Josh References Glossary M

m4
A suite of macro-processing utilities for simplifying administration of system files that are different on different hosts (such as /etc/printcap).

MAC
See Media Access Control (MAC).

mail
A message to one or more users or groups sent over the computer. Mail can include other documents as attachments. Mail can traverse multiple machines and networks. See also attachment, Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME), NeXTMail, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).

mail address
An RFC 822 compliant address in one of the following forms: See also RFC.

mail alias
An alias used for electronic mail. See alias.

Maker Interchange Format (MIF)
An all-ASCII representation of a document for FrameMaker. It is possible for scripts to generate MIF format files for importing into FrameMaker. In addition, the MIF format allows documents to be moved to previous versions of the program or to different platforms.

MAN
See Metropolitan Area Network (MAN).

managed node
An object that represents a machine; a managed machine interface that is generic across all platforms.

managed resource
A specific instance of a resource type that has a default policy defined in the policy region.

Management Information Base (MIB)
A collection of data objects that can be accessed via a network management protocol such as Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). General information can be found in RFC 1156.

map
A system database, such as the password or hosts maps, in the Network Information Service (NIS).

MARS
See Multicast Address Resolution Server (MARS).

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
The source of a number of widely-used computer programs, including Kerberos and the X Window System.

master
  1. The primary NetInfo server in a domain or subdomain. See NetInfo.
  2. The primary NIS server in a domain. See Network Information Service (NIS).

maximum transfer unit (MTU)
The largest packet size that a network interface is configured to accept.

MBONE
The multicast network overlaid atop the global Internet.

MDist
See Multiplexed Distribution (MDist).

Media Access Control (MAC)
The six-byte address of network either the Ethernet or the ATM hardware (interface board). Typically written as six colon-separated hexadecimal numbers.

metadevice
A logical device that encompasses one or more physical devices. See also Disk Suite.

metamirror
See mirror.

method
Code that is executed to perform some service; an implementation-specific procedure which carries out some function; for example, a program, operating system command or shell script. The method performs some work and returns any results or status to the originator of the request.

Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)
A collection of local area networks (LANs) that would otherwise be a wide area network (WAN), but which is local to a single metropolitan area (for example, between five different buldings in London). See also Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN).

MIB
See Management Information Base (MIB).

MIF
See Maker Interchange Format (MIF).

MIME
See Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME).

mirror
A collection of one to three submirrors which, when modified, causes the modification to be applied to each of its submirrors. A technique of duplicating data on multiple logical disk partitions to reduce the risk of data loss in the event of a hardware failure. See also Disk Suite.

MIT
See Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

MOSPF
See Multicast Open Shortest Path First (MOSPF).

Motif
A windowing environment for the X Window System.

mrouter
A multicast router. See router.

MS-DOS
See Disk Operating System (DOS).

MTU
See maximum transmission unit (MTU).

multicast
One host multicasts when it wants multiple machines (typically on a WAN) to receive the packet or information. See also anycast, broadcast, unicast.

Multicast Address Resolution Server (MARS)
Tracks the multicast-capable hosts and any existing groups for adding and removing multicast routers from a conference.

Multicast Open Shortest Path First (MOSPF)
A multicast version of the Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) routing protocol. This multicast routing protocol scales much better than DVMRP.

multiplex, demultiplex
To combine multiple signals from possibly disparate sources, in order to transmit them over a single path. At the destination, the data stream is demultiplexed (or demuxed) back into its separate channels.

Multiplexed Distribution (MDist)
A central service that is built on top of the TMP that distributes large amounts of data, such as the distribution of configuration data in Tivoli's profile-based applications and the distribution of Tivoli/Courier file packages.

Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME)
An open-ended standard for including attachments in electronic mail messages. See also attachment, mail, NeXTMail.

mux
See multiplex.

MX record
See DNS record types, MX record.