Arcati Mainframe Yearbook 2019 Compiled by Trevor Eddolls of GlossaryiTech-Ed Glossary of Terminology Definitions of some mainframe-related terms This glossary is intended as an aide memoire for experienced mainframers and a useful reference for those new to the z/OS world. If you would like to suggest any new entries for the next edition, please send them to
[email protected] (we will even list you as a contributor!). 3270 Access method IBM’s family of dumb, block-mode synchronous screen IBM-specific jargon for software that moves data and printer terminals, which became the standard for between main storage and I/O devices. terminal/mainframe connectivity. ACF/VTAM 3270 data stream Advanced Communications Function / Virtual Format used by 3270 devices for communication, and Telecommunications Access Method is IBM’s proprietary much used for emulation to make PCs look like dumb telecommunications software. terminals. ACID 5250 This acronym describes the properties of a transaction. Terminal standard for the iSeries/400, System/3x etc. Atomicity refers to a transaction’s changes to the state – either it all happens or nothing happens. Consistency ABARS refers to the state of a transaction. It must not violate Aggregate Backup And Recovery Support. A disaster any of the integrity constraints associated with the state. recovery feature within DFSMShsm for automatically Isolation refers to the transaction not being affected by creating files containing back-ups of critical data. The others. Durability refers to the survival of changes to main use of ABARS is to group all the datasets relating state after a transaction completes.