Appendix D Glossary

The Glossary lists terms and acronyms used in this document, and includes both industry terms and application-specific terms. If a general industry concept or practice has been implemented in a specific way within the product, that is noted as well.

A (Address) records map the hostname to the numeric IP address. For zimbra, the A record is the IP address for the zimbra server.

Class of Service as exposed in Zimbra administration console.

Microsoft Active Directory Server. Used in Zimbra as an optional choice for authentication and GAL, along with OpenLDAP for all other Zimbra functions.

An “also known as” email address, which should be routed to a user at a different email address.

Contains object-related data for directory server entries. Attributes store information such as a server host name or email forwarding address.

Process by which user-supplied login information is used to validate that user’s authority to enter a system.

Anti-spam term, indicates a known bad IP address. This could be one that has been hijacked by spammers, or also one from a poorly maintained but legitimate site that allows mail relaying from unauthorized parties.

Binary Large Object.

Describes an object in the Zimbra LDAP data schema, which contains settings for things like user mail quotas. Each Zimbra account includes a COS, and the account inherits all the settings from the selected COS.

Command-Line Interface. Used to refer to the collective set of Zimbra command-line tools, such as zmprov.

A type of network configuration for high availability, using clusters of servers (nodes). If one server fails or drops off the network, a spare takes over.

Within Zimbra, Contacts are a user-interface feature listing that user’s personal collection of address and contact information.

Within Zimbra, Conversations are a user-interface feature that presents email threads (emails sharing the same subject line) as a single Conversation listing. Users can expand the Conversation to view all emails within it.

Dynamic HTML. A technology employed in the Zimbra Web Client.

Domain Name System is an Internet directory service. DNS is how domain names are translated into IP addresses and DNS also controls email delivery. Correctly configured DNS is required for Postfix to route messages to remote destinations

Generic term used to refer to any mail transfer agent that is the first line of defense in handling incoming email traffic. Functions that may occur on the Edge MTA include spam filtering.

An item in the directory server, such as an account or mail host.

Takeover process where a spare server machine detects that a main server is unavailable, and the spare takes over processing for that server.

Fully qualified domain name. The hostname and the path to the host. For example, www.Zimbra.com is a fully qualified domain name. www is the host, Zimbra is the second-level domain, and .com is the top level domain.

Global Address List, the Outlook version of a company directory. Lists contact information, including email addresses, for all employees within an organization.

A Zimbra object containing default settings for servers and Class of Service.

Abbreviated as HA, high availability refers to the availability of resources in a computer system in the wake of component failures in the system.

HyperText Transfer Protocol, used along with SOAP for UI integration.

Internet Message Access Protocol is a method of accessing mail from a remote message store as if the users were local.

Within Zimbra, a directory area that stores all the indexing information for mail messages on a particular mailbox server.

The process of parsing incoming email messages for search words.

Java is an industry standard object-oriented programming language. Used for the core Zimbra application server.

Scripting largely developed by Netscape that can interact with HTML source code. Technology used in the Zimbra Web Client.

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, an industry standard protocol used for authentication.

The Zimbra administrator interface.

The Zimbra end-user interface.

Local Mail Transfer Protocol, used for transferring messages from Postfix MTA to the Zimbra server for final delivery.

Alternative term for Zimbra server.

Messaging Application Programming Interface. A system built into Microsoft Windows to enable different email applications to work together.

Within Zimbra, a directory area that stores the mail messages on a particular mailbox server.

Mail Delivery Agent, sometimes known as a mail host. The Zimbra server functions as an MDA.

Data that describes other data, rather than actual content. Within Zimbra, metadata consists of user folders, threads, message titles and tags, and pointers.

Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions, a specification for formatting non-ASCII Internet message content such as image files. Format used to store messages in Message Store.

Message Transfer Agent. MTA is a program that delivers mail and transports it between machines. A Zimbra deployment assumes both the Postfix MTA and an edge MTA.

Mail eXchange. An MX record is an entry in a domain name database that identifies the mail server that is responsible for handling emails for that domain name. The email system relies on DNS MX records to transmit emails between domains. When mail is processed, the MX record is checked before the A record for the destination address.

Common shorthand for “out of the office”, used when sending vacation messages.

Refers to software created by groups of users for non-commercial distribution, where source code is published rather than proprietary.

Operating system, such as Linux, UNIX, or Microsoft Windows.

Post Office Protocol is used to retrieve email from a remote server over TCP/IP and save it to the local computer.

The process of creating accounts or other data, usually in batch or automated fashion.

Real-time black hole. Usually refers to web sites that, as a public service, provide lists of known bad IP addresses from which mail should be blocked, because the servers are either known to be spammers, or are unsecured and exploited by spammers.

Detailed transaction log for the Zimbra server, used for replay and replication.

Storage Array Network. A high-availability data storage area.

Describes the data structures in use for by directory services at a particular organizational site.

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. Used in Zimbra deployments between the Edge MTA and the Postfix MTA.

Simple Network Monitoring Protocol. Used by monitoring software to pick up critical errors from system logs.

Simple Object Access Protocol, an XML-based messaging protocol used for sending requests for Web services. The Zimbra servers use SOAP for receiving and processing requests, which can come from Zimbra command-line tools or Zimbra user interfaces.

Unsolicited commercial email. Spammers refer to their output as “bulk business email”.

Structured Query Language, used to look up messages in the Message Store.

Secure Sockets Layer.

A Zimbra Web Client feature. Users can define tags and apply them to mail messages for searching.

Total Cost of Ownership. Zimbra reduces total cost of ownership (TCO) by reducing requirements for server hardware, OS licensing fees, supporting application license fees, disk storage requirements, and personnel (IT, help desk, consulting).