Windows Server 2003 Glossary - U

Article
10/08/2009

Applies To: Windows Server 2000, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

For more Windows Server terms, see the Windows Server 2008 Glossary.

Glossary - U

# A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

UAM

See other term: user authentication module (UAM)

UBR

See other term: unspecified bit rate (UBR)

UCS

See other term: Universal Character Set (UCS)

UCS Transformation Format 8 (UTF-8)

A character set for protocols evolving beyond the use of ASCII. The UTF-8 protocol provides for support of extended ASCII characters and translation of UCS-2, an international 16-bit Unicode character set. UTF-8 enables a far greater range of names than can be achieved using ASCII or extended ASCII encoding for character data.

See also: American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) Unicode Universal Character Set (UCS)

UDDI

See other term: Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI)

UDP

See other term: User Datagram Protocol (UDP)

UDP socket

A socket that transmits datagrams over the User Datagram Protocol (UDP).

See also: datagram socket User Datagram Protocol (UDP)

UID

See other term: user identifier (UID)

unallocated space

Available disk space that is not allocated to any volume. The type of volume that you can create on unallocated space depends on the disk type. On basic disks, you can use unallocated space to create primary or extended partitions. On dynamic disks, you can use unallocated space to create dynamic volumes.

See also: basic disk dynamic disk extended partition logical drive object partition primary partition volume

unattended Setup

An automated, hands-free method of installing Windows. During installation, unattended Setup uses an answer file to supply data to Setup instead of requiring that an administrator or end user interactively provide the answers.

UNC

See other term: Universal Naming Convention (UNC)

UNC (Universal Naming Convention) name

The full name of a resource on a network. It conforms to the \\servername\sharename syntax, where servername is the name of the server and sharename is the name of the shared resource. UNC names of directories or files can also include the directory path under the share name, with the following syntax: \\servername\sharename\directory\filename

UNI

See other term: user-to-network interface (UNI)

unicast

An address that identifies a specific, globally unique host.

Unicode

A character encoding standard developed by the Unicode Consortium that represents almost all of the written languages of the world. The Unicode character repertoire has multiple representation forms, including UTF-8, UTF-16, and UTF-32. Most Windows interfaces use the UTF-16 form.

See also: American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) UCS Transformation Format 8 (UTF-8) Universal Character Set (UCS)

Uniform Resource Identifier (URI)

A compact string of characters that identifies an abstract resource or physical resource. URIs are explained in RFC 2396. In Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS), URIs are used to uniquely identify partners and account stores.

uninstall

When referring to software, the act of removing program files and folders from your hard disk and removing related data from your registry so the software is no longer available. When referring to a device, the act of removing the corresponding device drivers from your hard disk and physically removing the device from your computer.

uninterruptible power supply (UPS)

A device that connects a computer and a power source to ensure that electrical flow is not interrupted. UPS devices use batteries to keep the computer running for a period of time after a power failure. UPS devices usually provide protection against power surges and brownouts as well.

Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART)

An integrated circuit (silicon chip) that is commonly used in microcomputers to provide asynchronous communication. The UART provides parallel-to-serial conversion of data to be transmitted and serial-to-parallel conversion of data received.

Universal Character Set (UCS)

An international standard character set reference that is part of the Unicode standard. The most widely held existing version of the UCS standard is UCS-2, which specifies 16-bit character values currently accepted and recognized for use to encode most of the world`s languages.

See also: American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) UCS Transformation Format 8 (UTF-8) Unicode

Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI)

An industry specification for publishing and locating information about Web services. UDDI defines a standards-based way to store and retrieve information about Web services, Web service providers, binding information, and technical interface definitions—all classified using a set of standard or custom classification schemes.

universal group

A security or distribution group that can contain users, groups, and computers from any domain in its forest as members. Universal security groups can be granted rights and permissions on resources in any domain in the forest.

See also: distribution group domain forest security group

Universal Naming Convention (UNC)

A convention for naming files and other resources beginning with two backslashes (\), indicating that the resource exists on a network computer. UNC names conform to the \\%SERVERNAME%\%SHARENAME% syntax, where %SERVERNAME% is the server's name and %SHARENAME% is the name of the shared resource. The UNC name of a directory or file can also include the directory path after the share name, by using the following syntax: \\%SERVERNAME%\%SHARENAME\%DIRECTORY%\%FILENAME%.

universal serial bus (USB)

An external bus that supports Plug and Play installation. Using USB, you can connect and disconnect devices without shutting down or restarting your computer. You can use a single USB port to connect up to 127 peripheral devices, including speakers, telephones, CD-ROM drives, joysticks, tape drives, keyboards, scanners, and cameras. A USB port is usually located on the back of your computer near the serial port or parallel port.

UNIX file permissions

A set of permissions that describes the access rights to a UNIX file or directory for the file owner, the group owner, and other users. Every UNIX file and directory possesses a set of permissions, and each user can have any combination of read, write, or execute access.

unsigned driver

A driver that is not supported and that is not certified to work with a particular version of Windows.

See also: signed driver Windows Logo Program

unspecified bit rate (UBR)

An asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) service type that does not include any service guarantees.

See also: asynchronous transfer mode (ATM)

upcasing

The method of case-insensitive handling for network basic input/output system (NetBIOS) names. Upcasing is used by Windows to convert any lowercase letters entered in NetBIOS names to equivalent uppercase letters. For example, the name host1 is case-converted to HOST1.

See also: downcasing network basic input/output system (NetBIOS)

upgrade

When referring to software, to update existing program files, folders, and registry entries to a more recent version. Upgrading, unlike performing a new installation, leaves existing settings and files in place.

UPN

See other term: user principal name (UPN)

UPS

See other term: uninterruptible power supply (UPS)

UPS service

A service that manages an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) connected to a computer.

See also: service uninterruptible power supply (UPS)

USB

See other term: universal serial bus (USB)

user account

In Active Directory, an object that consists of all the information that defines a domain user, which includes user name, password, and groups in which the user account has membership. User accounts can be stored in either Active Directory or on your local computer. For computers running Windows XP Professional and member servers running Windows Server 2003, use Local Users and Groups to manage local user accounts. For domain controllers running Windows Server 2003, use Active Directory Users and Computers to manage domain user accounts.

See also: Active Directory group member server object password user name

user authentication module (UAM)

A software component that prompts clients for their user names and passwords.

user class

An administrative feature that allows DHCP clients to be grouped logically according to a shared or common need. For example, a user class can be defined and used to allow similar DHCP leased configuration for all client computers in a specific building or site location.

See also: DHCP client Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) lease

User Datagram Protocol (UDP)

A transport layer protocol that offers a connectionless datagram service that guarantees neither delivery nor correct sequencing of delivered packets (much like Internet Protocol (IP)), but provides a payload checksum and upper layer protocol identification that uses source and destination ports.

See also: datagram Internet Protocol (IP) packet service Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

user identifier (UID)

An identifier assigned to a user within UNIX. A user can only have one UID.

user mode

The processing mode in which applications run.

user name

A unique name identifying a user account to Windows. An account's user name must be unique among the other group names and user names within its own domain or workgroup.

USER object

An object from Window Manager, which includes windows, menus, cursors, icons, hooks, accelerators, monitors, keyboard layouts, and other internal objects. In Task Manager, the number of USER objects currently being used by a process.

user password

The password stored in each user's account. Each user generally has a unique user password and must type that password when logging on or accessing a server.

user principal name (UPN)

A user account name (sometimes referred to as the user logon name) and a domain name identifying the domain in which the user account is located. This is the standard usage for logging on to a Windows domain. The format is as follows: someone@example.com (as for an e-mail address).

See also: domain domain name user principal name (UPN) suffix

user principal name (UPN) suffix

The part of the user principal name (UPN) to the right of the @ character. The default UPN suffix for a user account is the DNS domain name of the domain that contains the user account. Alternative UPN suffixes may be added to simplify administration and user logon processes by providing a single UPN suffix for all users. The UPN suffix is only used within the Active Directory forest, and it is not required to be a valid DNS domain name.

See also: Active Directory domain domain name Domain Name System (DNS) forest user account user principal name (UPN)

user profile

A file that contains configuration information for a specific user, such as desktop settings, persistent network connections, and application settings. Each user's preferences are saved to a user profile that Windows uses to configure the desktop each time that a user logs on.

user rights

Tasks that a user is permitted to perform on a computer system or domain. There are two types of user rights: privileges and logon rights. An example of a privilege is the right to shut down the system. An example of a logon right is the right to log on to a computer locally. Both types are assigned by administrators to individual users or groups as part of the security settings for the computer.

See also: domain group logon rights privilege

user rights policy

Security settings that manage the assignment of rights to groups and user accounts.

See also: group user account user rights

user-to-network interface (UNI)

The interface between asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) users or end stations and an ATM switch or network. The UNI is defined in the ATM Forum UNI documents.