Glossary

Adapter Fabric Extender (Adapter-FEX) UCS feature that allows the creation of static virtual adapters within a UCS domain.

Adaptive Security Virtual Appliance (ASAv) Essentially the Cisco ASA firewall software ported into a virtual machine.

Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) Block I/O access method standardized by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). It defines multiple types of connections between x86 platforms (personal computers or servers) and internal storage devices.

aggregation layer Switches in a three-tier topology that are responsible for the communication between different access switch pairs and the connection to the core tier of a data center network.

Anything as a Service (XaaS) Cloud computing offerings that are built through the combination of multiple cloud services, which may include different providers and service models.

Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) Cisco SDN solution that comprises a data center fabric built with Nexus 9000 switches running ACI Fabric OS, a cluster of Application Policy Infrastructure Controllers, and an ecosystem of integrated solutions.

Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC) Network controller that is responsible for provisioning policies to physical and virtual devices that belong to an ACI fabric, monitoring the performance of the fabric, and interacting with administrators and applications.

application profile Models the connectivity requirements for all components of an application in an ACI fabric. It represents the logical container for EPGs and associated contracts.

application programming interface (API) Comprises a set of functions, variables, and data structures that enables software components to communicate with each other.

Application Virtual Switch (AVS) Cisco DVS controlled by APIC that works as an ACI virtual leaf.

automation Data center infrastructure initiative that eliminates manual procedures and introduces standardized operational procedures into software.

availability zone Independent failure domain (area impacted by a major system malfunction) within a single region.

blade server Server that is inserted in a blade chassis.

block Sequence of bytes, with a defined length (block size), that embodies the smallest container for data in any storage device.

boot order Defines the ordering of boot devices for a server to load its boot image.

bridge domain Represents a Layer 2 forwarding construct within a context in ACI.

Broad network access Cloud computing essential characteristic where Capabilities are available over the network and accessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneous thin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and workstations).

bus Any medium that provides higher-speed chipset connections to the CPU or to a dedicated processor.

chargeback Expenditure process where service consumers pay for past cloud resource usage.

chipset Computer element that is responsible for the data exchange between the CPU and the majority of other components of an x86 server.

Cisco Integrated Management Controller (CIMC) It is an internal module built into the server motherboard, which is separate from the main server CPU to run a Cisco management firmware for the server.

Cisco Intercloud Cisco hybrid cloud strategy comprising an amalgam of cloud deployments that includes enterprise private clouds, public clouds (such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure), Cisco Powered clouds from Cisco partners, and the company’s own public cloud (Cisco Intercloud Services).

Cisco Intercloud Fabric Stack of software that enables the centralized control of hybrid cloud resources within the Cisco Intercloud.

Cisco Nexus 1000V Cisco DVS that deploys common features and procedures from physical network devices (Cisco Nexus Data Center switches) within multiple hypervisor architectures, such as VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, and Linux KVM.

cloud broker Third-party company or professional that hires cloud computing services from a provider on behalf of a consumer corporation.

cloud bursting Capability of a hybrid cloud to migrate workloads and applications between two distinct cloud deployments.

cloud infrastructure Comprises all software and hardware that the cloud software stack orchestrates and that can also be used in non-cloud data center environments.

cloud meter Software stack module that concretizes service measurement in a cloud computing deployment.

cloud orchestrator Software stack component that coordinates infrastructure resources according to user requests issued on the cloud portal.

cloud portal Software stack component responsible for interacting with external users and interfaces. It publishes cloud service catalogs, wizards for guided user “shopping,” interactive forms, approval workflows, status updates, usage information, and billing balances.

Cloud Services Router (CSR) Within the Cisco Intercloud Fabric solution, it provides routing and other advanced network-based capabilities without requiring traffic to be redirected to the enterprise data center.

Cloud Services Router (CSR) 1000V Router running a version of IOS XE in a virtual machine.

cloud software stack Set of software modules developed exclusively to perform cloud-related operations, such as providing a service catalog to cloud consumers, provisioning requested resources, and keeping track of cloud resource usage.

Common Internet File System (CIFS) Proposed protocol that intended to establish an Internet standard for SMB in 1996.

community cloud Cloud deployment whose exclusive use is assigned to a specific community of organizations that share concerns such as mission, security requirements, and policies.

computation as a public utility Concept that advocated the offer of computing resources as a public utility, like water, electricity, and telephony.

consolidation Process that aims to break silos that exist in a data center infrastructure, grouping several instances of the same technology into a single shared resource.

Content Delivery Network (CDN) Service that allows data centers may save bandwidth resources and leverage the pervasive Internet presence of CDN service providers to optimally distribute content stored in files.

context ACI private network on a tenant that defines a separate IP space (Layer 3 domain) where all endpoints must have unique IP addresses. It can be compared to a Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF) instance.

contract Defines how EPGs can communicate with each other through traffic rules that include allowed protocols and Layer 4 ports in an ACI fabric.

control plane Class of elements of a network device that exchanges traffic with other devices to correctly control data plane elements.

core An individual processor within a single CPU chip.

core layer Switches in a three-tier topology that are responsible for the communication between different aggregation switch pairs and the connection of a data center network to edge routers connected to external networks.

data plane Also known as forwarding plane, comprises all the elements of a network device that handle the transport of data packets between two or more ports.

DDR chip Double Data Rate memory chip that can provide two data exchanges at each clock cycle.

director-class Special Fibre Channel switches whose components are completely redundant in order to achieve 99.999 percent availability.

disk array Storage system that contains multiple disks that are managed as a scalable resource pool shared among several application environments.

disk controller Server component that manages the internal HDDs of a server as well as external drives.

distributed virtual switch (DVS) Generic name for a class of virtual switches that can stretch across multiple virtualization hosts as if they were deploying the same virtual networking device.

endpoint Physical or virtual device that is (directly or indirectly) connected to an ACI fabric.

endpoint group (EPG) ACI logical construct gathering a collection of endpoints that are associated dynamically (for example, through the communication with a VM manager) or statically (using a port or a VLAN, for example).

ESXi Popular Type-1 hypervisor from VMware.

Ethernet over MPLS (EoMPLS) Encapsulation technology that allows the emulation of an Ethernet connection (commonly referred to as pseudowire) between two ports on MPLS-enabled routers.

Ethernet Virtual Private Network (EVPN) A virtual Layer 2 domain created over a shared physical network.

ext2 Second extended filesystem; used in Linux for volume formatting. It was created in 1993 and is the default filesystem for many Linux versions.

ext3 Third extended filesystem; used in Linux for volume formatting. Introduced in 2001, it allows journaling.

ext4 Fourth extended filesystem; used in Linux for volume formatting. Released in 2008, it introduces many exclusive features such as multiblock allocation.

Extensible Markup Language (XML) A flexible text format created to represent data exchanged between two or more entities on the Internet.

External Data Representation (XDR) Standardized data coding format that permits different computer systems to share data transmitted through NFS.

Fabric Interconnect UCS device that is responsible for running UCS Manager and providing I/O exchange for all servers in a UCS domain.

Fabric Login (FLOGI) Process that inserts a server HBA or storage port into a Fibre Channel fabric.

Fabric Data center network in which all of its devices behave as a single one.

fabric module Modular switch component that provides internal communication between I/O modules.

FabricPath Cisco Unified Fabric technology that allows the deployment of Layer 2 multipath networks.

Fabric Shortest Path First (FSPF) Fibre Channel dynamic routing protocol.

FCoE Initialization Protocol (FIP) Protocol that is responsible for performing all kickstart operations to allow the exchange of FCoE frames between FCoE devices.

Fibre Channel Most popular protocol for enterprise and service provider storage-area networks.

Fibre Channel Identifier (FCID) Represents logical addressing in Fibre Channel.

Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) Technology that allows the transport of Fibre Channel over a lossless Ethernet network.

file Set of contiguous data (and associated metadata) that is persistently saved on a storage device.

File Allocation Table (FAT) File system used in Linux and Windows for volume formatting.

file hosting Popular cloud service that provides external access to files.

file server Specialized computers to centrally store files.

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Created at the dawn of the Internet (1971), FTP is an IETF-standardized file transfer protocol that runs over TCP using two different connections for control and data exchange between client and server.

firewall Networking service that monitors and controls traffic between two (or more) different security zones based on security rules.

FlexPod Reference architecture for integrated infrastructures developed by Cisco and NetApp.

formatting Operation to allow correct identification of file data and metadata in a block-based storage device.

hard disk drive (HDD) Popular secondary storage device based on multiple platters (disks) spinning around a common axis at a constant speed.

HTTP Secure (HTTPS) Protocol that provides the encapsulation of HTTP traffic in a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connection.

hybrid cloud a composition of two or more distinct cloud infrastructures (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities, but are bound together by standardized or proprietary technology that enables data and application portability.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) originally designed to transfer objects between web servers and browsers.

Hyper-V Popular Type-1 hypervisor from Microsoft.

hypervisor Software component that can create emulated hardware (including CPU, memory, storage, networking, and peripherals) for the installation of a guest operating system.

hypervisor bypass Allows a virtual machine to fully control a physical NIC, instead of relying on the hypervisor CPU processing to forward Ethernet frames through a virtual switch.

I/O module Modular switch component that provides connectivity for external devices.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Cloud computing service model created for consumers who want pure processing, storage, networking, or other fundamental computing resources.

integrated development environment (IDE) A software tool designed for application development which contains a source code editor, automation tools, debuggers, programming language compilers or interpreters, and version control systems, among other development tools.

integrated infrastructure Prebuilt pool of devices fully designed by one or more companies to expedite infrastructure deployment to their customers.

Intercloud Extender (ICX) The Intercloud Fabric component that resides in the private location of an Intercloud Fabric connection, receiving traffic from standard VLANs and encrypting it when it is directed toward the public cloud.

Intercloud Fabric Director (ICFD) The central point of management and control for Intercloud Fabric resources.

Intercloud Switch (ICS) The Intercloud Fabric component that receives encrypted frames from ICX, decrypts them, and forwards them to ICF resources within the public cloud.

Internet Small Computer Systems Interface (iSCSI) Represents the encapsulation of SCSI traffic in a TCP connection.

iSCSI Qualified Name (IQN) Uniquely identifies an iSCSI initiator or target.

kernel Central part of an operating system that has direct access to the computer hardware components, such as memory and CPU.

KVM Popular Type-1 open source hypervisor for Linux operating systems, formally known as Kernel-based Virtual Machine.

line of business (LoB) All resources within an organization that are directly related to one offered product or service.

Manila OpenStack project whose objective is to provide file-based storage.

measured service Cloud computing essential characteristic in which cloud systems automatically control and optimize resource use by leveraging a metering capability at some level of abstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage, processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). Resource usage can be monitored, controlled, and reported, providing transparency for both the provider and consumer of the utilized service.

Modular Layer 2 (ML2) Neutron plug-in responsible for creating broadcast domains for Nova instances in generic Layer 2 devices.

motherboard Circuit panel that physically sustains all the computer components.

mount Operation that allows an NFS client to attach a remote directory tree (server) to its local file system.

multihop FCoE Data center network topology that allows the forwarding of FCoE traffic beyond a single layer of FCoE-enabled switches.

Multiprotocol Border Gateway Protocol (MP-BGP) Extensions for BGP that allow the protocol to carry information for multiple network layer protocols, including IP and Ethernet addresses.

multi-tenant Capability of a resource to support multiple tenants according to an accepted isolation technique.

NAS head Specialized appliance that can build a NAS device from a disk array.

National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST) U.S. federal technology agency that works with industry to develop and apply technology, measurements, and standards.

NetScaler 1000V A vPath-compatible version of the Citrix NetScaler ADC running on a virtual machine.

network-attached storage (NAS) Specialized storage device for files.

network automation The use of orchestration software and the creation of workflows to deploy multiple standardized network procedures.

Network Basic Input/Output System (NetBIOS) Communication method that serves as a Layer 5 (session) protocol for SMB.

network controller System responsible for the complete configuration of managed network devices, offering a simpler view of the whole network for application developers.

Network File System (NFS) File access method created by Sun Microsystems in 1984 for its Solaris operating system. It is still used by many other Unix-based operating systems, such as Linux and FreeBSD, as their native file access method.

network programmability Characteristic of a network offering a set of tools that allows the development of computer programs for specific network operational tasks.

networking service Set of repetitive operations normally carried out by application servers (or client devices) but actually implemented on specialized network devices.

Neutron OpenStack core project responsible for providing Network as a Service (NaaS) in these environments.

New Technology File System (NTFS) File system commonly used in Windows for volume formatting.

northbound protocol Describes the information exchange between a network program and a network controller.

on-demand self-service Cloud computing essential characteristic that defines that a cloud consumer can unilaterally provision computing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, as needed automatically without requiring human interaction with each service provider.

OpenDaylight Collaborative project, led by the Linux Foundation and with the participation of multiple networking vendors, that intends to provide a framework for SDN and NfV applications and use cases, as well as an open controller for real-world deployments involving multiple network devices and southbound protocols.

OpenFlow Southbound protocol standardized by the Open Networking Foundation (ONF) that inserts entries into the flow table of OpenFlow network devices.

OpenStack Community development initiative to develop open source software to build public and private scalable clouds.

operating system Basic software that controls computer resources and provides common services for other computer programs.

OpFlex Open and extensible protocol designed to transfer object-based connectivity policies (in XML or JSON) between a network policy controller (APIC, for example) and physical and virtual devices such as switches and networking services.

orchestration Final step of evolution of data center infrastructure into cloud infrastructure, where the cloud software stack is programmed to receive end-user requests and execute workflows over the automated infrastructure to fulfill such requests.

overlay Virtual data plane built on top of another network through encapsulation of packets and the establishment of tunnels. Some examples are Virtual eXtensible Local Area Network (VXLAN) and Network Virtualization using Generic Routing Encapsulation (NVGRE).

Overlay Transport Virtualization (OTV) Unified Fabric Layer 2 extension technology.

oversubscription Ratio between the potential maximum consumption of a resource and its actual capacity. In terms of switch I/O modules, it represents the sum of bandwidth of all ports divided by the bandwidth in connection to the switch fabric modules.

personal computer (PC) Relatively small and inexpensive microcomputer designed for the needs of an individual user.

Platform as a Service (PaaS) Cloud computing service model that offers to its consumers the capability to deploy their customized applications through cloud-provided programming languages and tools.

policy-based routing (PBR) A networking configuration that deploys routing based on IP packet headers that are different from the destination IP address.

pool of devices (POD) Arrangement of infrastructure components that are integrated in a systematic way in order to improve modularity, predictability, and reuse in a data center facility.

Port Group VMware vSphere connectivity policy, which defines how a virtual switch handles traffic that belongs to a group of virtual network adapters, VMkernel interfaces, or physical NICs.

port profile Configuration template that can be inherited by multiple interfaces on Nexus switches.

private cloud Cloud deployment that is used by a single organization.

public cloud Cloud deployment that is provisioned for open use by the general public.

Rapid elasticity Cloud computing essential characteristic that states that capabilities can be elastically provisioned and released, in some cases automatically, to scale rapidly outward and inward commensurate with demand.

redundant array of independent disks (RAID) Data storage methods that aggregate data blocks from multiple HDDs to achieve storage high availability, increase capacity, and enhance I/O performance.

regulatory compliance standards Require the adherence of an organization to laws, regulations, guidelines, and specifications that are important for its industry and whose violations may result in legal consequences or dismissal from a community.

Remote Procedure Call (RPC) In NFS, it is a protocol that enables communication between different remote file access processes.

resource load balancing Capability of a server virtualization cluster to redistribute virtual machines among members to permit an optimized use of host resources.

resource pooling Cloud computing essential characteristic that advocates that the provider’s computing resources are pooled to serve multiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according to consumer demand.

RESTful API Application programming interface that adheres to the formal constraints proposed by Roy Thomas Fielding in his 2000 doctoral dissertation “Architectural Styles and the Design of Network-Based Software Architectures.”

secondary memory Storage devices that require I/O channels to transport data to the computer system processor. Such devices deploy nonvolatile data, have more storage capacity than primary memory, provide longer access times, and are also known as auxiliary memory.

Secure Copy Protocol (SCP) Network protocol that supports file transfers through an SSH (Secure Shell) connection in TCP port 22. SCP is generally installed by default in most Linux distributions.

server Software component that can accept requests from multiple clients, providing suitable responses after processing these requests or accessing other servers. Also, dedicated hardware especially designed to host such components.

server load balancer (SLB) Network device that can receive application traffic and send it to a selected server according to a predefined load balancing policy.

Server Message Block (SMB) Client/server protocol used to request file services from server systems over a common network. Typically used by Microsoft Windows operating systems.

service graph ACI construct that allows the fabric to steer traffic between two EPGs through a predefined sequence of networking services.

service insertion Network technique that enables traffic steering to a networking service.

service-level agreement (SLA) A signed agreement between a service provider and client organization that sets forth the expectations about the scope and quality of the service.

service profile UCS logical construct that groups all server configuration tasks into a single assignment, including several activities that are usually realized by non-server teams. It can be associated to server hardware that belongs to a UCS domain.

service profile template UCS logical construct that groups policies, identity pools, and other definitions (such as the number of vNICs and vHBAs) and that can promptly spawn multiple service profiles sharing the same characteristics but using distinct identifiers.

service provider A company that offers specialized services to other organizations.

sharding Data distribution method that allows all ACI-related information to be stored across active APIC appliances, enhancing performance and replication requirements.

share File, folder, or even a whole logical drive that can be shared through SMB sessions.

showback Cloud metering model that only presents a breakdown of resources used to whoever it may interest, for the purposes of relative usage comparison among users and their groups.

single-root I/O virtualization (SR-IOV) Allows a single PCIe I/O peripheral to emulate multiple “lightweight” instances.

Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) Block I/O access method developed by the INCITS Technical Committee T10. It defines how data is transferred between computers and peripheral devices, including external storage systems.

socket Physical connectors that allow the insertion of multiple CPU chips on a single computer.

Software as a Service (SaaS) Cloud computing service model whose consumers want access to fully functional applications but do not want to manage or control the underlying hardware or software infrastructure.

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) Collective name for network modernization technologies that intend to introduce characteristics such as automation and programmability into data center, campus, backbone, and wide-area networks.

solid-state drive (SSD) Non-mechanical storage device composed of integrated circuits that can persistently store data through power outages.

southbound protocol Defines all communication between a network controller and one of its controlled devices.

spine-leaf Data center network topology composed of two switch tiers, which are called leaf (connected to hosts and to all spines) and spine (connected to all leaf switches).

standardization Data center infrastructure initiative that intends to simplify provisioning and management through uniformity of resources and operational procedures.

storage-area network (SAN) dedicated network that interconnects computers to shared block-based storage systems.

subnet Classical IP subnet that must be associated to a bridge domain in an ACI fabric.

supervisor module Modular switch component that is responsible for the device control and management functions.

switch mode Allows the UCS Fabric Interconnect to run as a traditional Ethernet or Fibre Channel switch, respectively deploying Ethernet uplinks or Fibre Channel ISLs (respectively) to external switches.

three-tier topology Traditional data center network topology composed of core, aggregation, and access switch tiers.

time-sharing Technology that offered small slices of time of the mainframe resources to multiple different users.

Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) Protocol that requires a very simple client and is designed for boot and firmware loading during device initialization. Released in 1981, TFTP leverages UDP in the communication between client and server.

UCS Central Software that provides a centralized control panel for multiple UCS domains.

UCS C-Series Cisco rack-mountable devices that can optionally be added to a UCS domain.

UCS Integrated Infrastructure for Red Hat OpenStack (UCSO; aka OpenBlock) A collaborative development effort between Cisco and Red Hat that offers a reference architecture, bill of materials, and 24×7 support for an OpenStack integrated infrastructure built with solutions from both companies.

UCS Manager Software that offers server administrators the following capabilities over a UCS domain: server provisioning, device discovery, inventory, configuration, diagnostics, monitoring, fault detection, auditing, and statistics collection.

Unified Fabric Network architecture established through devices based on the NX-OS network operating system (such as Cisco Nexus data center switches and MDS 9000). It has introduced several innovations to data center networks such as virtual device contexts, virtual PortChannels, Fabric Extenders, Overlay Transport Virtualization, and I/O consolidation.

Unified Port Nexus switch interface that can provide Ethernet (1/10 Gbps with FCoE) or Fibre Channel (8/4/2/1 Gbps) according to the inserted transceiver.

Virtual Application Cloud Segmentation (VACS) Cisco software package that automates installation, licensing, and configuration of virtual machines, virtual networking, and virtual services to enable isolated virtualized applications.

virtual blade Applications, switch components, and virtual networking services that can be executed on Nexus 1110 Cloud Services Platforms.

Virtual Computing Environment (VCE) Company founded in 2011 by Cisco and EMC with active investment participation from VMware and Intel. VCE was the first company to commercialize a prepackaged integrated infrastructure in the market.

Virtual Data Path (vPath) Cisco protocol that allows transparent traffic steering between Nexus 1000V and compatible virtual networking services.

virtual device context (VDC) Logical partition of a switch that includes separation of the data, control, and management planes from other VDCs.

Virtual Ethernet Module (VEM) Assumes the role of an interface module (or line card) for a Nexus 1000V instance.

Virtual eXtensible LAN (VXLAN) A protocol that allows the encapsulation of Ethernet frames over UDP datagrams according to IETF RFC 7348.

virtual host bus adapter (vHBA) Represents how UCS Manager defines a physical Fibre Channel connection to a UCS server or a VIC-generated virtual adapter.

Virtual Interface Card (VIC) Cisco card that can create multiple virtual adapters directly in the server expansion bus.

Virtual Machine Fabric Extender (VM-FEX) Consolidates the networking infrastructure, enabling configuration, management, and monitoring of virtual machines and physical server connectivity in the same device.

Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) Default distributed file system for VMware ESXi implementations to format block-based volumes, such implementation may instead leverage NFS servers to store VM files.

virtual networking Collection of networking technologies that is responsible for virtual machine connectivity.

virtual networking service Networking service running on a virtual machine or on the hypervisor kernel.

virtual network interface controller (vNIC) Represents how UCS Manager defines a physical Ethernet connection to a UCS server or a VIC-generated virtual adapter.

virtual PortChannel (vPC) Virtualization technique that allows a device to deploy aggregation of connections to a pair of Nexus switches.

Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) A sophisticated Layer 2 extension technique that supports multipoint connectivity among MPLS-enabled routers.

virtual private network (VPN) Set of technologies that allows the creation of logical networks over a single shared physical network with the intention to satisfy varied purposes such as security and resource optimization.

Virtual Security Gateway (VSG) Cisco compute firewall for virtual networks based on Cisco Nexus 1000V. It also refers to the zone-based firewall that can be deployed to provide policy enforcement for communication between ICF-managed virtual machines and to protect inter-VM traffic in the provider cloud.

virtual storage-area network (VSAN) Set of N_Ports that share the same Fibre Channel fabric processes in a single physical SAN.

Virtual Supervisor Module (VSM) Assumes the role of a supervisor module for a Nexus 1000V instance.

Virtual Wide Area Application Services (vWAAS) Cisco appliance running on a virtual machine.

virtualization A set of technologies that creates transparent emulations of computing resources, producing benefits that were unavailable in their original physical form.

VM fault tolerance Virtualization feature that allows (almost) uninterrupted operation of a virtual machine even in the case of a host failure.

VM high availability Server virtualization feature that allows the automatic reinitialization of a virtual machine from a failed host on another member of the virtualization cluster.

VM live migration Server virtualization feature that enables the transfer of a virtual machine between two nodes with minimum interruption of the VM operations.

VM manager Software solution that can create and manage virtual machines on multiple physical servers running hypervisors.

volume Represents a logical disk offered to a server by a remote storage system such as a disk array.

VSAN trunking Capability of a Fibre Channel interface to transport traffic of more than one VSAN.

VSPEX Reference architecture for integrated infrastructures developed by EMC and many other manufacturers, including Cisco.

vSwitch Generically defines a software component that offers Layer 2 connectivity for virtual machines. When compared to distributed virtual switches, a vSwitch represents a virtual switch that only exists inside of a single virtualization host.

Web Cache Control Protocol (WCCP) Cisco protocol created to steer HTTP sessions to web caches.

Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) Protocol that allows users to create, read, update, and delete documents in a web server.

workflow Sequence of tasks that is organized to be carried out in order in a fast and standardized way by an automation tool such as a cloud orchestrator.

World Wide Name (WWN) Represents physical addressing in Fibre Channel.

zone Subset of N_Ports from a fabric that is aware of each other, but not of devices outside the zone.

zone set Group of one or more zones that can be activated or deactivated with a single operation.