Package

A package is a standard format for the distribution, installation, and maintenance of software.

Parent Directory

A parent directory is a directory that contains other directories. For example, the /export directory is the parent directory of /home.

Partition

A partition is a logical subdivision of a physical disk drive that is treated as an individual device. A partition consists of a range of physical disk cylinders. Partitions are defined in the disk label. Partitions may contain file systems or may be treated as raw devices (for example, swap).

Password

A password is a mechanism for protecting your system from unauthorized access by others.

Password Aging

Password aging may be used to force users to change their password at regular intervals.

Peripheral Device

A peripheral device is a piece of hardware, such as a mouse or a printer, that performs a specific function and is connected to a workstation.

Permissions

Permissions are attributes of a file or directory which specifies who has read, write, or execution access.

ping

ping is a command which requests a response from a specified host. ping uses the Internet control message protocol (ICMP) ECHO_REQUEST datagram to elicit an ICMP ECHO_RESPONSE from the specified host or network gateway. If the host responds, ping will display the message host is alive. Otherwise after the default timeout of 20 seconds, it will display the message no answer from host. When using ping for fault isolation, first communicate with the local host to verify that the local network interface is running.

Plain File

A plain file is a file containing data. The data may be text or other content.

Port

A port is a pathway used to connect communications on a computer. A port can be made up of both hardware (pins and connectors) and software (device driver). Types of ports include serial, parallel, small computer system interface (SCSI), network, and Ethernet.

Port Monitors

A port monitor continuously "listens" for requests on a port, such as login or local/remote print requests.

POSIX

POSIX (Portable Operating Systems Interface ) is a standard developed and being developed by individuals from companies throughout the industry. Largely based on the System V Interface, the original standard was adopted in 1988.

Adopted POSIX Standards

  • POSIX.1 - Base system interfaces for C programs. Adopted 1988, revised 1990.
  • POSIX.2 - Shell and Utilities, including interactive utilities and a few C interfaces. Adopted 1992.
  • POSIX.3 - Test methods for measuring conformance to POSIX. Adopted 1991.
  • POSIX.3.1 - Test methods (assertions) for measuring conformance to POSIX.1. Adopted 1993.
  • POSIX.4 - Real time extensions to POSIX.1. Adopted 1993.
  • POSIX.5 - Ada language binding to POSIX.1. Describes the same functionality as POSIX.1, accessible from Ada programs. Adopted 1992.
  • POSIX.9 - FORTRAN77 language binding to POSIX.1. Describes the same functionality as POSIX.1, accessible from FORTRAN77 programs. Adopted 1992.

POST

POST (Power-On Self-Tests) is a series of diagnostic checks run by the hardware each time the system is powered on.

PostScript

PostScriptTM is a page description language published by Adobe Systems, Incorporated. PostScript describes the appearance of text and graphics on printed pages. The best-known page-description language, PostScript uses English-like commands to control page layout and to load and scale outline fonts.

Prestoserve

The Prestoserve product is a combination of the Prestoserve NVRAM hardware and the Prestoserve software. Prestoserve improves disk I/O performance by caching synchronous disk writes.

Primary Group

All users belong to at least one group, their primary group. The primary group is identified by the group field of the user account stored in the /etc/passwd file. The primary group is the group ID stamped on a file when a file is created.

Primary Memory

Primary memory is another term for random access memory (RAM), which is the main computer memory.

Printer

A printer is a peripheral device that receives formatted input and produces hardcopy output (typically on paper or transparency film).

Printer Client

A printer client is a system that is using a printer attached to a different system (the printer server).

Printer Name

Printer names are character names used to identify printers. A printer name cannot be more than 14 characters in length. This name should be the same as the printer name on the printer server.

Printer Port

The printer port is the serial port to which the printer is connected - usually A or B. Refer to the label on the system where the cable is plugged.

Printer Server

A print server is a system to which a printer is directly connected. A print server can handle requests from one or more printer clients.

Printer Type

The printer type is used to identify control sequences needed to initialize a local printer or to apply special filters if necessary. An example of printer type is PostScript, a translation language.

Product Box

Product box refers to the specific product options that were purchased and are to be installed. The installer needs to register what product was purchased and select only those options or packages that the product contains.

profile

The $HOME/.profile file is an initialization file that is executed after the /etc/profile when logging in to the Bourne or Korn shell. The file contains user preferences for variable settings. If the ENV variable is set to .kshrc file will execute every time a new shell begins execution. The $HOME/.profile is copied from the /etc/skel/local.profile file by admintool when creating a new account.

PROM

Programmable read-only memory (PROM) is a chip containing permanent, nonvolatile memory and a limited set of commands used to test the system and start the boot process.