Qlogic SANsurfer FC HBA Manager Application User Manual page 210

B – Glossary
Driver
B-2
Driver refers to software that interfaces between the file
system and a physical data storage device or network
media.
The level structure for Windows 2000/Windows
Server 2003 drivers is as follows:
Class Driver. This is the highest driver level. There
■
is a separate class for disk, Ethernet, etc. This level
handles all generic aspects of operations for that
class.
Port Driver. This is the middle driver level, which
■
handles aspects of the operation specific to the port
type; for example, there is a port driver for SCSI.
Miniport Driver. This is the lowest driver level and
■
device specific. This level is usually supplied by the
manufacturer as a companion to a physical device.
Monolithic Driver. This level combines the functions
■
of different driver levels in the same driver to
increase performance.
Adjunct Driver. This level works along side a driver
■
at the same level to increase performance.
In NetWare, the required drivers include:
Host Adapter Module (HAM). HAM is the driver
■
component associated with the host adapter
hardware. It provides the functionality to route
requests to the bus where a specified device is
attached.
Custom Device Module (CDM). CDM is the drive
■
component associated with storage devices. It
provides the functionality to build device-specific
commands from I/O messages received from
NetWare's Media Manager.
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