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Oracle® Application Server Concepts
10g Release 2 (10.1.2)
B13994-02
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Glossary

A2A

Application to application (A2A) integration (also known as enterprise application integration) is the integration of applications and business processes within the same company (also known as an enterprise).

access control list

See ACL.

access control list model

The access control list model is a method for organizing authorization information. The access control list model is resource-centered or object-centered. This means that authorization information is associated with objects.

ACID characteristics

A transaction has ACID characteristics (Atomic, Consistent results, Isolated, and Durable), if it demonstrates the following:

ACL

An access control list (ACL) is a list of groups and users authorized for specific access to an object. It can also be a list of entities, together with their access rights, which are authorized to have access to a specified resource.

Apache

Apache is a public domain HTTP server derived from the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA).

Apache module

An Apache module is an add-on to either Oracle HTTP Server or Apache. Modules extend the basic functionality of the Web server and support integration between the Oracle HTTP Server and other Oracle Application Server components.

API

An application program interface (API) is a set of exposed data structures and functions that an application can use to invoke services on a component.

applet

An applet is a Java program that runs from an applet viewer or a Web page.

application integration

Application integration is the ability to link different types of enterprise applications and business processes together so that they can smoothly and effectively communicate to conduct e-business. These applications can reside within a company's enterprise boundaries or across multiple company boundaries connected over the Internet.

application-to-application

See A2A.

authentication

Authentication ensures that access to static pages, CGI scripts, and applications is limited to authorized users. When access to an application or document is protected by an authentication scheme, the client sends identification information to the server, which checks if the client is authorized to access the object.

authentication broker

An authentication broker is the portion of the authentication server that responds to and evaluates authorization requests.

authentication provider

An authentication provider is an object that specifies all of the realms used to implement a particular security scheme. It is a code module that runs within the authentication server and implements a particular security scheme.

authentication server

An authentication server is an object that encapsulates the authentication performed against applications. It consists of one authentication broker object and several authentication provider objects.

authorization

Authorization is the evaluation of security constraints to send a message or make a request. Authorization uses specific criteria to determine whether the request should be permitted. The criteria are authentication and restriction.

automatic deployment

Automatic deployment is a method for re-deploying applications, servlets, or JSPs after changes have been made to the application code that does not require updating the server configuration files or restarting the application server. With automatic deployment, the application server detects the changes in code and automatically re-deploys the applications.


See Also:

hot deployment for comparison

availability

Availability is the percentage or amount of scheduled time that a computing system provides application service.

B2B

Business-to-business (B2B) integration is the integration of a company's applications and business processes with external business systems operated by customers, suppliers, trading partners, exchanges, and marketplaces. B2B integration extends A2A integration to the Internet.

basic authentication

Basic authentication is a username-and-password-based authentication scheme that does not encrypt passwords when sending them over the Internet.

bean-managed persistence (BMP) bean

A bean-managed persistence (BMP) bean is a Java bean that stores all state information within itself.

browser client

A browser client is a client that can access static pages, CGI scripts, and applications via a URL over HTTP, HTTPS (secure HTTP), or IIOP.

business intelligence

Business intelligence is information describing your business, data, and Web site traffic.

business-to-business

See B2B.

CA

A certificate authority (CA) is a trusted third party that vouches for the identity of an individual, company, or server and signs a certificate.


See Also:

trustpoint

caching

Caching is the act of storing information that is frequently accessed in a location where it can be accessed quickly. For example, Oracle Application Server Web Cache stores dynamically generated Web pages locally and serves them in response to incoming requests. This reduces the total time spent handling the request by avoiding costly connections to the back-end database and other Web site bottlenecks.

canonical

Authoritative or officially approved. The term is generally used to describe whether or not a programming interface follows an accepted standard.

capability model

A capability model is a method for organizing authorization information. The capability model is principal-centered or subject--centered. This means that authorization information is associated with subjects. The Java 2 Security Model is an example of a capability-based system.

cascading style sheets

See CSS.

certificate

A certificate is a specially formatted data item signed by a trusted third party to attest to the validity of the item's information. Public-key certificates use a CA's signature to attest that the enclosed public key belongs to the principal identified by the enclosed name.

certificate authentication

Certificate authentication is an authentication method in which clients identify themselves using X.509 v3 certificates.

certificate authority

See CA.

certificate revocation list

See CRL.

CGI

Common Gateway Interface (CGI) is the industry-standard technique for transferring information between a Web server and any program designed to accept and return data that conforms to the CGI specifications.

character set

A character set is a set of symbols used to write one or more human languages, as defined by RFC 1521.

clickstream

A clickstream is a virtual trail that a user leaves behind while moving from place to place on the Internet. A clickstream is a record of a user's activity on the Internet, including every Web site and every page of every Web site that the user visits, how long the user was on a page or site, in what order the pages were visited, any newsgroups that the user participated in, and even the e-mail addresses of mail that the user sends and receives.

client

A client is a user, software application (such as a browser), or computer that requests the services, data, or processing of another application or computer (the server).

cluster

A cluster is a collection of application server instances with identical configuration and application deployment. Clusters enforce homogeneity between member instances so that a cluster of application server instances can appear and function as a single instance. With appropriate front-end load balancing, any instance in an application server cluster can serve client requests. This simplifies configuration and deployment across multiple instances and enables fault tolerance among clustered instances.

clustering

Clustering is the process of collecting Oracle Application Server instances into clusters for load balancing and fault tolerance. With clustering, the collection of application server instances are treated as a pool to service incoming requests. If one instance does not respond, then the request is forwarded to another instance in the cluster. The load balancer also maintains session context, so that when a client reconnects, its request is sent to the application server instance that was previously serving it.

collaboration protocol agreements

See CPA.

collaboration protocol profile

See CPP.

common gateway interface

See CGI.

common object request broker architecture

See CORBA.

concurrency

Concurrency is the ability to handle multiple requests simultaneously. Threads and processes are examples of concurrency mechanisms.

connect string

A connect string is the set of parameters, including a protocol, that is used to connect to a specific database instance on the network. Other names for a connect string include: SQL*Net V2 service name and Net8 connect string.

container

A container is a component that contains other components, such as a servlet. A container executes and manages a servlet. A container is either part of or associated with and used by a Web server. When a client HTTP request calls a servlet, the Web server passes the HTTP request to the container. The container translates the HTTP request into a Java method invocation and then passes the request to the servlet.

container-managed persistence (CMP) bean

A container-managed persistence (CMP) bean is a Java bean that stores all state information in the container.

contention

Contention is a measure of competition for resources.

cookie

A cookie is a text string that is stored on the client browser by the server to maintain state between HTTP calls. Cookies enable applications to store and retrieve information about a client, such as the domain, path, lifetime, and other variables. Cookies can either expire when the user exits the browser or at a date specified by the creator of the cookie.

CORBA

Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) is an industry standard for allowing code modules called ÒobjectsÓ to communicate with one another regardless of the programming language in which they are written or the operating system on which they are running.

CORBA object

CORBA object is a generic term for a server-side program that conforms to the OMG's CORBA specification. Objects can be written in any language, deployed on any machine, and can exist locally or over a wide-area network.

CPA

A collaboration protocol agreement (CPA) documents the technical agreement between two or more trading partners to engage in electronic business collaboration.

CPP

A collaboration protocol profile (CPP) defines one business partner's technical capabilities to engage in electronic business collaborations with other partners to exchange electronic messages.

CRL

A Certificate Revocation List (CRL) is a list of certificates that have been revoked before their scheduled expiration date. CRLs only list revoked certificates. When a revoked certificate is past its original expiration date, it is removed from the CRL.

CRM

Customer relationship management (CRM) consists of the methodologies, software, and usually Internet capabilities that help an enterprise manage customer relationships in an organized way.

CSS

Cascading style sheets (CSS) provide a simple mechanism for adding style, such as fonts, colors, and spacing, to XML documents.

customer database

A customer database is the original and primary database for storing your data. The customer database is commonly located on the database server tier in a three-tier architecture.

customer relationship management

See CRM.

DAD

A database access descriptor (DAD) is a set of values that specify how an application connects to an Oracle database to fulfill an HTTP request. The information in the DAD includes the username (which also specifies the schema and the privileges), password, connect-string, error log file, standard error message, and national language support (NLS) parameters such as NLS language, NLS date format, NLS date language, and NLS currency.

database access descriptor

See DAD.

default DAD

The default DAD is the database access descriptor that a PL/SQL application uses when the configuration information in the application does not specify a DAD.

default MIME type

The default MIME type is the MIME type the HTTP listener uses to interpret requested files of an unsupported MIME type.


See Also:

MIME type

demilitarized zone

See DMZ.

deployment descriptor

A deployment descriptor (DD) is an XML text-based file with an .xml extension that describes the deployment settings for a component. A J2EE application and each of its modules has its own deployment descriptor (DD). For example, an enterprise bean module DD declares transaction attributes and security authorizations for an enterprise bean. DD information is declarative so it can be changed without modifying the bean source code. At runtime, the J2EE Server reads the DD and acts on the component accordingly.

digest authentication

Digest authentication is an authentication scheme that does not send passwords over the Internet. Digest authentication is safer than basic authentication, but is not supported by most browsers.

digital signature

A digital signature is a code attached to an electronic document that reliably identifies the author or sender, and verifies that the document has not been tampered with.

directory server

A directory server defines a hierarchical view of an organization's employees, units, and other resources.You can protect applications using directory servers by limiting access to the virtual paths of the applications to particular branches in the directory server.

distinguished name

A distinguished name is the unique name of an LDAP-based directory entry. A distinguished name comprises all of the individual names of the parent entries back to the root.

distributed transaction processing

See DTP.

DLL

A dynamic link library (DLL) is an archive of executable functions or data that can be used by a Microsoft Windows application. Typically, a DLL provides one or more particular functions and a program accesses the functions by creating either a static or dynamic link to the DLL. A DLL can be used by several applications at the same time.

DMZ

The demilitarized zone (DMZ) is the area between outer and inner firewalls. It is normally used to protect the internal application servers from being attacked by those attempting to gain unauthorized access to a network or intranet.

DNS

The domain name system (DNS) is the mechanism that divides the Internet into separate, hierarchical groups called domains, identified by unique alphanumeric names, such as us.oracle.com. DNS identifies each computer within a domain by a unique hostname. For example, a computer named hal in the us.oracle.com domain would be uniquely identified on the Internet as hal.us.oracle.com.

document type definition

See DTD.

domain-based restriction

Domain-based restriction is a restriction scheme that allows or denies access to files based on the client machine's domain name.

domain name system

See DNS.

DTD

A document type definition (DTD) is a set of rules that define the allowable structure of an XML document. DTDs are text files that derive their format from SGML and are either embedded within an XML document or referenced by an XML document.

DTP

Distributed transaction processing (DTP) is the protocol that guarantees a two-phase commit when multiple databases are involved in a transaction.

dynamic link library

See DLL.

e-business

E-business is the conduct of business over the Internet, such as buying and selling products, servicing customers, and collaborating with business partners.

EAI

Enterprise application integration (EAI) is the sharing and transferring of information and applications between systems so that they appear as a unified application.

EAR file

An Enterprise Archive (EAR) file is a standard JAR file with an .ear extension. A J2EE application with all of its modules is delivered in an EAR file. An EAR file contains the JAR and WAR files that comprise a J2EE application.

ebXML

Electronic Business Extensible Markup Language (ebXML) is a modular suite of specifications that enables enterprises of any size and in any geographical location to conduct business on the Internet. By using ebXML, companies have a standard method for exchanging business messages, conducting trading relationships, and communicating data in common terms.

EDI

Electronic data interchange (EDI) is the computer-to-computer exchange of business data in standard formats. In EDI, information is organized according to a specified format that is set by both parties, allowing a computer transaction that requires no human intervention. All information contained in an EDI transaction set is, for the most part, the same as on a conventionally printed document. It defines the data formats and encoding rules that are required for a number of business transactions, including order placement and processing, shipping and receiving, invoicing, and payment systems.

EIS

Enterprise information systems (EIS) are systems that provide the information infrastructure for an enterprise. Enterprises run their businesses using the information stored in these systems. Examples of enterprise information systems include enterprise resource planning systems, mainframe transaction processing systems, relational database management systems, and other legacy information systems. Enterprise applications require access to applications running on enterprise information systems.

EJB

Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) are the component-based application model for Java defined by JavaSoft. This model provides most of the system-level services, such as multi-threading, to ease application programming. EJB relies on various standardized enterprise services, such as JNDI, JTS, and JDBC, to facilitate application programming and enable EJB objects to be interoperable across various EJB servers. It fulfills the write once, run anywhere paradigm.

EJB application

An EJB application is a framework of deploying CORBA objects written in Java, which adhere to the EJB specification.

EJB container

An EJB container is the component coordinator in an EJB application and one of the key EJB runtime components.


See Also:

JNDI, EJB application

EJB deployment descriptor

An EJB deployment descriptor is a serialized object that provides information, such as transaction and security policies, about how an EJB application or object should be deployed.

Electronic Business Extensible Markup Language

See ebXML.

electronic data interchange

See EDI.

encapsulation

Encapsulation is the mechanism that binds code together with the data that it manipulates. Encapsulation provides a wrapper that keeps both the code and the data safe from outside intervention.

encoding

Encoding is an algorithm used to alter a file's format, such as compression.

encryption

Encryption is the practice of encoding (encrypting) data in such a way that only an intended recipient can decode (decrypt) and read the data.

enterprise application integration

See EAI.

enterprise beans

Enterprise beans are server-side components that encapsulate the business logic of an application, which is the code that fulfills the purpose of the application.

enterprise information systems

See EIS.

Enterprise JavaBeans

See EJB.

enterprise resource planning

See ERP.

entity bean

An entity bean is a complex business entity. An entity bean models a business entity or models multiple actions within a business process. Entity beans are often used to facilitate business services that involve data and computations on that data. For example, an application developer might implement an entity bean to retrieve and perform computation on items within a purchase order. Your entity bean can manage multiple, dependent, persistent objects in performing its necessary tasks.

ERP

The set of activities supported by multi-module application software that helps a manufacturer or other business manage important parts of their business, including product planning, parts purchasing, inventory management, supplier interaction, customer service, and order tracking.

extract, transform, and load (ETL) capabilities

The three database functions of extract, transform, and load are combined into one function and used to retrieve data from one database and write it to another.

failover

Failover is the ability to reconfigure a computing system to utilize an alternate active component when a similar component fails.

failure recovery

Failure recovery is a system of failure detection and recovery. Components monitor each other continuously. When a component fails, Oracle Application Server detects the failure and restarts the failed component, restoring any preserved state information when possible.

farm

A farm is a collection of clusters and instances that share the same Oracle Application Server Infrastructure. A farm can be file based or database based. The repository for a file-based farm exists within the middle-tier instance Oracle Home, The repository for a database based farm exists within the Metadata Repository.

fault tolerance

Fault tolerance is the ability of a computing system to withstand errors while continuing to provide the required services.

file protection

File protection is the practice of assigning an authentication or restriction scheme by controlling access to a specific file or group of files.

filename extension

A filename extension is a short alphanumeric suffix attached to a filename following a dot "." that represents the file's format. Oracle Application Server uses filename extensions to identify several kinds of file formats, including MIME types and encodings.

firewall

A firewall is a machine that acts as an intermediary to protect a set of computers or networks from outside attack. It regulates access to computers on a local area network from outside, and regulates access to outside computers from within the local area network. A firewall can work either by acting as a proxy server that forwards requests so that the requests behave as though they were issued by the firewall machine, or by examining requests and attempting to eliminate suspect calls.

graphical user interface

See GUI.

GUI

A graphical user interface (GUI), sometimes referred to as the UI (user interface), is the graphical, as opposed to purely textual, user interface to a computer. Elements of the GUI include pull-down menus, buttons, icons, windows, and graphics.

Health Level Seven

See HL7.

HL7

Health Level Seven (HL7) is a standard for electronic data exchange in health care environments. It focuses on health care in the clinical and administrative data domain. "Level Seven" refers to the highest level of the International Standard Organization's (ISO) communications model for Open Systems Interconnection (OSI), the application level.

host

A host is a computer with a unique domain name.

hosted applications

Hosted applications are typically applications developed by independent software vendors and administered by application service providers. These applications are accessed on an external Web site that enables multiple companies to utilize the applications.

hosted environment

A hosted environment is an application deployment environment in which multiple customers and companies subscribe to shared services.

hosted services

Hosted services are services are offered by application service providers for multiple subscribers.

hostname

A hostname is a character string that uniquely identifies a computer within a DNS domain.

hot deployment

Hot deployment is a method for deploying new applications that does not require restarting the application server. With hot deployment, changes made to the server configuration files are automatically detected, and you can deploy new applications without restarting the server.


See Also:

automatic deployment for comparison

HTML

Hypertext markup language (HTML) is a format for encoding hypertext documents that may contain text, graphics, and references to programs and other hypertext documents.

HTTP

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is the underlying format used by the Web to format and transmit messages and determine what actions Web servers and browsers should take in response to various commands. HTTP is the protocol used between Oracle Application Server and clients.

HTTP header

An HTTP header is a body of information that a browser sends along with a URL when requesting a Web page. It includes such information as the browser type and MIME types.

HTTP listener

See listener.

HTTP request information

HTTP request information is the information requested by a client in the form of an HTTP header.

HTTP response information

HTTP response information is the information supplied by an HTTP listener or an application.

HTTP server

An HTTP server is a server that receives HTTP requests from remote browsers, converts the requested URL to a filename, and returns the file to the requester.

HTTPS (secure HTTP)

HTTPS is a version of HTTP with provisions for secure data transmission.


See Also:

HTTP

hypertext markup language

See HTML.

hypertext transfer protocol

See HTTP.

IBAC

Identity-based access control (IBAC) is the use of digital IDs to control access to a resource.

IDE

An integrated development environment is a visual tool containing editors, debuggers, screen painters, object browsers etc.

identity-based access control

See IBAC.

IDL

Interface definition language (IDL) is a standard language for interface specification primarily used for CORBA object interface definition. IDL is declarative and does not reveal the implementation of a CORBA object. CORBA defines standard mappings from IDL to various programming languages.

IIOP

Internet inter-ORB protocol (IIOP) is an Internet transport protocol used by CORBA objects to communicate with each other. In the context of Oracle Application Server, IIOP is used by ECO/Java and EJB objects. IIOP is also used between Oracle Application Server components.

inheritance

Inheritance is the process by which one class acquires the methods and properties of another in object-oriented programming methodology.

instance

An application server instance is the set of processes required to run the configured components within an application server installation. There can be only one application server instance per application server installation. The terms installation and instance are sometimes used interchangeably; however, it is important to remember that an installation is the set of files installed into an Oracle home and an instance is a set of processes associated with those files.

integrated development environment

See IDE.

interface definition language

See IDL.

Internet Information Server (IIS)

Internet Information Server (IIS) is Microsoft's Web server that runs on Windows NT/2000 platforms.

Internet inter-ORB protocol

See IIOP.

interoperable object reference

See IOR.

IOR

Interoperable object reference (IOR) is a unique string for each CORBA object and is created when an object reference is passed among different ORBs. You can pass this string to a method to determine the actual object reference.


See Also:

object reference

IP address

An IP address is a four-part number separated by periods that uniquely identifies a computer on the Internet; the number format is defined by the Internet Protocol (IP).

IP-based restriction

IP-based restriction is a restriction scheme that allows or denies access to files based on the client machine's IP address.


See Also:

restriction

island

An island is a logical grouping of OC4J processes that allows you to determine which OC4J processes will replication state.

J2EE

Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) is a platform that enables application developers to develop, deploy, and manage multi-tier, server-centric, enterprise level applications.

J2EE Server

The J2EE Server is the runtime portion of a J2EE product, which provides EJB containers, Web containers, or both. J2EE servers are usually located in the middle tier of a three-tier architecture.

J2SE

Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE) is a platform that enables application developers to develop, deploy, and manage Java applets and applications on a desktop client platform such as a personal computer or workstation.

JAAS

Java Authentication and Authorization Service (JAAS) is a Java package that enables services to authenticate and enforce access control upon users. JAAS implements a Java version of the standard Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) framework, and extends the access control architecture of the Java 2 Security Model to support user-based authorization.

JAR files

There are different types of Java Archive (JAR) files. An EJB JAR file contains its deployment descriptor (DD), related files, and the .class files for the enterprise bean. An application client JAR file contains its DD, related files, and the .class files for the application client. JAR files are packaged together with WAR files into EAR files.

Java

Java is a programming language developed by Sun Microsystems. This language is fully object-oriented, extremely portable, and optimized for creating distributed applications on the Internet or other computer networks.

Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition

See J2EE.

Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition

See J2SE.

Java 2 Security Model

The Java 2 Security Model provides developers and administrators with increased control over many aspects of enterprise applet, component, servlet, and application security. The Java 2 Security Model is capability-based and enables you to establish protection domains, and set security policies for these domains.

Permissions are the basis of the Java 2 Security Model. All Java classes (whether run locally or downloaded remotely) are subject to a configured security policy that defines the set of permissions available for those classes. Each permission represents a specific access to a particular resource.

Java Authentication and Authorization Service

See JAAS.

JavaBeans

JavaBeans is a portable, platform-independent component model that enables developers to write reusable components once and run them anywhere.

Java Connector Architecture

See JCA.

Javadoc

Javadoc is a tool for generating API documentation in HTML format from documentation comments in Java source code. These HTML pages describe the classes, inner classes, interfaces, constructors, methods, and fields.

Java interpreter

A Java interpreter is a program that interprets and executes Java bytecode independently of a Web browser.

Java Message Service

See JMS.

Java Naming and Directory Interface

See JNDI.

JavaServer Pages

See JSP.

Java Transaction API

See JTA.

Java Transaction Service

See JTS.

Java Virtual Machine

See JVM.

JDBC

Java DataBase Connectivity (JDBC) is a Java package that provides connectivity to databases from within Java.

JCA

The Java Connector Architecture (JCA) provides a standard architecture for integrating heterogeneous Enterprise Information Systems (EIS).

JIT compilation

Just-in-time (JIT) compilation is the process by which the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) keeps a copy of native code that it generates from bytecode the first time a method is encountered. Subsequently, when the method is run, the JIT uses the native code without having to interpret the method, resulting in a boost in performance.

JMS

The Java Message Service (JMS) API provides a reliable, flexible service for the asynchronous exchange of critical business data and events throughout an enterprise.

JNDI

Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) consists of a standard set of APIs that provide directory and naming services. Oracle Application Server has a JNDI naming server that clients can use to obtain object references to ECO/Java objects or Enterprise JavaBean objects.

JSP

JavaServer Pages (JSPs) are an extension to the servlet functionality that enables a simple programmatic interface to Web pages. JSPs are HTML pages with special tags and embedded Java code that is executed on the Web or application server, providing dynamic functionality to HTML pages. JSPs are actually compiled into servlets when first requested and run in the servlet container.

JSP engine

See JSP translator.

JSP tag

JSP tags are tags that are used in JavaServer Pages (JSPs). These tags use the <jsp: syntax and enclose action elements in the JSP with "begin" and "end" tags similar to XML statements.

JSP translator

A JSP translator is an entity that translates, executes, and processes JSP pages and delivers requests to them. The exact architecture of a JSP translator varies from implementation to implementation, but it consists of a servlet or a collection of servlets. The JSP translator, therefore, is executed by a servlet container.

JTA

Java Transaction API (JTA) enables your applications to participate in distributed transactions and to access transaction services from other components.

JTS

Java Transaction Service (JTS) provides the services necessary for applications and databases to become part of a transaction. JTS is the Java version of OTS.

just-in-time compilation

See JIT compilation.

JVM

A Java Virtual Machine (JVM) is an abstract specification for a computing device that can be implemented in different ways, in software or hardware. You compile to the instruction set of a virtual machine much like you would compile to the instruction set of a microprocessor.

The Java Virtual Machine is part of the Java runtime environment responsible for interpreting Java bytecode. It consists of a bytecode instruction set, a set of registers, a stack, a garbage-collected heap, and an area for storing methods. Java bytecode is executable by any JVM running on any machine.

key pair

A key pair is a pair of mathematically related keys (a public key and a private key) associated with a user and used in public-key encryption.

language identifier

A language identifier is a two-character alphanumeric string that identifies a human language, as defined by RFC 1766.

LDAP

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) is a protocol that allows clients to access information from a directory server. This protocol enables corporate directory entries to be arranged in a hierarchical structure that reflects geographic and organizational boundaries.

light weight directory access protocol

See LDAP.

listener

A listener is an HTTP server that handles incoming requests and routes them to the dispatcher.

Login Module

A Login Module is the authentication module configured for a particular application. The LoginContext class decouples the application code from the authentication services, and different login modules can be plugged in under an application without affecting the application code.

Login Server

The Login Server authenticates the username and password of a client user attempting to access an application. Once authenticated, the Login Server passes the client's identity to various applications. An encrypted login cookie identifies the client as being authenticated. The Login Server provides single sign-on authentication. This enables a user to access multiple accounts and applications with a single username and password.

manifest file

A manifest file is a text file that describes the contents of a JAR file. For EJB JAR files, the manifest file identifies it as an "ejb-jar" file. The manifest file also indicates which elements in the JAR file are the EJB deployment descriptors for the components to be deployed.

message

A message is the smallest unit of information inserted into and retrieved from a queue. A message consists of the following:

The control information represents message properties used by the queue to manage messages. The payload data is the information stored in the queue. A message can reside in only one queue.

message-driven beans

Message-driven beans (MDB) provide an easier method for implementing asynchronous communication than using straight JMS. MDBs were created to receive asynchronous JMS messages. The container handles much of the setup required for JMS queues and topics. It sends all messages to the interested MDB.

metric

A metric is a performance statistic, such as uptime or queue.

MIME type

The Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension (MIME) type is a message format used on the Internet to describe the contents of a message and defined by the MIME standard. MIME is used by HTTP servers to describe the type of content being delivered. Several RFCs define MIME.

mods

See Apache module.

mod_access

The mod_access module, or plug-in, of Oracle HTTP Server provides access control based on client host name or IP address.

mod_osso

The mod_osso module provides communication between the Single Sign-On enabled Login Server and the Oracle HTTP Server listener.

module

See Apache module.

multiport

A multiport is a single listener that can respond to requests directed at more than one address/port combination. A multiport can be configured to respond to requests differently if they are made to a different address/port combination on the same listener.

Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions

See MIME type.

national language support

See NLS.

NLS

National language support (NLS) is the set of mechanisms used to translate data between various languages and character sets.

node

See host.

noun

In the scope of performance monitoring tools, a noun is a component of an Oracle Application Server site. Examples of a noun are component, object, class, bean, process, piece of code, computer, and process.

OAGI

The Open Applications Group, Inc. (OAGI) is a nonprofit consortium focusing on the best practices and processes that are based on XML content for e-business and application integration. OAGI was set up to create common standards for the integration of enterprise business applications. Member companies are building specifications to standardize integration between enterprise business applications. The OAGI Business Object Document (BOD) is the architecture that is used to communication message or business documents between software applications or components. Each BOD includes supporting details to enable the destination business application to accomplish the action.

object

An object is any item that can be individually selected or manipulated. This includes buttons and pull-down menus. In object-oriented programming, an object is a self-contained entity that consists of both data and procedures to manipulate the data.

Object Management Group

See OMG.

object-oriented programming

Object-oriented programming is a method of programming that organizes a program around its data (objects) and a set of well-defined interfaces to that data. It is a revolutionary new way of looking at computer programming. A generalization of the data object along with its possible data variables and methods (what to do with variables) in a class of data objects.

object reference

An object reference is a unique identifier that is used to represent an object instance in a distributed system.

See IOR.

Object Transaction Service

See OTS.

OC4J

See Oracle Application Server Containers for J2EE (OC4J).

OCI

Oracle Call Interface (OCI) is an API or low-level tool for accessing Oracle databases and executing SQL and PL/SQL statements.

OLTP

Online transaction processing (OLTP) refers to the immediate processing of a transaction. The opposite of transaction processing is batch processing, where transactions are stored (batched) and then all of the stored transactions are executed at one time.

OMG

Object Management Group (OMG) is a consortium with a membership of more than 700 companies. The organization's goal is to provide a common framework for developing applications using object-oriented programming techniques. OMG is responsible for the CORBA specification.

online transaction processing

See OLTP.

Open Applications Group, Inc.

See OAGI.

ORACLE_HOME

ORACLE_HOME is an environment variable (UNIX) or registry key (Windows) that indicates the directory where Oracle software is installed.

Oracle platform

The Oracle platform is a server deployment platform consisting of Oracle Application Server, Oracle Database Server, and Oracle Developer Suite.

Oracle Application Server Active Failover Cluster

Oracle Application Server Active Failover Clusters are a high availability solution where the Oracle Application Server Infrastructure can be deployed on a hardware cluster comprised of multiple nodes, such that each node of the cluster is able to simultaneously process incoming requests. The Infrastructure is installed on each of the nodes, but the Infrastructure database is installed on a shared disk, accessible by all nodes.

Oracle Application Server Cold Failover Cluster

Oracle Application Server Cold Failover Clusters are a high availability solution where the Oracle Application Server Infrastructure is typically deployed on a two-node hardware cluster with a shared storage device. Once node is active or "hot," meaning it is running the Infrastructure, while the other node is "cold" and is not running the Infrastructure. When the active node fails, the clusterware switches Infrastructure operations to the previously "cold" node and the Infrastructure is started on that node.

Oracle Application Server Containers for J2EE (OC4J)

Oracle Application Server Containers for J2EE (OC4J) is a complete set of J2EE containers written entirely in Java that execute on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) of the standard Java Development Kit (JDK).

Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer

Oracle Application Server Discoverer is a business intelligence tool for analyzing data. Using Oracle Application Server Discoverer's award-winning user interface, users can access and analyze database data. There are two Oracle Application Server Discoverer products:

Oracle Application Server Forms Services

Oracle Application Server Forms Services deploys Forms applications with database access to Java clients in a Web environment. Oracle Application Server Forms Services automatically optimizes class downloads, network traffic, and interactions with Oracle database. Applications are automatically load-balanced across multiple servers and, therefore, can easily scale to service any number of requests.

Oracle Application Server Infrastructure

Oracle Application Server Infrastructure is a single, consistent combination of the Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository, a directory server, management server, and single sign-on server. Most Oracle Application Server components use the infrastructure to provide a more integrated environment for application developers and system managers.

Oracle Application Server InterConnect

Oracle Application Server InterConnect is the integration hub that coordinates the communication and transformation of messages between two or more heterogeneous applications. Oracle Application Server InterConnect defines business events, their associated data, and any transformations required to map one application's view of a business object to another's view.

Oracle Application Server InterConnect Adapters

Oracle Application Server InterConnect Adapters are a set of connectivity adapters that enable third-party applications and technology environments to participate in integration.

Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository

Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository is a pre-seeded database containing metadata required by Oracle Application Server instances.

Oracle Application Server Portal

Oracle Application Server Portal is a complete solution for building, deploying and monitoring Web database applications and content-driven Web sites. Oracle Application Server Portal enables you to create and view database objects through an easy-to-use HTML-based interface, and provides tools for creating HTML-based interfaces. It also allows you to resolve performance problems using performance tracking facilities, and enables you to manage database security through its interface.


See Also:

portal, portlet

Oracle Application Server Portal Login Server

See Login Server.

Oracle Application Server Reports Services

Oracle Application Server Reports Services provides an easy-to-use, scalable, and manageable solution for high-quality database publishing and reporting by creating dynamic reports for the Web and across the enterprise. It enables you to implement a multi-tiered architecture for running your reports.

Oracle Application Server Web Cache

Oracle Application Server Web Cache is a server accelerator caching service that improves the performance, scalability, and availability of frequently used e-business Web sites that run on the Oracle platform. By storing frequently accessed URLs in virtual memory, Oracle Application Server Web Cache eliminates the need to repeatedly process requests for those URLs on the Web server, and it caches both static and dynamically-generated HTTP content from one or more applications Web servers.

Oracle Application Server Wireless

Oracle Application Server Wireless is a portal service for delivering information and applications to mobile devices. Using Oracle Application Server Wireless, you can create custom portal sites that use different kinds of content, including Web pages, custom Java applications, and XML-based applications. Oracle Application Server Wireless sites make this diverse information accessible to mobile devices without you having to rewrite the content for each target device platform.

Oracle Advanced Queuing

Oracle Advanced Queuing provides database-resident messaging capabilities that enable reliable, asynchronous communication between applications. Oracle Application Server integration uses Oracle Advanced Queuing as the communication mechanism between adapters, participating applications, and Oracle Workflow.

Oracle Advanced Security

Oracle Advanced Security provides a comprehensive suite of security features to protect enterprise networks and securely extend corporate networks to the Internet. It provides a single source of integration with network encryption and authentication solutions, single sign-on services, and security protocols. By integrating industry standards, it delivers unparalleled security to the Oracle network and beyond.

Oracle Call Interface

See OCI.

Oracle Database Client Developer Kit

The Oracle Database Client Developer Kit contains the following client libraries:

Oracle HTTP Server

Oracle HTTP Server is the Web server that Oracle Application Server uses, which is built on Apache Web server technology. Oracle HTTP Server offers scalability, stability, speed, and extensibility. It also supports Java servlets, JavaServer Pages (JSPs), Perl, PL/SQL, and CGI applications.

Oracle Internet Directory

Oracle Internet Directory is a general purpose directory service that enables retrieval of information about dispersed users and network resources. Oracle Internet Directory combines LDAP version 3 with the high performance, scalability, robustness, and availability of the Oracle database.

Oracle Internet Directory runs as an application in the Oracle database. It communicates with the database, which may be on the same or a different operating system.

Oracle Content Management SDK

Oracle Content Management SDK (CMSDK) is a file system that stores its contents in an Oracle database. The contents can range from files to metadata that defines the file system (including foldering, security, and users). Oracle CMSDK indexes textual content in files as they are added or updated. This enables you to search the contents of more than 150 file formats.

Oracle LDAP Developer Kit

Oracle LDAP Developer Kit supports client interaction with any LDAP-compliant directory server; for example, Oracle Internet Directory. LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) is the emerging Internet standard for directory services. The toolkit provides tools and development libraries to support client calls to directory services, encrypted connections, and enables you to manage your directory data.

Oracle Wallet Manager

Oracle Wallet Manager is a Java-based application that security administrators use to manage public-key security credentials on clients and servers. Security credentials consist of a public/private key pair, a certificate, and a trustpoint.

Oracle Workflow

Oracle Workflow lets you automate and continuously improve business processes, routing information of any type according to easily-changeable business rules to users both inside and outside a company's enterprise.

Oracle XML Developer Kit

Oracle XML Developer Kit (XDK) contains the necessary XML component libraries and utilities to give developers the ability to easily XML-enable applications and Web sites. Oracle XDK supports development in Java, C, C++, and PL/SQL with a collection of libraries, command-line utilities, and tools.

ORB

An Object Request Broker (ORB), in CORBA, acts as a "broker" between a client request for a service from a distributed object or component and completion of that request. Having ORB support in a network means that a client program can request a service without having to understand where the server is in the distributed network or in which language the server object is written.

OTS

Object Transaction Service (OTS) provides the services necessary for applications and databases to become part of a transaction.


See Also:

JTS

overloading

Overloading is the ability to use the same name for more than one variable or procedure, requiring the compiler to differentiate them based on context. Overloaded procedures and functions (in PL/SQL) or methods (in Java) have the same name but take different parameters and do similar but not identical things.

package

A package is a group of PL/SQL or Java functions and procedures.

partner interface processes

See PIP.

PIP

Partner interface processes (PIPs) are specialized XML-based dialogs that determine how two trading partners must interact to conduct a business collaboration. Some examples are: a buyer submitting a purchase order to a seller, a buyer notifying a seller of a change in a purchase order, or a customer submitting a forecast to a supplier. PIPs are grouped into clusters and these clusters are further grouped into segments. These segments are divided into business functions. The PEP name is coded to reflect the cluster, segment, and business functions of the PIP.

PKCS

The Public-Key Cryptography Standards (PKCS) are specifications produced by RSA Laboratories in cooperation with secure systems developers worldwide for the purpose of accelerating the development of public-key cryptography.

PL/SQL

PL/SQL is Oracle's proprietary extension to the SQL language. PL/SQL adds procedural and other constructs to SQL that make it suitable for writing applications.

policy

A policy is an authorization rules repository for JAAS. A policy contains the rules with which a user is authorized to use resources, such as a database. The primary function of a policy implementation is to provide the following information:

Given a grantee, return the granted permissions for the grantee.

policy file

A policy file grants permissions to the trusted codes or applications that you run. These codes or applications are not allowed to access resources unless they are explicitly granted permission to do so by the security policy in effect. In Java environments, the permission must be granted by an entry in a policy file.

policy store

A policy store provides secure, centralized storage, retrieval, and administration of JAAS policies (the roles and privileges of a user). Oracle Internet Directory is the policy store used for storing this information.

polymorphism

In object-oriented programming, polymorphism (from the Greek meaning "having multiple forms") is the characteristic of being able to assign a different meaning to a particular symbol or ÒoperatorÓ in different contexts.

port

A port is a number that TCP uses to route transmitted data to and from a particular program.

portal

Portal sites give users a single, centralized, personalized view of relevant applications and data.

portlet

A portlet is a reusable information component that summarizes or provides access to an information source. Portlets are the fundament building blocks of an Oracle Application Server Portal page.


See Also:

portal

principal

A principal is a specific authenticated identity, such as a user named frank. A principal is essentially an identity associated with a subject. A principal can be associated with a subject (such as a user) upon successful authentication to a computing service.

private key

A private key is a key used by a limited number of communicating parties to decrypt data encrypted with a public key.

privilege

A privilege is the right to perform an action on the database. Privileges can either be general (system privileges) or specific to particular database objects (object privileges). They can also be grouped into roles.


See Also:

role

processor sets

Processor sets, which are specific to Solaris systems and were introduced in Solaris 2.6, allow a group of processors to be allocated for the exclusive use of one or more applications. This gives a system administrator control over the creation, management, and binding of processes into processor sets.

protection domain

A protection domain is a fundamental building block of system security. The protection domain concept serves as a convenient mechanism for grouping and isolation between units of protection. For example, it is possible to separate protection domains from interacting with each other so that any permitted interaction must be either through trusted system code or explicitly allowed by the domains concerned.

proxy server

A proxy server typically sits on a network firewall and allows clients behind the firewall to access Web resources. All requests from clients go to the proxy server rather than directly to the destination server. The proxy server forwards the request to the destination server and passes the received information back to the client. The proxy server channels all Web traffic at a site through a single, secure port; this allows an organization to create a secure firewall by preventing Internet access to internal machines, while allowing Web access.

public key

A public key is a key known to all users, used to encrypt data in such a way that only a specific user can decrypt it.

public-key cryptography

Public-key cryptography is a set of well-established techniques and standards that ensure that data passes securely over a network, from the sender to the receiver, without any interference from a third party. Public-key cryptography facilitates encryption and decryption, tamper detection, authentication, and nonrepudiation.

Public-Key Cryptography Standards

See PKCS.

public-key encryption

Public-key encryption is a form of encryption that uses a key pair (a public key and a private key) to encrypt and decrypt data.

query string

A query string is the optional portion of a URL that specifies parameters to be passed to an application.

RAC

Real Application Clusters (RAC) is a parallel database clustering technology from Oracle. RAC is an active-active cluster with shared storage, whereby multiple servers can work in parallel on the same set of data.

Real Application Clusters

See RAC.

realm

A realm provides access to a policy store of users and roles (groups) and optionally provides administrative functionality. Oracle provides a proprietary Realm API that implements the notion of a user community. Essentially a user community instance is a realm that is maintained internally by the authorization system.

RC4, RC5

RC4 and RC5 are RSA encryption algorithms.

redundant

Redundant components are duplicate or extra computing components that protect a computing system.

reliability

Reliability is the ability of a computing system to operate without failing. Reliability is measured by mean-time-between-failures (MTBF).

remote method invocation

See RMI.

remote method invocation

See RPC.

request latency

Request latency is the time required to process a request.

request throughput

Request throughput is the number of requests processed per unit of time.

response time

Response time is the amount of time between the submission of a request and the receipt of the response.

restriction

Restriction is a security scheme that restricts access to files provided by the server to client machines within certain groups of IP addresses or DNS domains.

reverse mapper

A reverse mapper is a utility that converts a CORBA server object's interfaces to IDL (for example, Java to IDL). These IDL interfaces can then be converted to CORBA stub and skeleton code by an IDL compiler (for example, IDL to Java) for use by clients.

RFC

Request for Comments (RFC) is a collection of Internet-related articles.

RMI

Remote method invocation (RMI) is an interaction scheme for distributed objects written in Java. It enables a Java program running on one computer to access the methods of another Java program running on another computer.

RNIF

The RosettaNet Implementation Framework (RNIF) defines implementation guidelines for creating software applications that provide for the secure and reliable transport of PIPs in XML-formatted business documents between trading partners.

role

A role is a group of database privileges that can be granted and revoked as a unit. Specific privileges can be granted and revoked from the role dynamically, and the role can be enabled or disabled dynamically for specific users.

role activation

Role activation is the process by which a user can selectively enable the required roles to accomplish a specific task in a user session. A user is granted multiple roles, but not all roles are enabled by default. Enabling only those roles the user needs, the user ensures the principle of least privilege. That is, the user is not enabling permissions or privileges unnecessary for the task. This limits the damage that can result from an accident or error.

role-based access control

Role-based access control is a process that simplifies the administrative process of authorization management based on direct assignment of permissions to users. Instead of directly assigning permissions to users, permissions are assigned to roles, and users are granted their permissions by being made members of appropriate roles. Multiple roles can be granted to a user, and a role can also be granted other roles, thus forming a role hierarchy that provides security administrators with a tool to model enterprise security policies.

RosettaNet

RosettaNet is a business-to-business (B2B) protocol standard with the following components: PIPs, RNIF, and RosettaNet Dictionaries.

RosettaNet Dictionaries

RosettaNet dictionaries define and describe a common set of properties for use in PIP messages. These properties define a common vocabulary for conduction business so that the information that is exchanged between trading partners is consistent.

RosettaNet Implementation Framework

See RNIF.

routing

Routing is the process of directing data from one machine on the Internet to another by way of intermediate machines.

RPC

Remote procedure call (RPC) is a type of protocol that allows a program on one computer to execute a program on a server. Using RPC, a system developer need not develop specific procedures for the server. The client program sends a message to the server with appropriate arguments and the server returns a message containing the results of the program executed.

RSA

RSA is an Oracle partner supplying encryption algorithms for the HTTP server and Web Request Broker.

scalability

Scalability is the ability to handle increasing numbers of hardware requests without adversely affecting latency and throughput.

schema

A schema is a collection of database objects, including logical structures such as tables, views, sequences, stored procedures, synonyms, indexes, clusters, and database links.

A schema has the name of the user who controls it.

secure sockets layer

See SSL.

security scheme

A security scheme prevents unauthorized users from accessing protected files or applications. The Oracle platform supports both authentication schemes and restriction schemes.

The Oracle platform supports the following types of authentication:

The following restriction schemes are supported:

serializable

An interface that a Java class implements to enable itself to be persistent through the Java Serialization service. This service allows a bean's state to be stored and retrieved.

server

There are two types of servers relevant to this product. The first is Oracle Database Server, which is a relational database server dedicated to performing data management duties on behalf of clients using any number of possible interfaces. The other is Oracle Application Server, which is a collection of middleware services and tools that provide a scalable, robust, secure, and extensible platform for distributed, object-oriented applications. Oracle Application Server supports access to applications from both Web clients (browsers) using HTTP and Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) clients, which use the CORBA and the Internet Inter-ORB (IIOP) protocols.

service time

Service time is the time between the receipt of a request and the completion of the response to the request.

servlet

A servlet is a small Java program that runs on a Web server, as opposed to an applet, which is a Java program that runs in a client browser. Servlets take client HTTP requests from a browser, generate dynamic content (such as through querying a database), and provide an HTTP response back to the browser.

servlet container

A servlet container is the runtime environment for a Java servlet. The servlet container calls the methods of a servlet and provides services to the servlet while it is executing.

servlet zones

Servlet zones are analogous to virtual directories in a Web server. Each zone can have its own set of servlets and can use a dedicated Java Virtual Machine (JVM). All of the servlets in one servlet zone share the same servlet repository, which is a location where Java class files are loaded.

session bean

A session bean implements one or more business tasks. A session bean might contain methods that query and update data in a relational table. Session beans are often used to implement services. For example, an application developer might implement one or several session beans that retrieve and update inventory data in a database.

session key

A session key is a secret key used by SSL to encrypt data transmitted over a secure connection. The client generates the session key after Oracle Application Server authenticates itself and sends it to Oracle Application Server using public-key encryption.

shadow process

A shadow process is a simple process on every host that detects if an Oracle HTTP Server listener process on that host is alive. If the listener process dies, then the shadow process brings a new instance up to handle requests.

shared secret-key encryption

Shared secret-key encryption is a form of encryption that uses a single key both to encrypt and to decrypt a document. Shared secret-key encryption is much faster than public-key encryption, but is more vulnerable to attack.

short message service

See SMS.

Simple Network Management Protocol

See SNMP.

Simple Object Access Protocol

See SOAP.

single sign-on

Single sign-on is the ability for a user to authenticate once, combined with strong authentication occurring transparently in subsequent connections to other databases or applications. Single sign-on lets a user access multiple accounts and applications with a single password.

skeletons

In CORBA, skeletons are classes that are generated as part of the IDL compilation process. They receive calls from client stubs, unmarshal parameters, and call the method implementation.


See Also:

IDL, skeletons

SMS

Short message service (SMS) is the transmission of short text messages (under 160 alpha-numeric characters and no images) to a mobile device.

SNMP

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is a set of protocols for managing complex networks. The versions of SNMP were developed in the early 1980s. SNMP works by sending messages, called protocol data units (PDUs), to different parts of a network. SNMP-compliant devices, called agents, store data about themselves in Management Information Bases (MIBs) and return this data to the SNMP requesters.

SOAP

Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) is a lightweight, XML-based protocol for exchanging information in a decentralized, distributed environment. SOAP supports different styles of information exchange, including Remote Procedure Call style (RPC) and Message-oriented exchange. RPC style information exchange allows for request-response processing, where an endpoint receives a procedure-oriented message and replies with a correlated response message. Message-oriented information exchange supports organizations and applications that need to exchange business or other types of documents where a message is sent but the sender may not expect or wait for an immediate response.

SQL

Structured query language (SQL) is the internationally accepted standard for relational systems, covering not only query but also data definition, manipulation, security, and some aspects of referential integrity.


See Also:

PL/SQL

SSL

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a standard for the secure transmission of documents over the Internet using HTTPS (secure HTTP). SSL uses digital signatures to ensure that transmitted data is not tampered with.

stateful application

A stateful application is an application that maintains its own state information.

stateful session bean

A stateful session bean is a bean in which instance variables represent the state of a unique client-bean session. Because the client interacts with its bean, this state is often called the conversational state. This conversation state is retained for the duration of the client-bean session. If the client removes the bean or terminates, the session ends and the state disappears.

stateless application

A stateless application is an application that does not store state information. Requests to a stateless application must include all information that the application needs to run properly.

stateless session bean

A stateless session bean is a bean which does not maintain a conversational state for a particular client. When a client invokes the method of a stateless bean, the bean instance variables may contain a state, but only for the duration of the invocation. When the method is finished, the state is no longer retained. Except during method invocation, all instances of a stateless bean are equivalent, allowing the EJB container to assign an instance to any client. Because stateless session beans can support multiple clients, they can offer better scalability for applications that require large numbers of clients.

stored procedure

A stored procedure is a set of PL/SQL instructions that are stored in a database.

structured query language

See SQL.

stub

In CORBA, a stub is a class that is generated as part of the IDL compilation process (e.g. using an IDL-to-Java compiler). The compiler creates the stub from the IDL interfaces of a server object. The stub contains code that handles operations needed to access remote objects. A client application uses the generated stubs to access methods in the remote server object.


See Also:

IDL and skeletons

subagent

A subagent is a process that receives queries for a particular managed element from the master agent and sends back the appropriate answers to the master agent. The SNMP subagent detects unexpected events and forwards them to the master agent.

subject

A subject refers to any user of a computing service. Since users, roles, and computing services use computing services, all are subjects. A subject is the source of a service request. To identify the subjects with which it interacts, a computing service typically relies on names. Subjects can have different names for each individual service with which they interact. These individual names are known as principals. For example, a user can have a name principal (user frank), a role principal (role hr), and a social security number principal (123-45-6789).

subscriber

A subscriber is customer (such as a company) that uses (subscribes to) an application deployed in a hosted environment.

subscription

In the scope of the performance monitoring tools, a subscription is a request by a user to track a particular metric.

SWIFT

SWIFT is the industry-owned cooperative that supplies a standard for secure messaging services and interface software to financial institutions throughout the world. SWIFT focuses on messaging services to banks, brokers or dealers, investment managers, as well as to market infrastructures in payments, treasury, securities, and trade.

three-tier architecture

Three-tier architecture is a client-server computing architecture where systems are separated into three layers: the interface layer, the application logic layer, and the database layer. Clients in this model are thin clients, which do not contain as many resources as clients in the two-tier architecture. The application logic layer, which is also known as the middle-tier, provides the computing power and resources for the client. Oracle Application Server fulfills this role ideally as a development and deployment platform for database-enabled applications.

throughput

Throughput is the number of re quests processed per unit of time.

TNS string

A Transparent Network Substrate (TNS) string is a foundation technology built into Net8, Oracle Connection Manager and Oracle Names, that works with any standard network transport protocol. The TNS string contains destination service and network route information. Users initiate a connect request by passing a user name and password along with a connect identifier in a TNS String for the service to which they want to connect.

topology management request

A topology management request is an HTTP request that is handled by the Oracle HTTP Server module, mod_oprocmgr. It is used for server process management and administration.

transaction

A transaction is a collection of operations that work toward a goal of satisfying a single user's need. A transaction guarantees that all operations within it either succeed or fail.

As an example, a transfer from a savings account to a checking account has a transaction that debits the savings account and credits the checking account. If both operations succeed, the transaction is committed, otherwise the transaction is rolled back.

transaction processing

See OLTP.

transaction service

A transaction service is an OTS service that enables you to perform transactions that span several HTTP requests. The transaction service is based on the XA open model transactions defined by the X/Open Company.

transactional DAD

A transactional DAD is a database that has been configured to be involved within a transaction. Once configured, more than one database can be managed by Oracle Application Server in committing resources on all databases involved in the transaction. A database cannot be involved in a transaction unless the DAD is configured to be transactional.

trustpoint

Also referred to as a trusted certificate authority (CA), a trustpoint is an issuer of certificates whom you can trust. You can use Oracle Wallet Manager to manage trustpoint information associated with your application.

two-tier architecture

Two-tier architecture is the traditional client-server computing architecture with application front-end and logic executing on a client that accesses a database.

UDDI

Universal Description, Discover, and Integration (UDDI) is an online electronic registry that serves as electronic Yellow Pages, providing an information structure where various business entities register themselves and the services they offer through their WSDL definitions. There are two types of UDDI registries, public UDDI registries that serve as aggregation points for a variety of businesses to publish their services, and private UDDI registries that serve a similar role within organizations.

UNICODE

UNICODE is a 16-bit character encoding scheme supporting a large subset of characters found in both Western and Asian languages.

uniform resource identifier

See URI.

uniform resource locator

See URL.

Universal Description, Discover, and Integration

See UDDI.

URI

Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is the generic term for all types of names and addresses that refer to objects on the World Wide Web. A URLis one kind of URI.

URL

Uniform Resource Locator (URL), a form of URI, is a compact string representation of the location for a resource that is available via the Internet. It is also the text-string format Web clients use to encode requests to Oracle Application Server.

virtual host

See multiport.

virtual machine

See JVM.

virtual pathname

In a virtual file system, a virtual pathname is a synonym that the virtual file system maps to a file stored in the file system maintained by the host machine's operating system.

VM

See JVM.

wait time

Wait time is the time between the submission of a request and initiation of the request.

wallet

A wallet is an abstraction used to store and manage security credentials for an individual entity. It implements the storage and retrieval of credentials for use with various cryptographic services.

WAR files

Web Archive (WAR) files contain the Web component modules of J2EE applications. A WAR file contains its deployment descriptor (DD), related files, and the .class files for the servlet or the .jsp files for a JSP page.

watcher

A watcher is a thread in an Oracle HTTP Server parent process. It is spawned by the parent init process of mod_oprocmgr. Its purpose is to periodically check the status of each process running on the server. If a process is dead or if it fails to start up, then the watcher thread will issue an HTTP request to start a new process.

Web component

J2EE Web components can be either JavaServer Pages (JSPs) or servlets. Static HTML pages, applets, or server-side utilities can be bundled with Web components during application assembly, but are not considered Web components by the J2EE specification.

Web services

Web services are Web applications that are transmitted over the Internet using the XML, SOAP, WSDL, and UDDI open standards. XML is used to tag the data, SOAP is used to transfer the data, WSDL is used for describing the available services, and UDDI is used for listing the available services.

Web Services Description Language

See WSDL.

wireless portal

A wireless portal is accessible from wireless devices such as cellular telephones.

WSDL

Web Services Description Language (WSDL) is an XML format for describing network services containing RPC-oriented and message-oriented information. Programmers or automated development tools can create WSDL files to describe a service and can make the description available over the Internet. Client-side programmers and development tools can use published WSDL descriptions to obtain information about available Web Services and to build and create proxies or program templates that access available services.

X.500

X.500 is a standard for developing an electronic directory of users in an organization so that it can be part of a global directory available to anyone in the world with Internet access. Such a directory is sometimes called a global White Pages directory. The idea is to be able to look up people in a user-friendly way by name, department, or organization.

XDK

See Oracle XML Developer Kit.

XML

eXtensible Markup Language (XML) is a set of rules for defining data markup in a plain text format.

XSL

eXtensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) is used within style sheets to transform or render XML documents.

XSLT

The eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation (XSLT) processor transforms XML into other text-based formats, such as HTML and Wireless Markup Language (WML).

XSQL servlet

The XSQL servlet combines XML, SQL, and XSLT in the server to deliver dynamic Web content.