Appendix
C
Glossary
AFP
:
AppleTalk Filing Protocol, is the standard way Mac OS 9 and earlier share files
across the network.
CIFS
:
Common Internet File System, a standard protocol that Windows users use to
share files across the network. Mac OS X also has the capability to share files
using CIFS.
FTP
:
File Transfer Protocol, a common protocol adopted by many OS to enable
remote file download and upload for public sharing.
HTTP
:
Hypertext Transfer Protocol, the protocol web browsers use to connect to web
servers for file access, typically web pages.
HTTPS
:
HTTP with SSL encryption, is used where secure web access is desired.
NFS
:
Network File System, a common way Unix and Linux systems share files by
making remote file systems appear to reside locally.
Quota
:
Amount of volume space allocated to a particular user or group account, or to a
particular share. The user, group, or share with a set quota cannot exceed disk
usage beyond this limit. Quota is typically specified to ensure no one user, group,
or share will abuse the available storage space.
RAID
: Acronym
for
R
edundant
A
rray of
I
ndependent
D
isks. Basically it is a method of
storing data on multiple disks in a way that if one disk fails, data can still be
accessed from the other disk(s). A RAID level selects how data will be kept
redundant, the most popular of which are levels 0, 1, and 5. Contrary to the
RAID acronym, RAID level 0 does not provide any redundancy. For more info,
see
RAID Levels Simplified
in
Appendix A
.
Share
:
A folder on a NAS volume that can be shared amongst different network file
services such as CIFS for Windows, AFP (AppleTalk File Protocol) for Macs,
NFS for Unix/Linux, FTP, and HTTP. Access to the share can be customized
on a user/group/host-level basis.
Snapshot
:
An instantaneous, non-changing, read-only image of a volume. Snapshots are
useful for backups during which time the original volume can continue to operate
normally. Snapshots can also be utilized as a temporary backup against viruses.
Files can be restored from the snapshot volume if current files are corrupted.
Volume
:
A filesystem built on top of a RAID set. This filesystem consists of shares that
are made available through various network file services.
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