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
DNS Domain Name System	protocol	Networking	The distributed directory that resolves names to addresses, and a surprisingly load-bearing part of most architectures.
TCP/IP	protocol	Networking	The layered protocol suite underneath essentially all application traffic — IP routes packets, TCP turns them into a reliable ordered stream.
TLS Transport Layer Security, SSL	protocol	Networking	The protocol that gives a network connection encryption, integrity and server authentication, underneath HTTPS and most other secure transports.
WebSocket	protocol	Networking	A protocol that upgrades an HTTP connection into a persistent, full-duplex channel so the server can push to the client without polling.