Terminology

This page attempts to catalogue the various IBM-isms used through the years and translate them to terms more synonymous with the rest of the computer industry. As this is an IBM-focused wiki relying heavily on IBM sales brochures, manuals, and service information, we use the IBM terminology where possible.

AKA AS/400 As She Is Spoke

A

air-moving device

fan

ASMI, advanced system mangaement interface

Embedded management controller found in Power Systems servers; similar to HP iLO, Dell iDRAC, or Lenovo IMM

APAR, authorized program analysis report

A software bug report

C

CSP, control storage processor

Can refer to:

- the main processor of the System/32 - the I/O processor of the System/34 and System/36

Analogous to the AS/400 MFIOP or a PC chipset or RAID controller

CUM

shorthand for cumulative PTF package; think Windows rollup or cumulative patches; yes, this is actually how IBM referred to these patch tapes and disks

D

DASD, direct access storage device

Hard drive

display station

An interactive terminal consisting of display, input device, and keyboard

E

EIA-232

Electronic Industries Association standard RS-232-C, commonly known as RS-232

F

file

context dependent; disk or diskette file refers to a physical hard drive or floppy disk while file refers to a database on the machine

H

HMC, hardware management console

a physical or virtual appliance used to manage the hardware resources of a Power Systems server; optional in POWER5 and POWER6 but required if LPARs are desired, required for all operations in POWER7 and above

I

IPL, initial program load

boot, booting

J

job

a running process; can be interactive (the application shows a screen of text to the user), noninteractive, or batch (automated, typically part of a scheduled process)

L

LAN

context dependent; refers to any standard in which the AS/400 will participate in a TCP/IP or NetWare network. i.e., "Ethernet LAN Controller," "Token-Ring LAN Attachment"

LIC, licensed internal code

can either refer to:

- any licensed application for a midrange machine - the low-level operating system that makes up OS/400; also called horizontal and vertical LIC in System/38 and CISC AS/400

LPAR, logical partition

analogous to a virtual machine

LPP, licensed purchased program

a software package purchased from IBM, i.e., OfficeVision

M

MAP, maintenance analysis procedure

a list of steps to follow when performing troubleshooting or maintenance on equpment

main storage

Random Access Memory, RAM - termed "main storage" because IBM's marketing department felt that calling it "memory" would imply that computers would just forget things like people do

main storage dump

a system crash - kernel panic, blue screen of death, etc.

main storage processor

Can refer to:

- the main processor in the System/3 - the userspace processor of the System/34 and the System/36

Shortened to just "processor" in AS/400

microcode

the underlying low-level kernel and system upon which System Support Program is based

midrange computer

What the rest of the industry called a minicomputer, a computer in between microcomputer and mainframe computer

MIM, maintenance information manual

service manual

N

nucleus

the kernel of the operating system

P

PASE, portable application solutions environment

the AIX-like execution environment for running POSIX-compatible programs on OS/400

planar, planar board

Motherboard

problem analysis

troubleshooting; can refer to the Problem Analysis, Repair, Parts manual or to Online Problem Analysis

PTF, program temporary fix

patches, bug fixes, updates - often derisively called "permanent temporary fix"

U

unit

refers to any drive with fixed or removable storage; i.e., disk unit, diskette unit, tape unit, optical unit

W

WAN

used to refer generically to any serial communications adapter or connection

workstation, work station

An interactive terminal consisting of display, input device, and keyboard