Object — (1)Any item that you can manipulate or modify as a whole. On a more detailed level, an object is a software service provider that encapsulates both the algorithm and the data structures necessary to provide a service. Usually, objects can inherit data and functionality from their parent objects, thus allowing complex services to be constructed from simpler objects. The term object oriented implies a tight relationship between algorithms and data structures. It can be summed up as any piece of information, created by using a Windows-based application, that can be linked or embedded into another document. For example, a single cell, a range of cells, or an entire spreadsheet could be embedded as an object in a word processing text file. See also embedded object; linked object. (2) Objects make up the NDS tree. They contain information about a network resource (e.g. a user, group, server, volume, printer, or print queue) and are represented as records in the NDS database.

Object application — An application that acts as a server to provide various data objects to be included in a compound document

Object handler — A dynamic-link library for an OLE server application. This DLL acts as an intermediary between the client and server applications; for example, to improve performance when it’s necessary to redraw an object in the window of the client application.

Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) — An enhancement to DDE protocol that allows you to embed or link data created in one application in a document created in another application, and subsequently edit that data in the original application without leaving the compound document. See also embedded object; linked object.

Object Rights — NDS rights to view, create, delete, or rename the object.

Obj-oriented Application — A common type of workgroup application that combines smaller programs (objects) to accomplish complex tasks. Communications between objects are handled by message service agents.

OC-3 — A transmission standard used with ATM links with data transfer rates of about 155Mbps.

Octet — In programming, an octet refers to eight bits or one byte. IP addresses, for example, are typically represented in dotted-decimal notation, that is, with the decimal value of each octet of the address separated by a period. See also IP address.

OEM — An abbreviation for original equipment manufacturer.

Offset — When specifying a filter in Windows NT Network Monitor based on a pattern match (which limits the capture to only those frames containing a specific pattern of ASCII or hexadecimal data), you must specify where the pattern occurs in the frame. This number of bytes (from the beginning or end of the frame) is known as an offset. See also frame; hexadecimal.

One-way trust relationship — One domain (the trusting domain) "trusts" the domain controllers in the other domain (the trusted domain) to authenticate user accounts from the trusted domain to use resources in the trusting domain. See also trust relationship; user account.

OnNow — A design initiative that seeks to create all the components required for a comprehensive, system-wide approach to system and device power control. OnNow is a term for a PC that is always on but appears off and that responds immediately to user or other requests

Open — To display the contents of a directory, a document, or a data file in a window.

Open Datalink Interface (ODI) — A specification defined by Novell and Apple Computer to provide a protocol and API for communicating with network adapter drivers, and to support the use of multiple protocols by a network adapter driver

Open Data-Link Interface. — An architecture that supports multiple transport protocols (e.g. IPX/SPX, TCP/IP) in a single workstation or on a single server. ODI allows multiple transport protocols to share the same network board without conflict.

Open Files — The number of open files that are being accessed by the server and clients.

Open Graphics Language (OpenGL) — A standard interface for the presentation of two-dimensional and three-dimensional visual data.

Open Group, The — Parent company of a number of standards organizations including The Active Group—now managing the core ActiveX technology, X/Open, and OSF

Open Software Foundation (OSF) — A consortium of computing industry vendors organized to develop an open, UNIX-based operating system standard. OSF’s first operating system release, called OSF/1, is built on the IBM UNIX-based AIX kernel and the Motif graphical user interface.

Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) — Reference model developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) that provides a framework (functional guideline) for defining standards to connect heterogeneous (dissimilar) computers. This ISO publication defines seven independent layers of communication protocols. Each layer enhances the communication services of the layer just below it and shields the layer above it from the implementation details of the lower layer. In theory, this allows communication systems to be built from independently developed layers.

Open Systems Interconnect Model (OSI Model) — A model for network component interoperability developed by the International Standards Organization to promote cross vendor compatibility of hardware and software network systems. The OSI model splits the process of networking into seven distinct services (Physical Layer, Data Link Layer, Network Layer, Transport Layer, Session Layer, Presentation Layer, and Application Layer). Each layer uses the services of the layer below to provide its service to the layer above.

OpenType — A font specification for Windows 98 that extends the TrueType font standard by adding tables containing information for advanced multilingual typesetting and typographic control

Operating System — A collection of services that form a foundation upon which applications run. It is the software that governs the operation of a computer, providing services such as resource allocation, scheduling, input/output control, and data management. Operating systems may be simple I/O service providers with a command shell, such as MS-DOS, or they may be sophisticated, preemptive, multitasking, multiprocessing applications platforms like Windows NT. Other popular PC operating systems include MS-DOS, Macintosh and UNIX.

Optical Disk — A high capacity storage medium which can be one- or two-sided, and read-only or read/write.

Optimization — Any effort to reduce the workload on a hardware component by eliminating, obviating, or reducing the amount of work required of the hardware component through any means. For instance, file caching is an optimization that reduces the workload of a hard disk drive.

Option Button — In a dialog box, a circular button you use to select one option from within a group of option buttons.

Option ROM — Optional read-only memory found on PC bus expansion cards. This ROM usually contains additional firmware required to properly boot the peripheral connected to the expansion card, for instance, a hard drive. Also referred to as an expansion ROM

Ordered Delivery — A function of protocols used at the receiving station to rearrange the Protocol Data Units in the same order they have been sent.

Org Role Object — Organizational Role Object.A leaf object representing a position that can be filled by a succession of people, for example, a backup operator role can be occupied by different people at different times.

Org Unit Object — Organizational Unit Object. A type of container object that specifies the units within an organization, for example, accounting department and sales department.

Organization Chart — Document that provides information about major divisions and workgroups.

Organization Object — A type of container object that specifies the organization, for example, PCAGE.

Organizational Command — A NetWare NMENU source command that defines the structure of the menu.

Original Cache Buffers — The number of cache buffers available for file caching when server is booted.

Orphan — A member of a mirror set or a stripe set with parity that has failed in a severe manner, such as in a loss of power or a complete head crash. When this happens, the fault-tolerance driver determines that it can no longer use the orphaned member and directs all new reads and writes to the remaining members of the fault-tolerance volume. See also fault tolerance; mirror set; stripe set with parity.

Orphaned member — See orphan.

OS Migration — Operating System Migration.The conversion of servers to NetWare 4 from the previous versions of NetWare. It is not the same as data migration.

OSI — Acronym for Open Systems Interconnection model. TCP/IP protocols map to a four-layered conceptual model consisting of Application, Transport, Internet, and Network Interface. Each layer in this TCP/IP model corresponds to one or more layers of the International Standards Organization (ISO) seven-layer OSI model consisting of Application, Presentation, Session, Transport, Network, Data-link, and Physical. See also ISO, Open Systems Interconnection (Reference Model)

OSP — Operating System Protected Domain. A protected memory area that protects, server crash by misbehaved NLMs which can overwrite memory used by the operating system.

OSPF — Open Shortest Path First. OSPF is a Network layer protocol which uses the link-state route discovery method.

Out-of-band signaling — Signaling that uses a portion of the channel bandwidth provided by the transmission medium, e.g. , the carrier channel, which portion is above the highest frequency used by, and is denied to, the speech or intelligence path by filters. Note: Out-of-band signaling results in a lowered high-frequency cutoff of the effective available bandwidth.

Overloaded Server — A typical Ethernet error that occurs when a server cannot immediately process a request from a client.

Oversized Packets — A typical Ethernet error that occurs when the packets received are larger than the 1518 bytes maximum used by Ethernet with a good FCS (Frame Check Sequence).

Owner — In Windows NT, every file and directory on an NTFS volume has an owner, who controls how permissions are set on the file or directory and who can grant permissions to others. In the Macintosh environment, an owner is the user responsible for setting permissions for a folder on a server. A Macintosh user who creates a folder on the server automatically becomes the owner of the folder. The owner can transfer ownership to someone else. Each Macintosh-accessible volume on the server also has an owner.