View source for Cloud Technical Glossary

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{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Term
! Description
|-
|'''Apache HTTP Server''' 
| A Web server software. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_HTTP_Server. 
|-
|'''CALM''' (cloud account lifecycle management)
| Our process for managing the allocation of cloud resources.
|-
|'''Ceph''' 
| The distributed data storage platform for our clouds; includes volume storage.
|-
|'''[[Arbutus_CephFS|CephFS]]''' (Ceph File System)
| A filesystem with Ceph storage, which allows data to be mounted simultaneously on multiple OpenStack instances. Currently only available with Arbutus. See https://docs.ceph.com/en/latest/cephfs/.
|-
|'''cloud'''
| When referring to our cloud services, short form of ''IaaS cloud''. 
|-
|'''compute cloud'''
| Type of resource allocated to support OpenStack instances intended to run for a limited time, usually with a very high sustained usage of CPU and memory. Flavours for these resources have labels beginning with c*. Currently only available on Arbutus, Béluga and Cedar. Compare with ''persistent cloud''.
|-
|'''[[CVMFS|CVMFS]]''' (CernVM File System)
|A read-only content distribution system often used to manage software. 
|-
|'''ephemeral local disk'''
| Virtual disk which is created and destroyed along with an OpenStack instance. An ephemeral disk is created when an instance is launched without the specification of a volume.
|-
|'''flavor''' 
|OpenStack term for a predefined specification of a new instance. A flavor can define sizes for RAM, disk, number of cores, and so on.
|-
|'''floating IP'''
| Internet Protocol address that can be associated with an OpenStack instance to allow external access.
|-
|'''Horizon'''
| OpenStack cloud dashboard that is used for viewing and managing cloud resources through a Web browser. See https://docs.openstack.org/horizon/latest/. 
|-
|'''host''' 
| Physical server supporting virtual machines.
|-
|'''[[OpenStack/en#Working_with_images|image]]'''
| Image of a virtual disk used to create a new boot volume or ephemeral disk when creating an OpenStack instance.
|-
|'''instance'''
| OpenStack virtual machines are called ''instances'', mostly because they are instances of an image that is created upon request and that is configured when the instance is launched.
|-
|'''[[Using_ipv6_in_cloud|IPV6]]''' (Internet Protocol version 6)
| A communications protocol successor to IPv4. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPv6.
|-
|'''[[Arbutus_Object_Storage|object storage]]'''
| Object storage (or ''object-based storage'') is a storage type that manages data as objects, as opposed to other storage architectures like filesystems which manage data as a file hierarchy, and storage types where data is managed as blocks. Each object typically includes the data itself, a variable amount of metadata, and a globally unique identifier. Offered as S3 and Swift protocols. Allocated in TB. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_storage. Currently only available with Arbutus.
|-
|'''[[OpenStack|OpenStack]]'''
| The software suite used on our clouds to control hardware resources such as computers, storage and networking.
|-
|'''persistent cloud'''
| Allocation type for persistent virtual machines that are expected to run indefinitely and have low or bursty CPU requirements. Flavours for these resources have labels beginning with p*. Currently only available on Arbutus, Béluga and Cedar. Compare with ''compute cloud''.
|-
|'''project'''
| In our infrastructure, a project represents an allocation of cloud resources to a group or user. Sometimes referred to as ''tenant''.
|-
|'''[https://alliancecan.ca/en/services/advanced-research-computing/research-portal/accessing-resources/resource-allocation-competitions RAC]''' (Resource Allocation Competition)
| Our program via which PIs can submit a request for storage and computer resources beyond what can be obtained via the Rapid Access Service (RAS). The requests are evaluated by a committee of peers.
|-
|'''[https://alliancecan.ca/en/services/advanced-research-computing/research-portal/accessing-resources/rapid-access-service RAS]''' (Rapid Access Service)
|Service by which Principal Investigators can request a modest amount of storage and cloud resources without having to apply to the RAC.
|-
|'''S3''' (Simple Storage Service)
| A type of object storage. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_S3.
|-
|'''[[OpenStack/en#Security_Groups|security group]]'''
| A set of security rules that control network traffic and can be applied as a whole to one or more instances.
|-
| '''service portal'''
| Our infrastructure hosts many Web research portals which serve datasets or tools to a broad research community. These portals generally do not require large computing or storage resources, but may require support efforts from our technical team. Groups applying for a service portal often use our clouds, generally require a public IP address, and may have more stringent up-time requirements than most research projects.
|-
| '''shared filesystem'''
| Persistent storage space offered as a Unix-compliant filesystem that can be mounted across multiple hosts in a project. This is useful for sharing data across multiple hosts. Our service runs on CephFS and requires either a Fuse driver (Windows/Linux) or the CephFS kernel driver (Linux) for access. Allocated in TB.
|-
|'''snapshot''' 
| Copy of an OpenStack volume that can be used as a backup or to launch another instance.
|-
|'''SSL''' (Secure Sockets Layer)
| A protocol to allow encrypted communications over networks. SSL is obsolete and should be replaced by TLS (Transport Layer Security) wherever possible.
|-
|'''[[Using_swift|SWIFT]]'''
| A type of object storage. See https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/Swift.
|-
|'''tenant'''
| See '''project'''.
|-
|'''TSL''' (Transport Layer Security)
| See '''SSL'''.
|-
|'''vCPU''' (virtual central processing unit)
| A vCPU represents a portion or share of the underlying, physical CPU that is assigned to a particular virtual machine.
|-
|'''[[Using_cloud_vGPUs|vGPU]]''' (virtual graphics processing unit)
| A virtual machine can have one or more vGPUs assigned to it. Each of them is seen as a GPU by the operating system. Additional configuration may be required for use. 
|-
|'''virtual machine'''
| Virtual server in the cloud infrastructure. In OpenStack, active virtual machines are called ''instances''.
|-
|'''[[OpenStack/en#Working_with_Volumes|volume]]'''
| Storage resource that can be attached to or detached from an OpenStack instance, like a virtual disk.
|-
| '''volume storage'''
| Type of persistent cloud storage providing virtual disk functionality to OpenStack instances running in the cloud. Implemented with Ceph software. Allocated in GB.
|}
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[[Category:CC-Cloud]]