Monday, October 6, 2003		ITerminology

Lights-out server room
Also called a lights-out datacentre, a room that contains a number of servers under lock and key and kept in the dark and under normal operation is not entered by human administrators. All operations in the room are automated. The computers in a lights-out server room typically are controlled by the use of KVM switches to help ensure the security of the locked room.

Faceplate
A metal plate that fits over a motherboard’s ports to supply a secure casing around the ports. A motherboard’s faceplate helps keep the motherboard enclosed within a PC and helps prevent dust from accumulating on the motherboard. Some manufacturers provide faceplates with motherboards and others do not. Faceplates typically are installed into the back of a computer’s case. The term is also spelt as two words — face plate.

Target initiated termination
A mechanism of the PCI standard where the target of a data transfer is given the ability to terminate a data transfer between it and the bus master if the target device monopolises the bus due to slow access time. Access time is measured in clock cycles, and the target will abort the data transfer once a predetermined number of clock cycles has been exceeded. The initial data transfer is allowed 16 clock cycles, and subsequent data transfers are allowed eight clock cycles. The target device will also terminate the transfer if it detects a collision on the bus. After the transfer has been terminated, the target device will issue a retry request to the PCI bus master.