Glossary

API: See application programming interface.
application: 1) The collection of servers, services, and associated resource managers defined by a single UBBCONFIG or TUXCONFIG configuration file. 2) The software and permanent resources (databases, files, etc.) used to computerize a business function; in BEA TUXEDO software, it is defined by a MIB. 3) A collection of programs that perform a function. For example, a payroll application is made up of a collection of programs that calculate the amount of money to pay employees, print paychecks, and so on.
application programming interface (API): 1) The verbs and environment that exist at the application level to support a particular system software product. 2) A set of code that enables a developer to initiate and complete client/server requests within an application. 3) A set of calling conventions that define how to invoke a service.
application to transaction monitor interface (ATMI): A UNIX international standard interface that BEA TUXEDO application programs can use to start and commit global transactions, send and receive messages, maintain corrections, manage typed buffers, and perform similar tasks. The ATMI interface is supported by all BEA TUXEDO based systems and is the basis of the X/Open TX and XATMI interfaces.
applications development environment (ADE): A set of tools (often presented or accessed via a GUI) to help programmers build applications.
asynchronous process: A process that executes independently of another process. When a request is processed asynchronously, the client application continues to perform other operations while it waits for the service request to be filled.
asynchronous request: A request that lets the client do other work while the request is being processed, enhancing parallelism within an application.
ATMI: See application to transaction monitor interface.
authenticate: To reliably determine a user's or processor's identity, often using a password or series of passwords. Once authenticated, an identity can be mapped against the authorization tables of services and objects. This mapping generally takes place in the access control list.
authentication: A method consisting of application passwords and security services that is used to verify users and allow users to join applications.
BBL: See bulletin board liaison.
BEA Jolt: A BEA product that is a Java based client API that extends BEA TUXEDO capabilities, enabling businesses to easily create, deploy, and maintain secure systems that operate over the Internet.
BEA TUXEDO: A robust middleware engine for developing and deploying business-critical client/server applications. It handles distributed transaction processing, application messaging, and the full complement of services necessary to build and run enterprise-wide applications.
broadcast: To send the same message to every node on a network.
buffer: 1) Input or output data as it exists inside a local BEA TUXEDO region. 2) An abstract name for a message type. BEA TUXEDO software provides seven predefined types for message communication: CARRAY, FML, STRING, VIEW, XCTYPE, X_COMMON, and X_OCTET. These buffer types are transparently encoded and decoded across networks of heterogeneous machines. Applications can define additional buffer types. 3) A set of main memory pages used to cache currently and recently used disk pages.
bulletin board: 1) A collection of shared data structures designed to keep track of a running BEA TUXEDO Transaction Manager application. It contains information about servers, services, clients, and transactions pertaining to a Transaction Manager application. The bulletin board is replicated on each logical native (non-foreign) machine in the application. 2) A distributed, partially replicated, memory data structure used to maintain information for name serving, transaction management, and run time in BEA TUXEDO.
bulletin board liaison (BBL): 1) A BEA TUXEDO administrative process that is responsible for maintaining a copy of the bulletin board on a particular processor. When the system is running, one BBL process runs continuously on each logical machine in the application. 2) A Transaction Manager administrative process responsible for maintaining a copy of the bulletin board on a particular processor. When the system is running, one BBL process runs continuously on each logical machine in the application.
C++: An object-oriented programming language developed at AT&T Bell Laboratories in the early 1980s. C++ is a "hybrid" language based on the non-object-oriented C language.
call: An instruction that is used by an application program to request services.
CARRAY buffer: A data structure that is an array of characters any of which can be the null character. Array interpretation is entirely application dependent.
class: A template for an object containing variables and methods representing behavior and attributes. Class can inherit public and protected variables and methods from other classes.
client: 1) Software that asks a server to perform a task. In client/server terminology, a client application typically contains the user interface, and the server application typically stores and manipulates the data. A software program that makes a request for a service in a client/server architecture. 2) A process that generates service requests handled by BEA TUXEDO software and receives responses to those requests from BEA TUXEDO software.
client/server: A programming model in which application programs are structured as clients or servers. A client program is an application program that requests services to be performed. A server program is an entity that dispatches service routines to satisfy requests from client programs. A service routine is an application program module that performs one or more specific functions on behalf of client programs.
command-line interface: A style of user interface that allows user interaction by entering command strings at a system prompt.
commit: 1) Complete a transaction so that changes are recorded and stable. Protected resources are released. 2) The declaration or process of making a transaction's updates and messages visible to other transactions. When a transaction commits, all its effects become public and durable. After commitment, the effects of a transaction cannot be reversed automatically.
conversational server: A server whose services conduct conversations with requesters.
conversational service: A service routine that is invoked by means of conversational communication from a client program. When the connection is established and the service is invoked, the client and service exchange data in a manner specific to the application. When the service returns, the connection ends.
daemon: A system process that processes and runs in the background.
database: A collection of interrelated or independent data items stored together without redundancy to serve one or more applications.
database management system (DBMS): A program or set of programs that let users structure and manipulate the data in the tables of a database. A DBMS ensures privacy, recovery, and integrity of data in a multi-user environment.
data-dependent routing: 1) Routing that directs a request to be processed by a particular group based on the value in a data field of the message. 2) A mechanism in BEA TUXEDO in which a service request is mapped to a specific server group based on a value contained in a designated field in the data buffer.
DBMS: See database management system.
distributed application: An application that is separated into two or more parts (such as a client and a server) on different computers that communicate through a network.
distributed application framework: A middleware suite for building and managing client/server applications. The framework also includes products providing connectivity across multiple operating environments, development services, and management.
distributed transaction: A transaction involving multiple transaction managers. In a distributed transaction environment, a client application may send requests to several servers resulting in resource updates at multiple resource managers. To complete the transaction, the transaction manager for each participant (client, servers, and resource managers) must be polled to coordinate the commit process for each participant within its domain.
distributed transaction processing (DTP): A form of processing in which multiple application programs update multiple resources (such as databases) in a coordinated manner. Programs and resources can reside on one or more computers access a network.
domain: A collection of systems involved in administratively autonomous applications. The BEA TUXEDO domains component allows for interapplication or interdomain calls and transactions to occur.
dynamic link libraries (DLL): A collection of functions grouped into a load module that is dynamically linked with an executable program at run time for a Windows or OS/2 application.
event: The occurrence of a condition, state change, or the availability of some information, that is of interest to one or more modules.
exception: An abnormal condition, such as an I/O error encountered in processing or data set or a file, or using any resource.
field manipulation language (FML): A set of C language functions for defining and manipulating storage structures called field buffers. Cooperating processes can send and receive data in fielded buffers.
field table: A file that consists of FML field names and their identifiers. The field table enables users to refer to fields by logical names rather than by system field identifiers.
FML: See field manipulation language.
FML buffer: A buffer of self-describing data items accessed through the field manipulation language API.
framework: The software environment tailored to the needs of a specific application domain. Frameworks include a collection of software components that programmers use to build applications for the domain the framework addresses. Frameworks can contain specialized APIs, services, and tools, which reduce the knowledge a user or programmer needs to have to accomplish a specific task.
global transaction: 1) A transaction that spans one or more resource managers comprising local transactions. The Transaction Manager name for a transaction that uses multiple servers or multiple resource manager interfaces and is coordinated as an atomic unit of work. 2) The BEA TUXEDO name for a transaction that uses multiple servers or multiple resource manager interfaces and is coordinated as an atomic unit of work.
graphical user interface (GUI): A high-level interface that uses windows and menus with graphic symbols instead of typed system commands to provide an interactive environment for a user.
group: A collection of servers or services on a machine, optionally associated with a resource manager. A group is an administrative unit used for booting, shut down, and migrating of servers and services.
GUI: See graphical user interface.
handler: See workstation handler.
host: 1) A computer that is attached to a network and provides services other than acting as a communication switch. 2) The primary or controlling computer in a data communication system.
inheritance: The ability to pass along the capabilities and behaviors of one object to another object. When an object inherits behavior from a single interface, it is called single inheritance. When an object inherits behavior from more than one interface, it is called multiple inheritance.
Java: An object-oriented programming language modeled after C++ designed to be small, simple and portable across platforms and operating systems.
Java Developer's Kit (JDK): A package of software for Java developers that includes the Java interpreter, Java classes, and Java development tools: compiler, debugger, disassembler, appletviewer, stub file generator, and documentation generator.
JDK: See Java Developer's Kit.
Jolt: See BEA Jolt.
Jolt Repository: Contains definitions of BEA TUXEDO application services used to test new and existing BEA TUXEDO application services independently of the client applications.
Jolt Repository Server (JREPSVR): Retrieves Jolt service definitions from the Jolt Repository and returns the service definitions to the JSH.
Jolt Server: Performs the following functions: establishes network connections to clients, translates Jolt messages, multiplexes multiple clients into a single process, submits and retrieves requests to and from BEA TUXEDO based applications running on a BEA TUXEDO server.
Jolt Server Handler (JSH): Manages network connectivity by making services requests from the Jolt Repository and translating BEA TUXEDO buffer data into the Jolt buffer.
Jolt Server Listener (JSL): Handles the work of client connection, tracking client messages and session handoff.
JREPSVR: See Jolt Repository Server.
JSH: See Jolt Server Handler.
JSL: See Jolt Server Listener.
logical machine (LMID): A processing element used in a transaction manager application and given a logical name in the configuration file.
makefile: A file, referenced by the make command, that tells the make command how to create each of the files needed to generate a complete program. The makefile contains a list of source files, object files, and dependency information.
managed object: An entity (such as a process, a piece of hardware, or system performance) that is defined in the MIB and is controlled by a management device.
management information base (MIB): 1) A BEA TUXEDO System component that provides a complete definition of the object classes and their attributes that together comprise the BEA TUXEDO System. The total BEA TUXEDO System Management Information Base is organized into a generic MIB and component-specific MIBs for each major component. Configuration and administration of the BEA TUXEDO System can be done programmatically by using the \AdminAPI and the ATMI to set or change the value for an attribute. 2) A virtual storage database that uses ASN.1 notation. The MIB contains each object that the System Manager software monitors and controls. These objects are written in ASN.1 notation. Each has a unique object name and a unique object identifier.
MIB: See management information base.
MIB group: A group of objects, represented by the name or object identifier of an object in the OID tree, that contains a collection of managed objects.
middleware: A set of services for building distributed client/server applications, such as services for locating other programs in the network, establishing communication with those programs, and passing information between applications. Middleware services can also be used to resolve disparities between different computing platforms and to provide a uniform authorization model in multivendor and multioperating system networks.
model: A simplified representation of something. The representation is simplified in the sense that some of the details have been abstracted.
modeling: A design technique used in developing architecture, simulations, and computer systems.
module: A set of code that contains information on a particular topic and on the topic's related interfaces. For example, code that describes a banking withdrawal operation could be stored in a module.
multithreading: Use of a process by several transactions.
object wrapper: See wrapper technology.
octet: 1) A byte that consists of eight bits. 2) A byte composed of eight binary elements.
OLE: Object linking and embedding. A set of Microsoft technologies that address problems in software development, ranging from embedding documents from one application into another application to more complex problems. OLE enables the linking of clients and servers in a manner that is transparent to the user.
OLE Automation: A technology that lets software packages expose their unique features to scripting tools and other applications. OLE Automation uses the OLE Component Object Model (COM), but may be implemented independently from other OLE features.
port number: The entity on a TCP/IP host that identifies a logical communications channel and distinguishes one connection from another. A TCP/IP server application "listens" for incoming connection requests at a designated port. A TCP/IP client application initiates a connection with the server by specifying the host's IP address and the server's designated port number.
remote procedure call (RPC): A local procedure call that is executed in a non-local program or address space. Enables application logic to be split between a client and a server in the way that best uses available resources.
request/response: Communication characterized by a single request matched to a single response message. There are synchronous and asynchronous variations of request/response communication.
resource manager: 1) An interface and associated software that provides access to a collection of information and processes; for example, a database management system. Resource managers provide transaction capabilities and permanence of actions; they are the entities accessed and controlled within a global transaction. 2) A subsystem that manages some transactional objects. The resource manager typically offers services to applications or to other resource managers. A transactional database system, a transaction queue manager, a transactional session manager, and a transactional persistent programming language all act as resource managers.
rollback: 1) Terminate a transaction such that all resources updated within a transaction revert to the original state before the transaction started. 2) The event that ends a transaction and nullifies or undoes all changes to resources that were specified during that transaction.
RPC: See remote procedure call.
scalability: The extent to which developers can apply a solution to problems of different sizes. Ideally, a solution should work well across the entire range of complexity. In practice, however, there are usually simpler solutions for problems of lower complexity.
security: The protection of information from unauthorized modification or disclosure and the protection of resources from unauthorized use.
server: 1) A process that receives service requests from a requester and dispatches the service routine that acts on the request. 2) A software module that accepts requests from clients and other servers and returns responses. A software program that provides a service in a client/server architecture.
server group: A collection of servers and services on a machine, often associated with a resource manager. A server group is an administrative unit used for booting, shutting down, and migrating servers and services.
server ID: An identifier for a single server. No two servers can operate at the same time with the same server ID.
service: 1) An application routine available for request by a client in the system. 2) A module of application code that carries out a service request.
service request: A request that is initiated by a requester process that asks for the invocation of a service.
state: 1) The situation of a conversation from the point of view of one of the participating transactions. The conversation state determines the commands that a transaction can validly issue. The state of each transaction changes dynamically in the course of conversation. 2) A description (typically in memory) of the current situation of an object.
STRING buffer: A data structure that is an array of nonnull characters terminated by the null character. It is a self-describing buffer.
subscriber: An application program that subscribes to an event or set of events, and declares what action should take place when an event is posted.
synchronous: 1) Pertaining to an event that happens, exists, or arises at precisely the same time as another event. 2) Pertaining to an operation that occurs regularly or predictable with regard to the occurrence of a specified event in another process; for example the calling of an input/output routine that receives control at a precoded location in a program.
synchronous process: A process that cannot execute independently of other processes. When a request is processed synchronously, the client application must wait until the service provider completes the request before continuing.
synchronous request: A client request and response block that waits for a reply.
thread: A unit of execution or an execution context. An executing sequence of instructions and the memory they manipulate.
three-tier client/server: An implementation of n-tier client/server.
tlisten: A network-independent listener process that runs as a daemon process and provides remote service connections for other BEA TUXEDO Transaction Manager processes.
TM: See transaction manager.
token: An individual element in the message definition block, such as the command or the subsystem name.
transaction: 1) A complete unit of work that transforms a database from one consistent state to another. In DTP, a transaction can include multiple units of work performed on one or more systems. 2) A logical construct through which applications perform work on shared resources (e.g., databases). The work done on behalf of the transaction conforms to the four ACID Properties: atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability.
TUXCONFIG: The binary configuration file for a BEA TUXEDO application. This file is accessed by all BEA TUXEDO processes for all configuration information.
TUXEDO: See BEA TUXEDO.
two-phase commit (2PC): A method of coordinating a single transaction across more than one DBMS (or other resource manager). It guarantees data integrity by ensuring that transactional updates are committed in all of the participating databases, or are fully rolled back out of all of the databases, reverting to the state prior to the start of the transaction.
two-tier client/server: An application development approach that splits an application into two parts and divides the processing between a desktop workstation and a server machine.
type conversion: The process of converting an application program's data buffer or record so that the data is formatted in a manner that is suitable to a target application program.
typed buffer: A buffer for message communication involving data of a specific data type.
UBBCONFIG: An ASCII application configuration file. This is the ASCII representation of the TUXCONFIG file.
VIEW buffer: A data structure similar to a C structure. As part of defining this buffer type, a view description file is created. It is a self-describing buffer. VIEW buffers are always accompanied by VIEW definitions.
VIEW definitions: Descriptions of data structures that are used for input and output in the
BEA TUXEDO environment.
workstation handler: The BEA TUXEDO Transaction Manager supplied surrogate client responsible for managing a set of workstation client connections. These handlers are started dynamically by the workstation listener. The handler may be customized if necessary. This process resides within the administrative domain of the application.
workstation listener: The BEA TUXEDO Transaction Manager supplied process responsible for acting as the single point of contact for workstation clients. The workstation listener also handles the distribution of workstation connections to workstation handlers, starting new handlers as necessary. This process resides within the administrative domain of the application.
/WS: Represents the BEA TUXEDO Workstation. This feature is designed to allow remote workstations and personal computers to participate in Transaction Manager applications without requiring the Transaction Manager resources necessary to support servers on the workstation.