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Terminology

342 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 areas342 Architecture Fundamentals16 Distributed Systems73 Data Architecture29 Cloud Architecture17 Networking13 API & Integration Architecture17 Reliability & Resilience16 Observability14 Performance & Capacity Engineering13 Security Architecture18 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 concept119 practice84 pattern70 case-study26 protocol18 tool14 metric11

13 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.
Content Delivery Network CDN tool Networking A geographically distributed cache that serves content from a location near the user instead of from the origin.
DNS Domain Name System protocol Networking The distributed directory that resolves names to addresses, and a surprisingly load-bearing part of most architectures.
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).
NAT Gateway Network Address Translation tool Networking A managed device that lets instances in a private subnet make outbound connections without being reachable inbound.
Netflix Open Connect case-study Networking Netflix built its own CDN and placed appliances inside ISP networks, turning the most expensive part of its cost structure into hardware it controls.
Reverse Proxy pattern Networking A server that receives client requests on behalf of one or more backends, forwarding them and returning the response.
Security Group Firewall Rules, NSG tool Networking A stateful, instance-level firewall that allows specified traffic and denies everything else by default.
Subnet concept Networking A subdivision of a network's address range, used as the unit of routing and, in cloud, of availability-zone placement.
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.
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.
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.