M

MAC address

The unique serial number burned into an Ethernet adapter that identifies that network card from all others.

Major device number

This indicates the general device class, such as disk, tape, or serial line.

Makefile

Used to create the appropriate NIS maps.

Master map

A type of automount map that lists the other maps used for establishing the AutoFS. The autmount command reads this map at boot time.

Master NIS server

The center of the NIS network that is designated as the master server containing the set of maps that get updated.

Mbyte

A Megabyte, or 1,024 Kbytes.

Metastate database

A database, stored on disk, that records configuration and the state of all metadevices and error conditions. This information is important to the correct operation of Solaris Volume Manager (SVM) and it is replicated. See also state database replica.

Metadevice

A Solaris Volume Manager (SVM) term used to describe a group of physical slices accessed as a single logical device. Metadevices are used like slices. The metadevice maps logical block addresses to the correct location on one of the physical devices. The type of mapping depends on the configuration of the particular metadevice. Also known as the pseudo, or virtual device in standard Unix terms.

Metadisk

A special driver that coordinates I/O to and from physical devices and volumes, enabling applications to treat a volume like a physical device.

Metadriver

A pseudo device driver that maps metadevice operations to commands to the metadevice components.

Minor device number

This indicates the specific member within a general device class (such as disk, tape, or serial line). All devices managed by a given device driver contain a unique minor number.

Mirror

Replicates all writes to a single logical device (the mirror) and then to multiple devices (the submirrors) while distributing read operations. This provides redundancy of data in the event of a disk or hardware failure.

Mounted file system table (mnttab)

A file system that provides read-only access to the table of mounted file systems for the current host.

Multiuser mode

Used to describe a Solaris run state where the system is supporting multiuser operations.