Terminology

454 terms, tools, patterns and metrics an architect is expected to use precisely. Each one gets a short explanation of what it is, and — where it matters — what it is commonly confused with. Search filters as you type; the column headers sort.

All areas454 Architecture Fundamentals16 Distributed Systems73 Data Architecture71 Cloud Architecture55 Networking13 API & Integration Architecture17 Reliability & Resilience16 Observability14 Performance & Capacity Engineering13 Security Architecture50 Cost Architecture & FinOps12 Business Architecture9 Architecture Communication8 Enterprise Architecture8 Legacy Modernization11 AI-Era Architecture15 Software Architecture & Engineering19 Architecture Patterns15 Architecture Decision-Making11 The Architect's Meta-Skills8

Kind Any concept166 practice107 pattern93 case-study26 tool26 protocol22 metric14

4 terms shown.

Term	Kind	Topic	What it is
Anycast	concept	Networking	Advertising the same IP address from many locations, so the network routes each client to the topologically nearest one.
Layer 4 vs Layer 7 Load Balancing	concept	Networking	Balancing on connection metadata (IP and port) versus on the content of the request (path, host, headers).
Subnet	concept	Networking	A subdivision of a network's address range, used as the unit of routing and, in cloud, of availability-zone placement.
Virtual Private Cloud VPC, VNet	concept	Networking	A logically isolated network inside a cloud provider, with an address range you control and explicit rules for what may enter and leave.