Dell Serial Attached SCSI Host Bus Adapter 5i Integrated and 5E Adapter - Manual (Page 54)

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Glossary
Driver
A device driver, often called a driver for short, is a
program that allows the operating system or some
other program to interface correctly with a peripheral
device such as a printer or network PC card. Some
device drivers, such as network drivers must be loaded
from the config.sys file (with a device= statement) or
as memory-resident programs (usually, from the
autoexec.bat file). Others such as video drivers must
load when you start the program for which they
were designed.
DUD (Driver Update Diskette)
Acronym for driver update diskette. A DUD is an
image of a diskette stored as a regular file. To use it,
you have to create a real diskette from this file. The
steps used to create the diskette depend on how the
image is supplied.
E
Enclosure
A structure, such as a system, which contains physical
disks that are grouped together to create virtual disks.
F
Firmware
Software stored in read-only memory (ROM) or
Programmable ROM (PROM). Firmware is often
responsible for the behavior of a system when it is first
turned on. A typical example would be a monitor
program in a system that loads the full operating
system from disk or from a network and then passes
control to the operating system.
Flash Memory
Flash memory is a compact, solid-state, rewriteable,
non-volatile memory device that retains its data when
the power is turned off. It offers fast access time, low
power consumption, and relative immunity to severe
shock or vibration. It is a special type of EEPROM
that can be erased and reprogrammed in blocks
instead of one byte at a time. Many modern PCs have
their BIOS stored on a flash memory chip so that it
can easily be updated if necessary. Such a BIOS is
sometimes called a flash BIOS.
H
Hardware
The mechanical, magnetic, electronic, and electrical
components making up a computer system constitutes
its hardware.
Host Bus Adapter (HBA)
HBA is an acronym for Host Bus Adapter. Adapter
cards typically install into a server's I/O bus and
connect the server to a storage device or storage
network. This is similar to the way an ethernet card
connects a computer to a network.
Hot Add/Remove
It is the addition/removal of a component while the
system is running and operating normally.
L
Link
A connection between any two PCI Express devices is
known as a link.
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