User`s guide

Glossary 115
Glossary
Hardware Node (or Node) is a computer where OpenVZ is installed for hosting Virtual Private
Servers.
HN is an abbreviation of Hardware Node.
Host Operating System (or Host OS) is an operating system installed on the Hardware Node.
MAC address stands for Media Access Control address, a hardware address that uniquely
identifies each Node in a network. The MAC layer interfaces directly with the network media.
Consequently, each different type of network media requires a different MAC layer.
mlock, mlock’ed page — mlock() (short for memory locking) is a system call. It disables
paging out for a specific region of memory. mlock’ed pages are guaranteed to stay resident in
RAM until they are unlocked by munlock() system call. There are two primary applications
of memory locking — the real–time applications and high–security data processing. The former
require the deterministic response. The latter needs to protect valuable data from paging out into
the swap file.
OS template (or Operating System template) is used to create new Virtual Private Servers with a
preinstalled operating system. See also Template.
Package set is a synonym for Template.
Private area is a part of the file system where VPS files that are not shared with other Virtual
Private Servers are stored.
siginfo structure (or just siginfo) is a block of information about signal generation. If a process
catches a signal, it may receive siginfo telling why the system generated that signal. If a process
monitors its children, it may receive siginfo telling why a child has changed its state. In either
case, the system returns the information in a structure of the siginfo_t type, which includes the
following information: signal number, error number, and signal code.
SSH is an abbreviation of Secure Shell. It is a protocol for logging on to a remote machine and
executing commands on that machine. It provides secure encrypted communications between
two untrusted hosts over an insecure network.
TCP (TCP/IP) stands for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. This suite of
communications protocols is used to connect hosts on the Internet.
Template (or package set) is a set of original distribution packages intended to be installed to a
Virtual Private Server.
UBC is an abbreviation of User Beancounter.
User Beancounter (or UBC) is the subsystem of OpenVZ for managing VPS memory and some
system-related resources.