerical value used to determine the degree of trust associated with a component.
unconfigured component: A component that has no component configuration entries.
Uniform Resource Locator (URL): A string of characters in a standardized format that identifies a document or resource on the World Wide Web. The format is as specified in [RFC1738].
Universal Naming Convention (UNC): A string format that specifies the location of a resource. For more information, see [MS-DTYP] section 2.2.57.
universally unique identifier (UUID): A 128-bit value. UUIDs can be used for multiple purposes, from tagging objects with an extremely short lifetime, to reliably identifying very persistent objects in cross-process communication such as client and server interfaces, manager entry-point vectors, and RPC objects. UUIDs are highly likely to be unique. UUIDs are also known as globally unique identifiers (GUIDs) and these terms are used interchangeably in the Microsoft protocol technical documents (TDs). Interchanging the usage of these terms does not imply or require a specific algorithm or mechanism to generate the UUID. Specifically, the use of this term does not imply or require that the algorithms described in [RFC4122] or [C706] must be used for generating the UUID.
MAY, SHOULD, MUST, SHOULD NOT, MUST NOT: These terms (in all caps) are used as defined in [RFC2119]. All statements of optional behavior use either MAY, SHOULD, or SHOULD NOT.