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# Glossary

Terms used throughout the RMS documentation.

## BMC

Baseboard Management Controller - the out-of-band controller RMS reaches over Redfish for compute and power-shelf nodes.

## CPLD .vme

Complex Programmable Logic Device firmware image format used for switch CPLD components, extracted by nvfwupd.

## Firmware manifest

The JSON, distributed per firmware milestone, that describes board SKUs, components, versions, and artifact locations. RMS parses it into a firmware object. See the [sample manifest](https://github.com/NVIDIA/nv-rms/tree/main/sample_firmware_manifest).

## Firmware object

Persisted workflow state representing a parsed firmware manifest for a hardware type: a software object tree, resolved components, cached artifact metadata, an optional default marker, and apply history.

## .fwpkg

A PLDM firmware package containing one or more component images.

## gNMI

gRPC Network Management Interface - used for switch telemetry/config connectivity checks.

## HMC

Hardware Management Controller - a management endpoint on some NVIDIA trays, addressed as a firmware target alongside the BMC.

## In-memory store

The default persistence backend when no database URL is configured. Fast and dependency-free, but all workflow state is lost on restart.

## Insecure mode

Plaintext, unauthenticated gRPC. Requires both `[tls] insecure = true` and the `RMS_ALLOW_INSECURE=1` env gate. Dev/test only.

## Insecure switch

`[switches] insecure_switch = true` - RMS drops outbound switch client mTLS (unverified NVUE HTTPS, plaintext NMX-C). Dev/test only.

## Job

An asynchronous unit of long-running work (firmware update, switch system-image install) tracked by ID. Clients poll job status until it reaches a terminal state.

## JobTracker

The orchestrator component that owns job lifecycle: creation, status, retention (`max_tracked_jobs`), and TTL-based cleanup of terminal jobs (`terminal_job_ttl_seconds`).

## librms

The external crate ([`nv-rms-client`](https://github.com/NVIDIA/nv-rms-client)) providing the `rack_manager.proto` gRPC service definitions, pinned by `rev` and fetched by Cargo.

## MNNVLink topology

Multi-node NVLink topology data (chassis serial, slot, tray index) RMS reads from the Redfish Processor OEM block.

## mTLS

Mutual TLS - the default for both the northbound gRPC API and outbound switch connections. Requires a server cert/key plus a client CA.

## NMX-C

The NMX Controller / scale-up fabric manager on NVSwitch trays. RMS configures it and queries its state over gRPC (`nmx_gateway_id` identifies RMS on these requests).

## Node

An ephemeral object representing one managed hardware component (a compute tray, NVSwitch tray, or power shelf). Nodes are created per request and hold their transport client and credentials; RMS stores no device state beyond an operation's lifetime.

## Node descriptor

The `role` / `vendor` / `product_family` attributes a client sends to select a node type at the gRPC boundary (e.g. `compute` / `nvidia` / `gb200`). See [HCL: node descriptor translation](/rms/documentation/reference/hardware-compatibility-list#node-descriptor-translation).

## Node type

The concrete hardware identity RMS dispatches on, e.g. `compute_gb200_nvidia`, `switch_gb200_nvidia`, `powershelf_gb200_delta`. See the [HCL](/rms/documentation/reference/hardware-compatibility-list).

## nvfwupd

The embedded firmware-update engine (library + CLI). RMS drives it through its workflow API; the CLI also ships in the release image for diagnostics.

## NVUE / NVOS

NVIDIA's switch REST API (NVUE) and operating system (NVOS) on NVSwitch trays. RMS talks to switches over NVUE REST plus SSH/SFTP.

## Parent/child job

A batch operation creates its parent job first, then attaches one child job per admitted node, so callers can track the batch as a whole and per node.

## Persistence backend

The swappable store behind the `FirmwareObjectStore` trait: an in-memory store (default, volatile) or Postgres (durable).

## PLDM

Platform Level Data Model - the firmware-package format (`.fwpkg`) parsed by the embedded nvfwupd crate.

## Product family

The rack generation a node belongs to: GB200, GB300, or VRNVL72. RMS rejects nodes whose product family doesn't match the rack type.

## Rack

A trait-based container that owns a map of nodes and a node factory. RMS ships `NvlGb200Rack`, `NvlGb300Rack`, and `NvlVrnvl72Rack`.

## Redfish

The DMTF standard HTTP/HTTPS management API RMS uses to talk to compute and power-shelf BMCs.

## RMS

Rack Management Service - the stateless, rack-level hardware management service documented here. Exposes a single `RackManager` gRPC API.

## Scale-up fabric manager

The NMX-C-managed NVLink fabric. RMS can query cluster state, enable/disable it on switch targets, and control telemetry interfaces.