Glossary

access control entry (ACE)

An entry in an object's discretionary access control list (DACL) that grants permissions to a user or group. An ACE is also an entry in an object's system access control list (SACL) that specifies the security events to be audited for a user or group.

access mask

A 32-bit value that specifies the rights that are allowed or denied in an access control entry (ACE) of an access control list (ACL). An access mask is also used to request access rights when an object is opened.

ACL

See other term: access control list (ACL)

action table

A set of rules, stored as an ADO Recordset, that define how workflow items can change state. Each row in an action table represents a possible state transition in the workflow.

Active Directory Connector (ADC)

An Active Directory synchronization agent that provides an automated way of keeping directory information consistent between directories.

Active Directory Service Interfaces (ADSI)

A directory service model and a set of Component Object Model (COM) interfaces. ADSI enables Windows applications and Active Directory clients to access several network directory services, including Active Directory. ADSI is supplied as a software development kit (SDK).

ADC

See other term: Active Directory Connector (ADC)

appointment

A calendar item in the Exchange store. Appointments do not include other people or resources.

attendee

A person invited to attend a meeting or appointment. An attendee can accept, decline, or ignore a meeting request. Represented by the Collaboration Data Objects (CDO) Attendee object.

calendar item

An item in the Exchange store. A calendar item can represent an appointment, a meeting, a meeting request, or an event. It can identify the place, resources, recurrence, and attendees involved at a discrete time.

class identifier (CLSID)

A universally unique identifier (UUID) that identifies a type of COM object. Each type of COM object item has its CLSID in the registry so that it can be loaded and used by other applications. For example, a spreadsheet may create worksheet items, chart items, and macrosheet items. Each of these item types has its own CLSID that uniquely identifies it to the system.

Collaboration Data Objects (CDO)

An application programming interface that allows users and applications high-level access to data objects in Exchange. CDO defines the concept of different object classes, including messages, posts, appointments, and tasks.

contact item

An item that represents a contact in the Exchange store.

content class

A name identifying the intent or purpose of an item. Content class determines which Exchange store schema properties are associated with a resource when it is created.

DACL

See Other Term: discretionary access control list (DACL)

dispatch ID

A 32-bit integer that identifies a property set.

distinguished name

A name that uniquely identifies an object by using the relative distinguished name for the object, plus the names of container objects and domains that contain the object. The distinguished name identifies the object as well as its location in a tree. Every object in Active Directory has a distinguished name. A typical distinguished name might be CN=MyName,CN=Users,DC=Microsoft,DC=Com. This identifies the MyName user object in the microsoft.com domain.

Document Object Model (DOM)

A World Wide Web Consortium specification that describes the structure of dynamic HTML and XML documents in a way that allows them to be manipulated through a Web browser.

dynamic-link library (DLL)

An operating system feature that allows executable routines (generally serving a specific function or set of functions) to be stored separately as files with .dll extensions. These routines are loaded only when needed by the program that calls them.

event registration

An item that resides in a folder that uses an event sink. The item provides the store with information that includes what events will trigger the sink, the name of the sink, and options such as restrictions for when the event will fire. The event registration item can be created with either Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects or with a special script tool that can be used in batch files known as RegEvent.

event sink

Code that gets activated through a defined trigger, such as the receipt of a new message. The code is normally written in any COM-compatible programming language, such as Microsoft Visual Basic; Microsoft Visual Basic, Scripting Edition; JScript; and C/C++. Exchange supports transport, protocol, and store event sinks. Event sinks on the store can be synchronous (code executes as the event is triggered) or asynchronous (code executes sometime after the event).

Exchange store

A storage platform that provides a single repository for managing multiple types of unstructured information in one infrastructure. The Exchange store combines the features and functionality of the file system, the Web, and a collaboration server (such as Microsoft Exchange) through a single, URL-addressable location for storing, accessing, and managing information, as well as building and running applications. The Exchange store is also known as the Web Storage System.

folder tree

A hierarchy of folders in the Exchange store very similar in structure to the standard file system. A single folder can contain child folders, which, in turn, can contain other child folders.

GAL

See Other Term: Global Address List (GAL)

Global Address List (GAL)

A list of users and other objects in a directory that contains information about those users and objects. In a hosting (shared) environment, the customer GAL is a list of objects that a customer is allowed to see. Permissions can be set on GALs so that certain customer data is isolated from other customers in a shared environment.

hard delete

The process of permanently removing an item from the store or moving it to the dumpster when dumpster functionality is enabled. The dumpster is enabled/disabled by means of a registry setting on the computer running Exchange.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)

An Internet standard protocol that lets Web browsers like Microsoft Internet Explorer access Exchange stores. WebDAV is an extension to HTTP that you can use to build applications that are writable instead of just read-only.

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)

The standard Internet protocol used for directory access. LDAP is the wire protocol used to conduct conversations between a client application and Active Directory across a network. An LDAP application can access any directory service that exposes an LDAP protocol.

mail-enabled object

A type of object that has an e-mail address on a domain in the organization, but the object does not have a mailbox in the domain at which to receive messages. The object appears in the global address list, which allows other people in the organization to easily locate or send a message to that person, but the administrator does not need to manage an unnecessary mailbox. Contacts, users, and even folders can be mail-enabled.

meeting

A calendar item that includes reserved resources and/or invited attendees.

message transfer envelope (MTE)

A MAPI message that holds the delivery information for a message. The MTE includes the addressing properties for each recipient, header information such as the sender and subject, and specifications for responding and exception handling. It encloses another MAPI message that contains the contents of the message to be delivered. MTEs are only created in gateway folders. In contrast, regular user folders contain the message contents only.

Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI)

A messaging architecture that enables multiple applications to interact with different messaging systems across a variety of hardware platforms. MAPI is built on the Component Object Model (COM) architecture.

MIME

See Other Term: Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME)

MTE

See Other Term: message transfer envelope (MTE)

Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME)

A set of Internet Requests for Comment (RFCs) that define the format of messages to allow for textual message bodies, an extensible set of different formats for non-textual message bodies, multi-part message bodies, and textual header information in character sets other than US-ASCII. MIME is defined in RFCs 2045, 2046, 2047, 2048 and 2049.

Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP)

A member of the TCP/IP suite of protocols used to distribute network news messages to NNTP servers and clients (newsreaders) on the Internet. NNTP is designed so that news articles are stored on a server in a central database, thus enabling a user to select specific items to read.

OAB

See Other Term: offline address book (OAB)

one-off

Something that happens only once, or which is instantiated only once.

Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3)

An Internet standard protocol that allows a user to download e-mail from his or her Inbox on a server to the client computer where messages are managed. This protocol works well for computers that are unable to maintain a continuous connection to a server.

property name

A string value that is used to identify a named property within a given property set. Note that property names and property IDs are mutually exclusive.

property tag

A 32-bit value that represents a property in the store. Property tags can have reserved and custom ranges.

recipient policy

A policy that is applied to mail-enabled objects to generate e-mail addresses. Recipient policies can be defined to apply to thousands of users, groups, and contacts in Microsoft Active Directory by using a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) query interface in a single operation.

relative URL

A form of URL in which the protocol, domain, and some or all directory names are omitted.

resource

Anything placed in the Exchange store. A resource can be an e-mail message, an appointment, another folder, a Web page, or any structured document, such as a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

Secure Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIE)

An extension of MIME that supports secure mail. It enables message originators to digitally sign e-mail messages to provide evidence of message origin and to ensure data integrity. It also enables messages to be transmitted in encrypted format to provide confidential communications.

security identifier (SID)

In Windows-based systems, a unique value that identifies a user, group, or computer account within an enterprise. Every account is issued a SID when it is created.

SID

See Other Term: security identifier (SID)

SMTP

See Other Term: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)

soft delete

The process of moving an item to the Deleted Items folder.

storage group

A collection of mailbox stores and public folder stores that share a set of transaction log files. Exchange manages each storage group with a separate server process.

synchronous events

Events that fire immediately before an item is committed to the Exchange store. These events block the Exchange store thread until the event thread has finished executing. While executing, a synchronous event has exclusive control over the item that triggered the event. No other process or request can access the item until the event sink is finished executing.

system events

Events that are not tied to any particular item or folder in the Exchange store. Instead, they are associated with general actions such as the starting of a database or the system clock reaching a certain time. Within their context, they behave as asynchronous events and do not fire until after the Exchange store has completed the action triggering the event.

UTC

See Other Term: coordinated universal time (UTC)

virtual directory

A name used to access the contents of any Exchange store using a Web browser. The virtual directory name is used to open a mailbox as well as browse the folders of a public store. This name is also used in URLs using the Microsoft Internet Publishing Provider (MSDAIPP), which includes both hyperlinks in Web pages as well as Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects client-side code.

Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV)

An extension of Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) 1.1 that allows clients to perform remote Web content authoring. Content that is stored on a server can be accessed by a client through HTTP by using WebDAV extensions. The client can perform tasks provided by HTTP, including reading e-mail and documents. If the client also supports WebDAV, the client can manipulate mail, change calendar appointments, modify and create new documents on the Exchange server, and create Web-based forms. WebDAV uses Extensible Markup Language (XML) as the format for transmitting data elements.

Web services

A software application identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), the interfaces and binding of which are capable of being defined, described, and discovered by XML artifacts and which supports direct interactions with other software applications that are using XML-based messages by means of Internet-based protocols.

WebDAV

See Other Term: Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV)

workflow

Server-side logic that you can use to route items in a folder from one user to another and enforce and track an item throughout its lifetime.

X.400

An international messaging standard that can be used by a variety of messaging systems. X.400 uses a strict addressing method that reflects a hierarchical environment. The use of X.400 has been largely supplanted by the combination of SMTP and MIME.