1.1 Glossary

This document uses the following terms:

acceptor: A participant that receives a session or connection request. This role is also known as the "subordinate".

application protocol: A network protocol that operates in the application layer at the top of the OSI model. It visibly accomplishes the task that the user or other agent wants to perform. This is distinguished from all manner of support protocols: from Ethernet or IP at the bottom to security and routing protocols. While necessary, these are not always visible to the user. Application protocols include, for instance, HTTP and Server Message Block (SMB).

authentication: The act of proving an identity to a server while providing key material that binds the identity to subsequent communications.

checksum: A value that is the summation of a byte stream. By comparing the checksums computed from a data item at two different times, one can quickly assess whether the data items are identical.

datagram: A style of communication offered by a network transport protocol where each message is contained within a single network packet. In this style, there is no requirement for establishing a session prior to communication, as opposed to a connection-oriented style.

Generic Security Services (GSS): An Internet standard, as described in [RFC2743], for providing security services to applications. It consists of an application programming interface (GSS-API) set, as well as standards that describe the structure of the security data.

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).

initiator: An actor who starts an action instance.

object identifier (OID): In the context of an object server, a 64-bit number that uniquely identifies an object.

security protocol: A protocol that performs authentication and possibly additional security services on a network.

security token: An opaque message or data packet produced by a Generic Security Services (GSS)-style authentication package and carried by the application protocol. The application has no visibility into the contents of the token.

Simple and Protected GSS-API Negotiation Mechanism (SPNEGO): An authentication mechanism that allows Generic Security Services (GSS) peers to determine whether their credentials support a common set of GSS-API security mechanisms, to negotiate different options within a given security mechanism or different options from several security mechanisms, to select a service, and to establish a security context among themselves using that service. SPNEGO is specified in [RFC4178].

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.