1.1 Glossary

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This document uses the following terms:

activation: In the DCOM protocol, a mechanism by which a client provides the CLSID of an object class and obtains an object, either from that object class or a class factory that is able to create such objects. For more information, see [MS-DCOM].

class identifier (CLSID): A GUID that identifies a software component; for instance, a DCOM object class or a COM class.

component: A representation of a constituent transport address if a candidate consists of a set of transport addresses. For example, media streams that are based on the Real-Time Transfer Protocol (RTP) have two components, one for RTP and another for the Real-Time Transfer Control Protocol (RTCP).

component configuration: A particular component configuration.

component configuration entry: An entry in the catalog that represents a particular configuration of a component.

component instance: An instantiation of a component.

conglomeration: A collection of component configuration entries, together with a component-independent configuration that is conceptually shared by the component configuration entries. A conglomeration is identified by a conglomeration identifier.

conglomeration identifier: A GUID that identifies a conglomeration.

container identifier: A GUID that identifies an instance container.

container legacy identifier: A nonzero integer that identifies an instance container.

container pooling: Enabling a conglomeration to support multiple concurrent instance containers.

distinguished container: The first instance container that is created in a given process.

dynamic endpoint: A network-specific server address that is requested and assigned at run time. For more information, see [C706].

globally unique identifier (GUID): A term used interchangeably with universally unique identifier (UUID) in Microsoft protocol technical documents (TDs). Interchanging the usage of these terms does not imply or require a specific algorithm or mechanism to generate the value. Specifically, the use of this term does not imply or require that the algorithms described in [RFC4122] or [C706] must be used for generating the GUID. See also universally unique identifier (UUID).

Instance container: A container for the instantiation of components that are configured in a single conglomeration.

instance pooling: The act of enabling component instances that are no longer active to return to a pool for reuse.

interface: A specification in a Component Object Model (COM) server that describes how to access the methods of a class. For more information, see [MS-DCOM].

Interface Definition Language (IDL): The International Standards Organization (ISO) standard language for specifying the interface for remote procedure calls. For more information, see [C706] section 4.

little-endian: Multiple-byte values that are byte-ordered with the least significant byte stored in the memory location with the lowest address.

method call: The act of a component instance executing a method as a result of a specific request from an external entity.

opnum: An operation number or numeric identifier that is used to identify a specific remote procedure call (RPC) method or a method in an interface. For more information, see [C706] section 12.5.2.12 or [MS-RPCE].

paused: A service that is not available because it has been placed in a suspended state, usually as a result of explicit administrative action.

pausing: Temporarily disabling the creation of new component instances in an instance container.

process: A context in which an instance container can be created, consisting of one or more threads of execution with a shared memory address space and shared security properties. A process is identified by a process identifier.

process dump: A mechanism for automatically gathering debugging data for a process into a file.

process identifier (PID): A nonzero integer used by some operating systems (for example, Windows and UNIX) to uniquely identify a process. For more information, see [PROCESS].

recycling: To permanently disable the creation of new component instances in an instance container.

release: The process of calling the third IUnknown method (IUnknown::Release()) on an object.

tracker event: A notification that a COM+ Tracker Service Protocol server sends to a client that contains relevant information about the status of component instances and instance containers on the server.

Unicode: A character encoding standard developed by the Unicode Consortium that represents almost all of the written languages of the world. The Unicode standard [UNICODE5.0.0/2007] provides three forms (UTF-8, UTF-16, and UTF-32) and seven schemes (UTF-8, UTF-16, UTF-16 BE, UTF-16 LE, UTF-32, UTF-32 LE, and UTF-32 BE).

Universal Naming Convention (UNC): A string format that specifies the location of a resource. For more information, see [MS-DTYP] section 2.2.57.

universally unique identifier (UUID): A 128-bit value. UUIDs can be used for multiple purposes, from tagging objects with an extremely short lifetime, to reliably identifying very persistent objects in cross-process communication such as client and server interfaces, manager entry-point vectors, and RPC objects. UUIDs are highly likely to be unique. UUIDs are also known as globally unique identifiers (GUIDs) and these terms are used interchangeably in the Microsoft protocol technical documents (TDs). Interchanging the usage of these terms does not imply or require a specific algorithm or mechanism to generate the UUID. Specifically, the use of this term does not imply or require that the algorithms described in [RFC4122] or [C706] must be used for generating the UUID.

MAY, SHOULD, MUST, SHOULD NOT, MUST NOT: These terms (in all caps) are used as defined in [RFC2119]. All statements of optional behavior use either MAY, SHOULD, or SHOULD NOT.