C

certificate authority

challenge/response authentication

client computer

client/server

Component Object Model (COM)

Component Object Model Transaction Integrator (COMTI)

cookie

cursor

Customer Information Control System (CICS)

certificate authority

An entity that issues certificates attesting to the identity of a person or an organization. The certificate authority accepts requests for certificates, confirms that the information provided in the request is accurate, and then returns a certificate to the person requesting it. The requester must provide their public key, and whatever additional information is required by the certificate authority. A certificate authority might be a separate company (such as VeriSign), or it might exist internally, such a corporate MIS department.

challenge/response authentication

A security mechanism in which a client computer uses its established user logon information to identify itself to the server computer. The user is not prompted to enter these user credentials. Instead, the information is available after the user first logs on to a Microsoft® Windows NT®-based computer.

client computer

A computer that accesses shared network resources provided by another computer (called a server). Also referred to as a workstation or client machine.

client/server

A term generally applied to a software architecture in which processing functions are segmented into independent collections of services and requestors on a single machine or segmented among several machines. One or more processing servers provide a set of services to other clients on the same or across multiple platforms. A server completely encapsulates its processing and presents a well-defined interface for clients.

Component Object Model (COM)

An object-oriented programming model for building software applications made up of modular components. COM allows different software modules, written without information about each other, to work together as a single application. COM enables software components to access software services provided by other components, regardless of whether they involve local function calls, operating system calls, or network communications.

Component Object Model Transaction Integrator (COMTI)

A generic proxy that handles communications between the Windows NT platform and mainframe computers. COMTI intercepts and converts object method calls sent to a mainframe computer, and redirects those calls to the appropriate mainframe program. COMTI also handles the return of all output parameters and return values from the mainframe. COMTI does this processing on a computer running Windows NT Server, rather than on the mainframe.

cookie

A small packet of information used to store persistent state information on the user's computer.

cursor

In database technology, a piece of software that returns rows of data to the requesting application. A cursor keeps track of the position in the result set, and multiple operations can be performed row by row against a result set with or without returning to the original table. In other words, cursors conceptually return a result set based on tables within the databases. The cursor is so named because it indicates the current position in the result set, just as the cursor on a computer screen indicates current position.

Customer Information Control System (CICS)

A transaction system developed by IBM used for accessing data and program processes on a mainframe computer.