| Agent –
The part of the management system that monitors resources
(devices, servers, databases, and other agents, for example).
It collects management information and sends alarms when
specified conditions (such as overutilization) are detected. |
| Alarms – Messages
sent by management agents that indicate conditions that
need quick attention. |
| API - Application Programming
Interface; a defined means to communicate with other software.
The set of calls is stable and open (usually), which enables
other vendors to interface more easily. |
ASP - Application Service
Provider; a service provider who buys the servers, software
and network
infrastructure and houses them in its facilities. It configures,
updates, and monitors the application for
customers. Individual customers usually have their own
secured hardware. |
| ATM - Asynchronous Transfer
Mode; a network service that accommodates network traffic.
ATM combines time-sensitive information such as voice
and video with normal data traffic using packets of a
fixed size, ensuring that no one type of data disproportionately
ties up the line. |
| Back-office Processing -
the "invisible" tasks associated with running
an e-business such as order tracking, credit authorisation,
inventory, shipping, and other tasks. |
| Backbone - The primary
connectivity mechanism of a hierarchical distributed system.
All systems that have connectivity to the backbone are
assured of connectivity to each other. |
| Bandwidth - A measure
of capacity - for example, a LAN uplink has a bandwidth
of 100 Mb/s. |
| Bandwidth Reservation -
A specialised management function that reserves specific
amounts of bandwidth for time-critical services. For example,
a Voice over IP conversation must have 64 Kb/s reserved
to carry acceptable quality for conversation. |
| Baselines - Baselines
are created from repetitive (active measures are most
efficient for this) measurements and define a "normal"
operational envelope. Alarms that are activated when activity
differs from baselines give a proactive capability for
management. |
| CIM - Common Interface
Model; an emerging standard for describing systems. |
CIR - Committed Information
Rate; the amount of
guaranteed bandwidth on a frame relay service. |
| CLEC - Competitive Local
Exchange Carrier; a carrier competing against the established
local carrier for local, long distance and Internet access,
usually. |
| Content - A general
term for information delivered across networks. Content
can be anything from simple text, to streaming video,
or complex multi-media applications. |
| Cookie - A small desktop
file that is created when Web sites are accessed. Usually
the file contains the user name, password, and other information
that identifies a specific person. The files are used
to eliminate entering the same information at each access.
It can be used to track users and transactions across
a set of servers since the cookie is passed as part of
HTTP connection setup. |
| COPS - Common Open Policy
Services; a standard from the Internet Engineering Task
Force (IETF) that describes how policy agents and servers
exchange policy-related information. |
| CPU - Central Processing
Unit; the processing mechanism within a computer. The
CPU is where information is analysed and acted upon, as
well as where calculations take place. |
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| Deduplication
- A method for processing alarms designed to filter
out redundant notifications and reduce the volume of alarms
the administrator receives. De-duplication focuses on
the premise that the biggest part of the problem for any
device is the many, many repeat notifications of a single
problem. Deduplication recognizes that a single device
generated 200 alarms, but that they were all for the same
problem. |
| DiffServ - Differentiated
Services; the name of the field in the IP Datagram that
specifies the service level (forwarding priority) for
this packet. |
| Digital Signature -
An encrypted signature that cannot be broken - a trusted
way to identify a specific party (person, company). There
are several levels of encryption and trusted third parties
are usually involved. |
| Disc I/O - Activity
that moves information between a computer's memory and
a disc storage system. |
| Domain name - The part
of a URL that indicates an IP address. A domain name may
represent several IP addresses that identify individual
Web pages. |
| DNS - Domain Name Service;
a set of servers that translates symbolic names such as
www.concord.com to a specific IP address. This simplifies
the user interface and allows great flexibility in assigning
specific addresses. (See redirection) |
Dynamic Content -.Creation
of content in real-time
using customer profiles, previous buys, current interest
and other factors. Each customer will see different content
after clicking the same link. |
| Encryption - See Public
Key Encryption. |
ERP - Enterprise Resource
Planning; a large-scale
application designed to provide business management
across all functions including marketing, operations,
sales and manufacturing. |
| Ethernet - Method for
avoiding packet collisions over the LAN. |
Event - An action or
occurrence at the system or
application level. |
| Extranet - A networking
environment where much of the infrastructure is outside
the enterprise boundaries. An extranet can be a Business-to-Business
service, and it can also comprise Service providers of
all kinds. More combinations are emerging as services
begin to layer upon each other. |
| Firewall - A hardware/software
element that protects the internal environment from outside
threats. Firewalls inspect incoming connections and decide
which to allow. They also control external access to remote
sites. |
Frame Relay - A WAN
technology optimized for rapid
transmission of packets. |
| Ghost Transactions -
See Virtual Transactions. |
| Hop - Each time a packet
is relayed, it undergoes a hop. More hops between the
sender and receiver may increase delays. |
HTML - HyperText Markup
Language; the current
formatting standard for Web documents and pages. |
IEEE 802.1 - Standard
developed by the Institute of
Electrical and Electronic Engineers for adding priority
information to Ethernet packets for prioritizing traffic. |
| ILEC - Incumbent Local
Exchange Carrier; the local carrier that was doing business
in the AT&T monopoly days. There was one ILEC in each
area; in contrast, see CLEC. |
Intranet - An internal
Internet that uses Web-based
applications to smooth business processes, streamline
administrative tasks, and keep pace with e-business. |
IP Address - An address
used by routers to find a target
system attached to the Internet. It is usually described
as a string of four numbers (a Byte each), such as 129.64.83.15. |
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