Quick Reference Guide

Glossary 283
Glossary
The following list defines or identifies technical
terms, abbreviations, and acronyms used in your
system documents.
A
Abbreviation for ampere(s).
AC
Abbreviation for alternating current.
AC power switch
A switch with two AC power inputs that provides
AC power redundancy by failing over to a standby
AC input in the event of a failure to the primary AC input.
access
Refers to the actions a user can take on a variable value.
Examples include read-only and read-write.
ACL
Abbreviation for access control list. ACL files are
text files that contain lists that define who can access
resources stored on a Novell
®
Web server.
adapter card
An expansion card that plugs into an expansion-card
connector on the system's system board. An adapter
card adds some specialized function to the system by
providing an interface between the expansion bus and
a peripheral device. Examples of adapter cards include
network cards, sound cards, and SCSI adapters.
ADB
Abbreviation for assign database.
AGP
Abbreviation for advanced graphics port.
ANSI
Abbreviation for American National Standards Institute.
API
Abbreviation for application program interface, which
is a set of routines, protocols, and tools for building
software applications that act as an interface between
the operating system and application programs.
argument
The value supplied with an option, such as in the
following command line instance:
utilname --option=argument
ARP
Acronym for Address Resolution Protocol, which is a
method for finding a host’s Ethernet address from its
Internet address.
ASCII
Acronym for American Standard Code for Information
Interchange. A text file containing only characters from
the ASCII character set (usually created with a text
editor, such as Notepad in Microsoft
®
Windows
®
), is
called an ASCII file.
ASIC
Acronym for application-specific integrated circuit.
ASPI
Acronym for advanced SCSI programming interface.
asset tag code
An individual code assigned to a system, usually by a
system administrator, for security or tracking purposes.