Quick Reference Guide

294 Glossary
mA
Abbreviation for milliampere(s).
MAC
Acronym for media access control, which is a network
sublayer between a network node and the network
physical layer.
MAC address
Acronym for media access control address, which is a
unique address embedded in the physical components
of a NIC.
mAh
Abbreviation for milliampere-hour(s).
managed system
A managed system is any system that is monitored and
managed using Server Administrator. Systems running
Server Administrator can be managed locally or remotely
through a supported Web browser.
See remote
management system.
math coprocessor
See coprocessor.
Mb
Abbreviation for megabit.
MB
Abbreviation for megabyte(s). The term megabyte
means 1,048,576 bytes; however, when referring to hard
drive storage, the term is often rounded to mean
1,000,000 bytes.
MB/sec
Abbreviation for megabytes per second.
Mbps
Abbreviation for megabits per second.
MBR
Abbreviation for master boot record.
MCA
Abbreviation for Micro Channel Architecture, which is
designed for multiprocessing. MCA eliminates potential
conflicts that arise when installing new peripheral
devices. MCA is not compatible with either EISA or XT
bus architecture, so older cards cannot be used with it.
memory
A system can contain several different forms of
memory, such as RAM, ROM, and video memory.
Frequently, the word memory is used as a synonym for
RAM; for example, an unqualified statement such as
"a system with 16 MB of memory" refers to a system
with 16 MB of RAM.
memory address
A specific location, usually expressed as a hexadecimal
number, in the system's RAM.
memory manager
A utility that controls the implementation of memory
in addition to conventional memory, such as extended
or expanded memory.
memory module
A small circuit board containing DRAM chips that
connects to the system board.
MHz
Abbreviation for megahertz.
MIB
Acronym for management information base. The MIB
is used to send detailed status/commands from or to an
SNMP managed device.
microprocessor
The primary computational chip inside the system that
controls the interpretation and execution of arithmetic
and logic functions. Software written for one
microprocessor must usually be revised to run on
another microprocessor. CPU is a synonym for
microprocessor.