Terminology

2185 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 areas2185 Architecture Fundamentals77 Distributed Systems107 Data Architecture110 Cloud Architecture89 Networking88 API & Integration Architecture82 Reliability & Resilience75 Observability70 Performance & Capacity Engineering72 Security Architecture81 Cost Architecture & FinOps66 Business Architecture67 Architecture Communication67 Enterprise Architecture66 Legacy Modernization66 AI-Era Architecture69 Software Architecture & Engineering71 Architecture Patterns71 Architecture Decision-Making63 The Architect's Meta-Skills61 Delivery & Release Engineering66 Platform Engineering & Developer Experience70 Testing & Quality Architecture66 Data Platform Architecture64 Streaming & Real-Time Data69 Data Governance & Semantics69 Frontend & Experience Architecture66 Edge, Mobile & IoT68 Regulatory & Data Protection Architecture65 Assurance, Audit & Model Risk64

Kind Any concept785 practice729 pattern362 metric125 case-study77 tool62 protocol45

6 terms shown.

Term	Kind	Topic	What it is
Connection Proxy RDS Proxy, PgBouncer	tool	Cloud Databases	A pooling layer between applications and a managed database that multiplexes many client connections onto a small number of database connections.
Containers	tool	Containers	Packaging an application with its dependencies into an immutable image, and the orchestration layer that schedules those images across a fleet.
Global Traffic Management GSLB, Global Load Balancing	tool	Multi-Region Architecture	The layer that decides which region a given user reaches, using DNS, anycast or an edge network, and that performs regional failover.
Image Registry	tool	Containers	The store from which container images are pulled, and an under-appreciated availability and security dependency of every deployment and every autoscale event.
Kubernetes K8s	tool	Cloud Architecture	A container orchestrator that continuously reconciles the running state of a cluster towards a declared desired state.
Service Control Policy SCP, Azure Policy, Organization Policy	tool	Landing Zones	An organisation-level guardrail that limits what any identity in an account may do, regardless of the permissions granted within that account.