User Manual

Rev 1.8.2
Mellanox Technologies
8
Glossary
The following is a list of concepts and terms related to InfiniBand in general and to Subnet Man-
agers in particular. It is included here for ease of reference, but the main reference remains the
InfiniBand Architecture Specification.
Table 4 - Glossary
Channel Adapter (CA),
Host Channel Adapter
(HCA)
An IB device that terminates an IB link and executes transport func-
tions. This may be an HCA (Host CA) or a TCA (Target CA).
HCA Card A network adapter card based on an InfiniBand channel adapter
device.
IB Devices Integrated circuit implementing InfiniBand compliant communica-
tion.
IB Cluster/Fabric/Sub-
net
A set of IB devices connected by IB cables.
In-Band A term assigned to administration activities traversing the IB connec-
tivity only.
LID An address assigned to a port (data sink or source point) by the Sub-
net Manager, unique within the subnet, used for directing packets
within the subnet.
Local Device/Node/
System
The IB Host Channel Adapter (HCA) Card installed on the machine
running IBDIAG tools.
Local Port The IB port of the HCA through which IBDIAG tools connect to the
IB fabric.
Master Subnet Manager The Subnet Manager that is authoritative, that has the reference con-
figuration information for the subnet. See Subnet Manager.
Multicast Forwarding
Tables
A table that exists in every switch providing the list of ports to for-
ward received multicast packet. The table is organized by MLID.
Network Interface Card
(NIC)
A network adapter card that plugs into the PCI Express slot and pro-
vides one or more ports to an Ethernet network.
Standby Subnet Man-
ager
A Subnet Manager that is currently quiescent, and not in the role of a
Master Subnet Manager, by agency of the master SM. See Subnet
Manager.
Subnet Administrator
(SA)
An application (normally part of the Subnet Manager) that imple-
ments the interface for querying and manipulating subnet manage-
ment data.
Subnet Manager (SM) One of several entities involved in the configuration and control of
the subnet.
Unicast Linear For-
warding Tables (LFT)
A table that exists in every switch providing the port through which
packets should be sent to each LID.