Glossary

This glossary provides terms and definitions for the IBM Control Center Monitor software and products.

The following cross-references are used in this glossary:

See refers you from a nonpreferred term to the preferred term or from an abbreviation to the spelled-out form.
See also refers you to a related or contrasting term.

For other terms and definitions, see the IBM Terminology website (opens in new window).

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N P R S T V W

A

action: A defined task that an application performs on an object as a result of an event. See also rule.
active alert: An alert that is active and needs to be handled.
adapter: An intermediary software component that allows two other software components to communicate with one another.
Adapter Status Monitor: An entity that displays summary information about Sterling B2B Integrator adapters that are running on Sterling B2B Integrator servers. Adapter and perimeter server properties can also be viewed through the Adapter Status Monitor.
agent: A process that performs an action on behalf of a user or other program without user intervention or on a regular schedule, and reports the results back to the user or program.
alert: A message or other indication that signals an event or an impending event that meets a set of specified criteria. See also rule.
API reference: REST API documentation where certain services can be created, read, updated, and deleted.
argument: A value passed to or returned from a function or procedure at run time.
asset tracking: See guided node discovery.
audit log: A log that maintains the history of all commands that modify metadata or configuration data and significant operations, including commands that would have made a change but failed to do so.

B

batch: A group of records or data processing jobs brought together for processing or transmission.
bin: A disk folder that contains executables or script files.
business objective: A high-level business goal. Because business objectives are typically abstract, they are difficult to measure and are therefore translated into more measurable lower-level business goals.
business process: A defined set of business activities that represent the required steps to achieve a business objective. A business process includes the flow and use of information and resources.

C

calendar schedule: A schedule that defines both the days and time that processing occurs. For example, one could use a calendar schedule to make sure that a process runs every Tuesday starting between 19:00 and 19:30 and ending between midnight and 00:30.
certificate: A digital document that binds a public key to the identity of the certificate owner, thereby enabling the certificate owner to be authenticated. A certificate is issued by a certificate authority and is digitally signed by that authority.
cipher suite: The combination of authentication, key exchange algorithm, and the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) cipher specification used for the secure exchange of data.
cloud: A network that delivers requested virtual resources as a service.
cluster: A collection of complete systems that work together to provide a single, unified computing capability.
component: A reusable object or program that performs a specific function and works with other components and applications.
Configuration Manager: The component that provides an interface between the workbench and a set of runtime brokers. It provides brokers with their initial configuration, and updates them with any subsequent changes. It maintains the broker domain configuration.
controller EP: See controller event processor.
controller event processor (controller EP): A designation given to a specific event processor that performs functions that cannot be split up, such as SLC event processing and executing configuration jobs. There will always be one and only one controller event processor, which is the first event processor to start up, in any given IBM Control Center deployment.
correlator: In Sterling Control Center, a feature that associates multiple milestones within a workflow.

D

daemon: A program that runs unattended to perform continuous or periodic functions, such as network control.
database partitioning: A portion of the database that contains user data and indexes. There can be multiple database partitions in a partitioned database environment.
data visibility group (DVG): In Sterling Control Center, a user defined group that limits the events (data) that a specific user can monitor. See also data visibility group criteria.
data visibility group criteria (DVG criteria): A set of parameters that are used to define data visibility groups (DVGs). See also data visibility group.
duration schedule: A schedule that uses a minimum duration and a maximum duration to define a processing window. Duration schedules are also used to identify what percentage of a service level criteria has been processed. See also service level criteria.
DVG: See data visibility group.
DVG criteria: See data visibility group criteria.
dynamically discovered server: A server that is on-boarded automatically after it starts posting events to IBM Control Center. See also dynamic discovery.
dynamic discovery: The process of automatically on-boarding a server after it starts posting events to IBM Control Center. See also dynamically discovered server.

E

engine status monitor: An entity that shows information about the engines on the selected Sterling Secure Proxy server.
Environmental Health widget: A widget that provides an aggregated health status of the servers in an environment. It shows a node, adapter (for Sterling B2B Integrator), or daemon (for Sterling Connect:Enterprise) chart for each server type in the environment.
event: An occurrence of significance to a task or system. Events can include completion or failure of an operation, a user action, or the change in state of a process.
event processor: A processor that manages and monitors multiple servers and processes events from the monitored servers. See also Sterling Control Center engine.
exception: A condition or event that cannot be handled by a normal process.
expression: In programming languages, a combination of terms and operators that can be evaluated to a single value by using the rules of precedence for the given language.
External Authentication Server: A server that can be used to implement extended authentication and validation services for IBM products, called client applications. Sterling External Authentication Server includes a server that client applications connect to and a GUI to configure Sterling External Authentication Server requirements.

F

failover: An automatic operation that switches to a redundant or standby system or node in the event of a software, hardware, or network interruption.
FASP: See Fast and Secure Protocol.
Fast and Secure Protocol (FASP): A UDP-based transport layer protocol that eliminates the fundamental shortcomings of conventional, TCP-based file transfer technologies such as FTP and HTTP.
file transfer: The transfer of one or more files from one system to another over a data link.
file transfer summarization: The reduction of a file transfer from a series of events to a single, data-rich summary record. See also process summarization, summary record.

G

guided node discovery: In Sterling Control Center, a feature that locates other Sterling Connect:Direct servers that communicate with the Sterling Connect:Direct server. See also network map.

H

HA

See high availability.

handled alert

An alert that has been viewed and designated as handled.

high availability (HA)

The ability of IT services to withstand all outages and continue providing processing capability according to some predefined service level. Covered outages include both planned events, such as maintenance and backups, and unplanned events, such as software failures, hardware failures, power failures, and disasters.
Pertaining to a clustered system that is reconfigured when node or daemon failures occur so that workloads can be redistributed to the remaining nodes in the cluster.

high-water mark

The highest number of concurrent sessions reached over a specified time period.

host

A computer that is connected to a network and that provides an access point to that network. The host can be a client, a server, or both a client and server simultaneously.

I

interactive console: A console that can be used to build and test REST APIs from a web browser.

J

Java runtime environment (JRE): A subset of a Java developer kit that contains the core executable programs and files that constitute the standard Java platform. The JRE includes the Java virtual machine (JVM), core classes, and supporting files.
jeopardy list: A list of message IDs that can be produced with Service Level Criteria (SLC) events that might indicate a potential failure to meet the criteria for a Service Level Agreement (SLA).
jeopardy message: A message that signals that a milestone is in danger of failing to complete as scheduled due to a problem with this milestone or a previous milestone.
JRE: See Java runtime environment.

K

keystore: In security, a file or a hardware cryptographic card where identities and private keys are stored, for authentication and encryption purposes. Some keystores also contain trusted or public keys. See also truststore.

L

linked rule: A regular rule that specifies a second set of criteria and two additional actions: one that is performed when the second condition is met and one that is performed when the second condition is not met, within the resolution time specified. For example, if a server is down , take no action. If that server is down for more than five minutes, send an email notification.
load balancer: Software or hardware that distributes workload across a set of servers to ensure that servers are not overloaded. The load balancer also directs users to another server if the initial server fails. See also load balancing.
load balancing: The even distribution of a load across several components of the system. See also load balancer.

M

manually defined server: A server that must be manually defined in the IBM Control Center console before it can be monitored through polling or listening for events.
metadata: Data that describes the characteristics of data; descriptive data.
milestone: A significant event in a project or process that is used to determine progress toward goals.

N

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST): A U.S. government agency that supports industry, commerce, scientific institutions, and all branches of U.S. Government in advancing measurement science and developing standards. NIST was formerly known as the National Bureau of Standards (NBS).
netmap: See network map.
network map (netmap): A configuration file that defines the nodes in the network and the communication information of the nodes. See also guided node discovery.
NIST: See National Institute of Standards and Technology.

P

passphrase: A sequence of words or other text used to control access to a computer system, program or data. A passphrase is similar to a password in usage, but is generally longer for added security.
password policy: A policy that governs frequency of password change and password strength.
permissible object: A Sterling Control Center building block to which restricted roles can be assigned. Permissible objects have both use and visibility (private or public) aspects controlled by user roles.
poll: To repeatedly request data from a server.
process data: Data that is accumulated in an XML document about a business process during the life of the process. Activities in the process add elements to the process data and use components of the process data to complete configured processing tasks.
process summarization: The reduction of a process from a series of events to a single, data-rich summary record. See also file transfer summarization, summary record.
production database: A database in which Sterling Control Center records the information gathered from the monitored servers for historical purposes (for example, ad hoc select statistics and user reports).
purge: The process by which old data is removed from the system database. Purges minimize the number of unused database records to increase search efficiency and reduce the size of the required physical disk.

R

RC: See return code.
Recent File Transfer Activity widget: A widget that provides a graph that depicts volume of file transfers over time for each type of monitored server. From the widget, a list of transfers for each server type can be accessed to troubleshoot server issues.
regex: See regular expression.
regular expression (regex): A set of characters, meta characters, and operators that define a string or group of strings in a search pattern.
REST API: An application programming interface that defines the architectural design principals used to create web services.
return code (RC): A value returned by a program to indicate the result of its processing. Completion codes and reason codes are examples of return codes.
rule: A list of conditions and actions that are triggered when certain conditions are met. Conditions include attributes about an object (file name, type or extension, dates, owner, and groups), the requesting client, and the container name associated with the object. See also action, alert.

S

schedule: The time-based constraints for when events will be matched against a rule or SLC and when they will not. Schedules are also used to tell when to run an automated report.
script: A series of commands, combined in a file, that carry out a particular function when the file is run. Scripts are interpreted as they are run.
Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA): An encryption method in which data is encrypted in a way that is mathematically impossible to reverse. Different data can possibly produce the same hash value, but there is no way to use the hash value to determine the original data.
service level criteria (SLC): A set of performance objectives that require processing to occur within a certain time period. See also duration schedule, simple SLC, standard SLC, wildcard SLC, workflow SLC.
SHA: See Secure Hash Algorithm.
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP): A set of protocols for monitoring systems and devices in complex networks. Information about managed devices is defined and stored in a Management Information Base (MIB). See also SNMP trap.
simple SLC: An SLC that is created by specifying values for basic parameters and giving the SLC a name and a description. When a simple SLC is created, all of the necessary supporting objects are also created. See also service level criteria, standard SLC, wildcard SLC, workflow SLC.
SLC: See service level criteria.
SMF record: A collection of information about capacity and system management that is written to a Systems Management Facility (SMF) data set. Each SMF record includes information about the system's configuration, paging activity, and workload.
SNMP: See Simple Network Management Protocol.
SNMP trap: An SNMP message sent from the SNMP agent to the SNMP manager. The message is initiated by the SNMP agent and is not a response to a message sent from the SNMP manager. See also Simple Network Management Protocol.
standard SLC: An SLC that one can use to monitor elements using specific criteria, such as process names and file names. See also service level criteria, simple SLC, wildcard SLC, workflow SLC.
Sterling Control Center engine: The server portion of Sterling Control Center that is installed on a network computer. See also event processor.
summary record: A single record (or document) that provides an "at a glance" summary view of a process or file transfer. Summary records dramatically reduce number of records that IBM Control Center must process when searching for file transfers and completed processes. See also file transfer summarization, process summarization.

T

tag label: A user-defined tag that can be selected to map specific data elements from specific events to specific user-defined fields.
tag mapping: The specific data element from a series of events that should be extracted and used to populate one of the tags for a process or file transfer summary record.
Transfer Scorecard widget: A widget that displays the percentage of failed file transfers for the servers a user has permission to view.
truststore: In security, a storage object, either a file or a hardware cryptographic card, where public keys are stored in the form of trusted certificates, for authentication purposes in web transactions. In some applications, these trusted certificates are moved into the application keystore to be stored with the private keys. See also keystore.

V

W

web console: An IBM Control Center web client that is used to monitor activity and status, manage IBM Control Center config objects (subset of classic console), interact with content to plan and analyze data, and run reports. The dashboard and workspaces are accessed in the web console.
wildcard SLC: An SLC that can be used to monitor elements, which can contain multiple values. For example, a wildcard SLC is used when the user does not know the specific name of an element, but there is a recognizable pattern for the data, such as all process names begin with "PAY." See also service level criteria, simple SLC, standard SLC, workflow SLC.
workflow SLC: An SLC that one can use to monitor the flow of logically related processes or process steps by tracking them as milestones in a workflow. For example, a workflow SLC can monitor a transaction consisting of three processes, all of which must finish within three hours of the first process’ initiation. See also service level criteria, simple SLC, standard SLC, wildcard SLC.