Introduction to Datacenters

Course GLOSSARY

Acronym / Meaning Explanation

Phrase
ADC Application A device that manages and optimizes the delivery of applications over the
Delivery network, ensuring high availability and performance.
Controller
AR Augmented Computer rendered image or data that is overlaid over the real world.
Reality
Availability Zone Separated groups of datacenters within a region. Each availability zone has independent power,
cooling, and networking infrastructure, so that if one zone experiences an outage, then regional
services, capacity, and high availability are supported by the remaining zones.

Availability zones are typically separated by several kilometers and usually are within 100
kilometers. This distance means they're close enough to have low-latency connections to other
availability zones through a high-performance network. However, they're far enough apart to
reduce the likelihood that more than one will be affected by local outages or weather.

BMS Building A system that controls and monitors the building's mechanical and electrical
Management equipment. It ensures efficient operation and monitoring of power
System infrastructure, HVAC, lighting, and security systems.
CDN Content Delivery A distributed network of servers that work together to deliver content (like
Networks images, videos, and static files) to users faster and more efficiently.
CDU Cooling Helps distribute coolant or water evenly throughout the system and
Distribution Units maintains desired cooling and flow rate.
Cluster A group of interconnected servers that work together as a single system to ensure high availability
and scalability or a collection of Data Center buildings in close proximity.
Cold Aisle A layout design where the cold air intakes of IT equipment face each other, optimizing cooling
efficiency.
COP Coefficient of Measures the effectiveness of the cooling system, ideally higher COP means
Performance better energy efficiency.
CRAC Computer Room A device used to maintain proper temperature and humidity in a datacenter.
Air Conditioner
CUE Carbon Usage A metric for measuring the sustainability of a datacenter.
Effectiveness
DCIM Data Center Software tools for managing and optimizing the physical and IT infrastructure
Infrastructure of a datacenter.
Management
DDoS Distributed Denial A malicious attempt to disrupt the normal traffic of a targeted server, service,
of Service or network by overwhelming it with a flood of Internet traffic from multiple
sources.
DLC Direct Liquid Delivering liquid coolant directly to the hotter components of a server with a
Cooling cold plate placed directly on the chip. More efficient than air cooling.
DPI Deep Packet A method of examining and managing network traffic.
Inspection
DRP Disaster Recovery A detailed document outlining how an organization will respond to
Plan unplanned incidents and resume business operations.
ECC Error Correcting An encoding scheme that transmits messages as binary numbers, in such a
Code way that the message can be recovered even if some bits are erroneously
flipped. They are used in practically all cases of message transmission,
especially in data storage where ECCs defend against data corruption.
e-commerce The exchange of goods and services and the transmission of funds and data via the internet.
GDPR General Data A legal framework that sets guidelines for the collection and processing of
Protection personal information.
Regulation
GPU Graphic A specialized hardware component designed to accelerate the rendering of
Processing Unit images, videos, and animations in computer systems. It is also known as a
graphics card or video card when it is packaged as an add-on component in a
computer.
HAMR Heat assisted A magnetic storage technology for greatly increasing the amount of data that
magnetic can be stored on a magnetic device such as a hard disk drive by temporarily
recording heating the disk material during writing.
HDD Hard Disk Drive A data storage device that uses magnetic storage to store and retrieve digital
information.
HIPAA Health Insurance A U.S. regulation that sets national standards for the protection of health
Portability and information.
Accountability Act
Hot Aisle An aisle in the datacenter where hot air is expelled from the back of equipment racks.
HPC High-Performance The use of supercomputers and parallel processing techniques for solving
Computing complex computational problems.
HVAC Heating, Systems used to regulate temperature, humidity, and air quality in the
Ventilation and Air datacenter.
Conditioning
IDS Intrusion A system used to detect unauthorized access to a network or system.
Detection System
IoT Internet of Things The network of physical objects embedded with sensors, software, and other
technologies to connect and exchange data with other devices and systems
over the internet.
IPS Intrusion A system used to detect and prevent unauthorized access to a network or
Prevention system.
System
KPI Key Performance A measurable value that demonstrates how effectively a datacenter is
Indicator achieving key business objectives.
MMR Meet-me-Room A meet-me-room is a secure room inside a datacenter that allows
organizations to connect to one or multiple carriers.
MTBF Mean Time A measure of the reliability of a system, indicating the average time between
Between Failures failures.
MTTR Mean Time to A measure of the maintainability of a system, indicating the average time
Repair required to repair a failure.
NAS Network Attached A file-level storage architecture that makes stored data more accessible to
Storage networked devices.
NOC Network A centralized location where IT professionals monitor, manage, and maintain
Operations Center network infrastructure, ensuring continuous operation and quick response to
issues.
OCP Open Compute An initiative to design and enable the delivery of the most efficient server,
Project storage, and datacenter hardware designs.
OS Operating System The software that supports a computer's basic functions and manages
hardware and software resources.
PCI-DSS Payment Card A set of security standards designed to ensure that all companies that
Industry Data accept, process, store, or transmit credit card information maintain a secure
Security Standard environment.
PDU Power Distribution A device used to distribute electrical power to multiple devices within a
Unit datacenter, ensuring reliable power supply.
PUE Power Usage A metric used to measure the energy efficiency of a datacenter, calculated as
Effectiveness the ratio of total facility energy to IT equipment energy.
QoS Quality of Service A measure of the overall performance of a service, ensuring that mission-
critical applications receive the necessary resources and priority.
Rack A standardized metal frame designed to house various electronic equipment, primarily servers
and network devices. Its primary responsibility is to provide both structural support and a means
to efficiently organize these components.
RAID Recovery A data storage technology that combines multiple disk drives into a single
unit for improved performance and fault tolerance.
RAM Random Access Hardware inside a computer that temporarily stores data, serving as the
Memory computer’s “working” memory. More RAM means better and faster
performance for processing.
Router A device that forwards data packets between computer networks, essential for network
infrastructure.
RPO Recovery Point The maximum acceptable amount of data loss measured in time, crucial for
Objective disaster recovery planning.
RTO Recovery Time The maximum acceptable amount of time to restore datacenter operations
Objective after a disruption.
SAN Storage Area A network that provides access to consolidated, block-level data storage.
Network
SDDC Software Defined An advanced IT infrastructure model in which the entire datacenter is
Data Center abstracted, virtualized, and managed through software rather than relying on
traditional hardware configurations.
SDI Software-defined Technical infrastructure controlled by computer hardware, that is entirely
Infrastructure under the control of software.
SDN Software-defined SDN allows network management to be controlled by software rather than
Networking physical network devices.
SDS Software-defined In SDDC, storage is abstracted from physical hardware and managed as a
Storage virtualized resource.
SLA Service-Level A contract that defines the level of service expected from a service provider,
Agreement including uptime and performance metrics.
SNMP Simple Network A protocol for network device management.
Management
Protocol
SSD Solid State Drive Storage device used in computers. This non-volatile storage media stores
persistent data on solid-state flash memory. SSDs replace traditional hard
disk drives (HDDs) in computers.
TCO Total Cost The comprehensive assessment of the total costs associated with owning
Ownership and operating datacenter infrastructure over its lifecycle.
UPS Uninterruptable A device that provides backup power to equipment in case of a power
Power Supply outage, ensuring continuous operation.
VLAN Virtual Local Area A logical subgroup within a local area network that combines devices from
Network multiple physical LANs.
VM Virtual Machine A software-based emulation of a physical computer that runs an operating
system and applications just like a physical machine. VMs are hosted on a
physical server using virtualization technology, which allows multiple virtual
machines to run simultaneously on a single physical machine, each
operating independently.
VR Virtual Reality The computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or
environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way
by a person using special electronic equipment, such as a helmet with a
screen inside or gloves fitted with sensors.
WAF Web Application A security device or software that filters and monitors HTTP traffic between a
Firewall web application and the internet.
WUE Water Usage It is a metric used to evaluate the efficiency of a datacenter's water usage in
Effectiveness relation to the energy consumed by its IT equipment. The WUE helps to
assess the environmental impact of the cooling systems used in data
centers, which typically rely on significant amounts of water for cooling
purposes, especially in facilities that use evaporative cooling or chilled water
systems.
XSS Cross-Site A security vulnerability typically found in web applications that allows
Scripting attackers to inject malicious scripts.
ZTNA Zero Trust Product or service that creates a logical access boundary around an
Network Access application or set of applications based on identity and context. It hides the
applications from discovery, restricts access via a trust broker and prevents
lateral movement in the network.
ZTP Zero Touch The process of remotely provisioning large numbers of network devices such
Provisioning as switches, routers and mobile devices without having to manually program
each one individually.