Glossary

The terms the tester and its pages use, in plain words. The same lines appear behind the ? bubbles in the web UI.

Term	Meaning
AEC	Active electrical cable. A copper cable with a chip in each plug that cleans up the signal.
Application	One advertised way to run the cable: a host interface, a media interface and the lane counts.
Bank	One of two firmware slots in a cable end. One runs, the other can take a new image.
BER	Bit error ratio: errors divided by bits during a pattern test.
CDB	Command data block: the command interface of the cable for firmware queries and updates.
Clock ramp rounds	The clean reads a unit needs at the fast bus clock before it stays there. 20 by default.
CMIS	The management interface specification the cable implements. The version decides which pages exist.
Committed	The firmware bank the cable boots at the next reset.
Criteria file	The limits one cable type must meet. One file per part number.
Data path	The set of lanes that carry traffic together. Each lane reports a state.
End A, end B	The two plugs of one cable, in unit A and unit B.
Flags	Latched alarm and warning bits. A set bit means the condition happened since the last read.
FRU	The small record in the unit's own memory: product, serial, revision, build.
FTDI	The USB chip in the unit. The command line names it when it finds no unit.
High power	The working state of the cable. It draws its full power.
Hollow feature	A feature the cable advertises but answers with a placeholder value.
Host interface	The electrical interface on the switch side, for example 400GAUI-8.
INCONCLUSIVE	The test could not finish. The cable is not judged.
Jig profile	The signed file that names the two units for a command-line test.
Label serial	The serial on the cable label. The test compares it with the serial inside the cable.
Lane mask	Which lanes a run measures, as a hex mask. Bit 0 is lane 1.
Loopback	A path that sends a pattern out of one end and back through the other.
Low power	The safe state of the cable, under 1.5 W. A cable starts here.
Loss of lock	The checker lost the pattern on a lane. Read once per second during a trend.
MaxPower	The highest power the cable declares. The unit refuses a cable above its budget.
Media interface	The interface on the cable side, for example an active cable class.
MgmtInit	The time from power up until the cable answers on the management bus.
Module	The chip side of one cable end, as the management interface sees it.
NACK	The cable did not answer on the management bus.
Passport	The full description of one cable end at one time, as a file.
PASS, FAIL	Every criterion met, or the cable produced the evidence of a miss.
Plate	The identity card of one cable end: vendor, part number, serial, power class, features.
Power budget	The power the unit can give a cable: 6 W.
Power class	The cable's power class, 1 to 8. Each class has a maximum power.
PRBS	A known test pattern. One end generates it, the other checks it.
Reason code	One short code per miss, for example BER-LANE-n.
Record	A file the tester wrote. Never edited.
Report	The one-page summary of a run, written as text.
Running	The firmware bank the cable executes now.
Session	One guided test and its folder of records.
SNR	Signal to noise ratio per lane in dB, as the cable measures it.
Soak	The time the cable stays in high power while the test watches it. 120 s by default.
Throttle	The software pulls the cable back to low power because it got too hot.
Unit	One tester. Its serial reads CT2M-NN. Unit A is the one with the lower serial.
Vcc	The supply voltage the cable measures at its pins.
VDM	Extra monitors some cables advertise. Some report zeros.
Verdict	PASS, FAIL or INCONCLUSIVE with its reason codes.
WARN	The cable reached its warning temperature. The test continues.