Terminology

The following list defines key terms and concepts used in HPE Server Automation server compliance:

• Compliance: The degree to which a server’s configuration conforms to a check or test established in a collection of rules defined in an audit, a snapshot specification, or an audit policy. Compliance in Audit and Remediation is defined by the audit’s or snapshot’s rules that specify the values expected of the target servers. If the values on the target server are different than specified in the audit’s rules, the server is considered Non-Compliant.
• Compliance Category: The Compliance view displays compliance statuses for the following compliance categories: Audit, Audit Policy, Software, Patch, Patch Policy, and Configuration (Application Configuration).
• Compliance Policy: The user-defined configuration that expresses the desired state for a server or device configuration or setting.
  Examples:
  A patch policy defines the specific patches that must be installed on a computer.
  
  An audit policy might define that a certain Windows service must be disabled at all times.
  
  An application configuration policy defines the way in which a configuration file must be configured.
• Compliance Rule: The content or setting inside of a policy that defines an ideal configuration for a server, such as a patch or package, a file configuration, software installation order, user and group membership and privileges, and so on.
• Compliance Statuses: Indicates the compliance status for a compliance category, reporting the differences between what should be (compliance policy) and what actually is (server configuration). For example, software compliance category in the Compliance view displays a status of Compliant if all configurations defined in the policy match the server configuration. Compliance calculation for groups is sightly different than individual servers.
• Compliance Scan Results: The results of a compliance scan. These results report the compliance status, details, and can also include remediate options.
• Compliance Scan: The mechanism that checks servers targeted by a compliance policy (audit, software, patch, and application configuration) and returns the results to the SA Client. A compliance scan could check to see what patches are installed on a computer targeted by a patch policy or software policy and return the results, or it can check a configuration file’s contents and determine if it matches the rules defined in an application configuration. In the Compliance view, you can perform a compliance scan for the Software, Patch, and Configuration compliance categories. Audits do not have a scan feature; however, running an audit achieves the same results. Running an audit checks the servers targeted by the audit to determine if they are in compliance with an audit’s rule definitions.
• Compliance View: Displays overall and individual compliance levels for all managed servers or groups of servers in your facility. This view is also known as the compliance dashboard.