Exploring Storage Management Efficiencies and Provisioning - Understanding IBM TotalStorage Productivity Center and IBM TotalStorage Productivity Center with Advanced Provisioning

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Glossary

A

Agent A software entity that runs on

endpoints and provides management

capability for other hardware or software. An

example is an SNMP agent. An agent has the

ability to spawn other processes.

AL See arbitrated loop.

Allocated storage The space that is

allocated to volumes, but not assigned.

Allocation The entire process of obtaining a

volume and unit of external storage, and

setting aside space on that storage for a data

set.

Arbitrated loop A Fibre Channel

interconnection technology that allows up to

126 participating node ports and one

participating fabric port to communicate. See

also Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop and loop

topology.

Array An arrangement of related disk drive

modules that have been assigned to a group.

B

Bandwidth A measure of the data transfer

rate of a transmission channel.

Bridge Facilitates communication with LANs,

SANs, and networks with dissimilar protocols.

C

CIM Common Information Model.

CIM agent The code that is composed of

common building blocks that can be used

instead of proprietary software or

device-specific programming interfaces to

manage CIM-compliant devices. A CIM agent

is made up of the following components: agent

code, a CIM object manager (CIMOM), client

application device, device provider, and

Service Location Protocol.

CIM object manager (CIMOM) The common

conceptual framework for data management

that receives, validates, and authenticates the

CIM requests from the client application. It

then directs the requests to the appropriate

component or service provider.

Client A function that requests services from

a server, and makes them available to the

user. A term used in an environment to identify

a machine that uses the resources of the

network.

Client application A storage management

program that initiates Common Information

Model (CIM) requests to the CIM agent for the

device.

Client authentication The verification of a

client in secure communications where the

identity of a server or browser (client) with

whom you wish to communicate is discovered.

A sender's authenticity is demonstrated by the

digital certificate issued to the sender.

226 Exploring Storage Management Efficiencies and Provisioning

Client-server relationship Any process that

provides resources to other processes on a

network is a server. Any process that employs

these resources is a client. A machine can run

client and server processes at the same time.

Common Information Model (CIM). A set of

standards developed by the Distributed

Management Task Force (DMTF). CIM

provides a conceptual framework for storage

management and an open approach to the

design and implementation of storage

systems, applications, databases, networks,

and devices.

Console A user interface to a server.

D

Data Center Model (DCM) The IBM Tivoli

Provisioning Manager data store and data

schema. It includes a representation of all

physical and logical assets.

DB2 Universal Database An IBM program

product that helps leverage information by

delivering the performance, scalability,

reliability, and availability needed for the most

demanding applications.

Device driver A program that enables a

computer to communicate with a specific

device, for example, a disk drive.

Device Manager One of three components

that make up the IBM TotalStorage Multiple

Device Manager. IBM TotalStorage Multiple

Device Manager uses the Service Location

Protocol (SLP) on the IBM Director to discover

storage devices, creates managed objects to

represent these discovered devices, and

provides the user with access to device

configuration functionality.

Discovery The process of finding resources

within an enterprise, including finding the new

location of monitored resources that were

moved.

Disk group A set of disk drives that have

been configured into one or more logical unit

numbers. This term is used with RAID

devices.

E

Enterprise network A geographically

dispersed network under the backing of one

organization.

ESS See IBM TotalStorage Enterprise

Storage Server

Event In the Tivoli environment, any

significant change in the state of a system

resource, network resource, or network

application. An event can be generated for a

problem, for the resolution of a problem, or for

the successful completion of a task. Examples

of events are: the normal starting and s ping of

a process, the abnormal termination of a

process, and the malfunctioning of a server.

F

Fabric The Fibre Channel employs a fabric

to connect devices. A fabric can be as simple

as a single cable connecting two devices. The

term is often used to describe a more complex

network utilizing hubs, switches, and

gateways.