Sybase ADAPTIVE 15.0.2 - Manual (Page 20)

Product components
4 Adaptive Server Enterprise
The heart of Adaptive Server is the SQL/DBMS engine. The SQL/DBMS
engine processes data manipulation statements (DML), utility commands,
which are generally data definition statements (DDL) and administrative
functions, and performs stored procedure executions. The DBMS engine uses
the services provided by the resource manager routines and the access methods
routines.
A resource manager is a set of subroutines that manage a particular system
resource, such as pages, buffers, or a particular data structure. The DBMS
engine uses these subroutines to manipulate various system resources. There
are also a number of tasks within the server that perform specialized tasks. The
resource managers, as well as these specialized tasks, rely on the kernel layer
for low-level functions.
Access methods have two primary functions: the management of data on disk
and manipulation of database constructs, such as tables and rows. Actual disk
I/O routines are provided to the access methods routines by the kernel disk I/O
routines.
Backup Server
Like Adaptive Server, Backup Server is also an operating system process.
Backup Server is dedicated to backing up and restoring Adaptive Server files.
Clients do not communicate directly with Backup Server. Only Adaptive
Server communicates with Backup Server.
Stored procedures
Stored procedures encapsulate a series of SQL commands that the server can
execute as a single command. System stored procedures (SSPs) are created
when the server is installed.
The client
A client uses functions provided by the CT-Library (CT-Lib) and Common
Library (CS-Lib) APIs to establish a connection to the server, submit requests
to the server, and receive results back from the server.