Glossary
- Extension Mode Snap-In
- A Snap-In that provides functionality only when invoked by a parent Snap-In. Extension Snap-Ins can add nodes to the namespace, or just extend existing nodes with new menus, toolbars, property pages, wizards, or Help.
- .MSC file
- A "Management Saved Console" file that constitutes a tool. Once an administrator has assembled a tool using various Snap-Ins, the administrator can save the tool to an .MSC file. The .MSC file persists the tool so that it can be opened and used again later. An .MSC file can passed on to another administrator. Any administrator can open the .MSC file in MMC, causing the tool to be loaded.
- Multiple Document Interface (MDI)
- An interface that supports multiple simultaneous views, or windows. SDI, or Single Document Interface (Internet Explorer, for example), does not support multiple views.
- Package
- A collection of Snap-Ins collected into a unit for shipment by a software vendor.
- MMC
- Microsoft's general, ISV-extensible common management console, planned to ship in the next major release of Windows NT. The MMC console itself is a Windows-based multiple document interface (MDI) application. MMC itself provides no management behavior, but instead provides a common environment for the Snap-Ins, which provide the actual management functionality.
- Mode of Extensibility
- Behavior that a Snap-In provides, extending the console with more functionality. Microsoft has defined several modes of extensibility, and every Snap-In must provide at least one of those modes.
- Namespace
- A tree-formatted, ordered listing of all the nodes available in the current tool. The display of the namespace is similar to a folder and directory structure on a hard drive.
- Node
- Any manageable object, task, or view. Examples of nodes include computers, users, and web pages.
- Slate
- Slate is the code name for the Microsoft Management Console. (This is unrelated to the online magazine of the same name).
- Snap-In
- Software that makes up the smallest unit of console extension. One Snap-In represents one unit of management behavior (for example, the Windows NT event log viewer is a functional unit of management, and thus a good candidate to become a Snap-In). Technically, Snap-Ins are OLE In-proc servers.
- Stand-alone Mode Snap-In
- A Snap-In that provides functionality even if loaded alone in a console that has no other Snap-Ins.
- Tool
- An assembly of multiple Snap-Ins into a single console. A tool contains and provides all the management behavior represented by all the Snap-Ins contained in the tool. A tool can be saved (in an .MSC file) and reloaded. A tool is also called a document.