Frame

What Does Frame Mean?

A frame refers to a storage frame or central storage frame. In terms of physical memory, it is a fixed sized block in physical memory space, or a block of central storage. In computer architecture, frames are analogous to logical address space pages.

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A frame also refers to physical storage hardware used for storage, like a storage area network (SAN) or network attached storage (NAS).

Techopedia Explains Frame

One frame equals four kilobytes – the same size as a page or slot. In IBM’s z/OS, active z/OS program parts are placed and run in central storage frames, whereas inactive programs are placed in auxiliary slots. However, all program parts – whether active or inactive – have virtual storage addresses in virtual pages.

Virtual, auxiliary and real storage managers use z/OS frames to rotate instructions and executable data. During a page-out or page-in operation, an auxiliary storage manager works with a real storage manager to locate the correct central storage frames and auxiliary storage slots to store and read parts of program executables.

The z/OS manages storage using the following units, which are each 4 KB in size:

  • Frame: A block of central storage
  • Page: A block of virtual storage
  • Slot: A block of auxiliary storage
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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…