Specifications

Glossary 307
computer name The default name used for SLP and SMB service registrations.
The Network Browser in the Finder uses SLP to find computers advertising Personal File
Sharing and Windows File Sharing. It can be set to bridge subnets depending on the
network router settings. When you turn on Personal File Sharing, users see the
computer name in the Connect to Server dialog in the Finder. Initially it is “<first
created user>’s Computer” (for example, “John’s Computer”) but can be changed to
anything. The computer name is used for browsing for network file servers, print
queues, Bluetooth® discovery, Apple Remote Desktop clients, and any other network
resource that identifies computers by computer name rather than network address.
The computer name is also the basis for the default local host name.
CUPS Common UNIX Printing System. A cross-platform printing facility based on the
Internet Printing Protocol (IPP). The Mac OS X Print Center, its underlying print system,
and the Mac OS X Server print service are based on CUPS. For more information, visit
www.cups.org.
DHCP Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. A protocol used to dynamically distribute
IP addresses to client computers. Each time a client computer starts up, the protocol
looks for a DHCP server and then requests an IP address from the DHCP server it finds.
The DHCP server checks for an available IP address and sends it to the client computer
along with a lease period—the length of time the client computer may use the
address.
directory domain A specialized database that stores authoritative information about
users and network resources; the information is needed by system software and
applications. The database is optimized to handle many requests for information and to
find and retrieve information quickly. Also called a directory node or simply a directory.
directory domain hierarchy A way of organizing local and shared directory domains.
A hierarchy has an inverted tree structure, with a root domain at the top and local
domains at the bottom.
directory node See directory domain.
directory services Services that provide system software and applications with
uniform access to directory domains and other sources of information about users and
resources.
disk image A file that, when opened, creates an icon on a Mac OS X desktop that looks
and acts like an actual disk or volume. Using NetBoot, client computers can start up
over the network from a server-based disk image that contains system software. Disk
image files have a filename extension of either .img or .dmg. The two image formats
are similar and are represented with the same icon in the Finder. The .dmg format
cannot be used on computers running Mac OS 9.