“failback” to “function key”

failback

(n.) The process of returning a resource group or device group to its primary node after the primary node has failed and later is restarted as a cluster member.

failfast

(n.) The orderly shutdown and removal from the cluster of a faulty node before its potentially incorrect operation can prove damaging.

failover

(n.) The automatic relocation of a resource group or a device group from a current primary node to a new primary node after a failure has occurred.

failover resource

(n.) A resource of the type “failover.” These are application-instance resources and network resources that can run on only one node at a time. When a failover occurs, these resources participate in the failover. See also single-instance resource, scalable resource.

failover resource group

(n.) A container for failover resources.

failure fencing

(n.) A method of limiting node access to multihost disks by physically preventing access to the disks.

fallback

(n.) A reversion to the environment that ran previously. Use fallback when you are activating an environment and the boot environment that is designated for booting fails or shows some undesirable behavior.

fault monitor

(n.) A fault daemon and the programs that are used to probe various parts of data services and take action. See also resource monitor.

FCodes

See Forth bytecodes. See also OpenBoot.

FCS

(first customer ship) (n.) The day on which a product is released or shipped to the customer.

field

(1) (n.) In UNIX® a subsection of a line. Programs such as sort and awk can check individual fields within a line.

(2) (n.) A data member of a class. Unless specified otherwise, a field is not static.

(3) (n.) In computer graphics, the shortest interval of a video signal that contains a set of scan lines that cover the full picture height, along with the associated synchronization elements. In a system with non-interlaced (or progressive) scanning, fields and frames are identical. In a system with 2:1 interlace, two fields exist, odd and even. Each field contains half the picture lines of a frame.

field-replaceable unit

(FRU) (n.) An assembly that a manufacturer replaces on failure of an assembly component.

field separator

(n.) The character that is used to separate one field from the next. A string of one or more spaces is the usual field separator.

FIFO

See first-in, first-out.

FIFO file

(first-in-first-out file) (n.) See named pipe.

file

(n.) A block of information that is stored on some form of a storage medium, such as a computer, disk, or tape. A file might not be human readable, but a device can still process it.

file name

(n.) The name of a file as it is stored in a directory on a disk. See also path name.

file name expansion

(n.) The process by which UNIX® matches file names that contain metacharacters to actual file names. An example is the match of ?oo? to foot and loop.

file permissions

(n.) A set of permissions that are assigned to each file and directory that determines which users have access to read, write, and execute its contents.

file system

(n.) In the SunOS^TM operating system, a tree-structured network of files and directories that you can access.

first customer ship

(FCS) (n.) The day on which a software product is released or shipped to the customer.

first-in, first-out

(FIFO) (n.) Usually, a printer queue, which has the convention that the first file in is the first file to be printed.

flag

(n.) An argument to a command that indicates a particular option or modification. UNIX® flags usually are indicated by a leading hyphen (-).

flow control

(n.) A STREAMS mechanism that regulates the rate of message transfer within a Stream and from user space into a Stream.

flush

(1) (v.) To dump from memory, as in “to flush a buffer.”

(2) (adj.) In authoring systems, characteristic of being aligned, as in “flush left.”

focus

(n.) The place to which keyboard input is directed.

folder

(1) (n.) A directory in a graphical user interface.

(2) (n.) A file for storing mail messages.

follow-on bus cycle

(n.) On the SBus, one of up to three bus cycles during a bus sizing operation that follows the original bus cycle.

foreground

(1) (n.) On a UNIX® system, the process of running under direct control of the terminal; the terminal cannot be used for any other activity until a foreground task finishes or is halted. Contrast with background.

(2) (n.) The color of the characters and graphics that are displayed on a terminal screen.

fork

(1) (n.) A system call to create a new process that is called a child process. The original process is called a parent process.

(2) (v.) To guide a user, through navigational links, to web pages other than the current one.

formal parameter list

(n.) The parameters that are specified in the definition of a particular method.

format

(1) (n.) The structure of data that is to be processed, recorded, or displayed.

(2) (v.) To put data into a structure or to divide a disk into sectors for receiving data.

formatting

(1) (n.) The arrangement of text or data into a suitable visual form.

(2) (n.) The preparation of a disk for use.

Forth

(n.) Originally, a “fourth-generation programming language” that was created by Charles Moore. Forth is considered an extensible and customizable language.

Forth bytecodes

(FCodes) (n.) A small program, usually a bootstrap loader, that is written in the Forth language and stored in a programmable read-only memory (PROM) or erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM). See also boot, OpenBoot^TM.

fragmentation

(n.) The result of the inefficient allocation and release of memory caused by multiple file deletions and write operations. Some part of unallocated memory becomes too small to meet a request and remains unused.

frame

(1) (n.) Obsolete term for window.

(2) (n.) In video, the time interval of a video signal that contains exactly one complete picture, with all its associated sync elements.

(3) (n.) In motion video, a single image (1/25th or 1/30th of a second).

(4) (n.) A unit of transmission (that is, a transmitted data packet). When the Internet protocol (IP) passes the data-link layer a datagram and the data-link layer adds a header and trailer to the data package, the whole package is called a frame.

frame buffer

(n.) That part of screen memory holding a single screen image.

function key

(n.) One of the 10 or more keyboard keys which are labeled F1, F2, and F3, for example, that are mapped to particular tasks.