10BaseT |
An Ethernet local area network that uses twisted-pair
cabling at a data rate of 10 megabits per second. |
100BaseT |
An Ethernet local area network that uses twisted-pair
cabling at a data rate of 100 megabits per second. |
1000BaseT |
An Ethernet local area network that uses twisted-pair
cabling at a data rate of 1000 megabits (one gigabit) per second. |
9.256/ |
The top-level directory of the unit's flash memory. |
9.258/ |
The top-level directory of the unit's hard drive. |
Access Link |
The WAN connection that the Packeteer unit manages.
See also Link and Link Rate. |
Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) |
A TCP/IP protocol used to map an IP address to a
physical hardware address. |
Advanced High Availability Mode |
A high availability mode that includes the features
of basic mode, as well as link overload protection.
PacketShaper/PacketSeeker uses SNMP polling to access the actual throughput
of each configured WAN link interface. If an interface approaches
its configured capacity, the Packeteer unit paces the traffic sent
through that interface to prevent overloading the link. |
AppCelera |
A Packeteer hardware and software product that accelerates
web traffic in the critical "last mile" by optimizing content based
on the Internet connection rate of each web site visitor. |
ARP |
See Address
Resolution Protocol. |
Auto Policy |
A PacketWise option that automatically assigns a
policy to each traffic class as it is discovered. Used as an alternative
to manually applying policies to traffic classes. |
Backward Explicit Congestion
Notification (BECN) |
A flow control method used in Frame Relay to advise
the sender that upstream network resources are busy. |
Basic High Availability Mode |
A high availability mode that polls the configured
router(s) every 30 seconds to assess the status (link up or link down)
of the WAN link interfaces. If a link goes down, PacketWise automatically
adjusts the total available capacity by subtracting out the capacity
of the down link. As part of this process, it will adjust the access
link size and resize partitions to reflect the available bandwidth. |
BECN |
See Backward
Explicit Congestion Notification. |
Burstable Partition |
A type of partition that allows an aggregate traffic
class to use a defined amount of bandwidth, and
also allows that class to access additional unused bandwidth, if
needed. |
Bypass Mode |
Operational state in which the unit connects the
Inside and Outside Ethernet ports directly to each other, essentially
behaving like a piece of cable. By default, the unit enters bypass
mode on loss of power. Bypass mode must be defeated to use the hot
standby feature. |
Cache, Classification-Accelerator |
A high-speed storage mechanism for increasing the speed
in which PacketWise classifies flows on the inside of the unit. Qualified
IP address-based classes are stored in the cache. For more information,
see the PacketShaper
and PacketSeeker Getting Started Guide and the hostdb
cache command. |
CIDR |
See Classless
InterDomain Routing. |
Class |
A logical grouping of traffic flows that share the
same characteristics — a specific application, protocol, address,
or set of addresses. Also known as traffic
class. |
Classless InterDomain Routing (CIDR) |
A scheme for dividing the network and host portions
of an IP v4 address on a bit-by-bit basis. Replaces the original
byte-delimited class A,B,C,D IP address method, and provides greater
flexibility in dividing a finite number of IP addresses among many
subnets. |
CLI |
See Command-Line
Interface. |
Command-Line Interface (CLI) |
The terminal access method in a Packeteer product,
available via remote login or direct connection of an ASCII terminal
to the Console port. Commands are entered as text on a single line. |
Compression Dictionary |
A compilation of common patterns of characters and
the shorter strings with which they are replaced when the data is
sent across a network. Associated with each compression dictionary
is a compression algorithm, such as Lempel-Ziv/Huffman. Compression
dictionaries come in different sizes: the smaller dictionaries are
faster at compressing data while the larger dictionaries achieve higher
compression ratios. |
Compression Tunnel |
A communications link between two points; the data
in the encapsulated link is compressed between the two end points
of the tunnel. |
Concurrent Hosts |
IP hosts that have active connections
through the Packeteer unit at a given point in time. For the maximum
number of concurrent hosts that you can have on a unit, see Configuration
Limits for PacketWise. See also Host Database. |
Direct Standby |
A function that allows two Packeteer units to work
in a redundant network topology, with each unit connected to a different
router. Both units are considered active and each unit can receive
and forward traffic, even simultaneously. When a unit directly receives
traffic, it will copy that traffic and transmit it to the other unit.
The other unit will classify the traffic, just as if it had received
it directly, but it will be discarded just before transmission. |
Discard Policy |
A bandwidth allocation rule that blocks all packets
for a traffic type. |
Domain |
A unique identifier for a group of network resources,
often representing a specific organization — for example, packeteer.com. |
Domain Name Server (DNS) |
A network computer that translates a text-based name
(such as www.packeteer.com) for a network resource to the dotted-decimal
IP address (such as 10.10.10.10) required to access the resource. |
Domain Name |
A text-based name for an Internet address —
for example, www.packeteer.com.
A client computer contacts a Domain Name Server to request translation
of the human-readable domain name into the dotted-decimal address
format used by the Internet Protocol. |
Dynamic Partition |
A type of partition that automatically creates subpartitions
on the fly as users become active in a traffic class. This capability
allows service providers or enterprise customers to guarantee a
user a minimum amount of bandwidth at all times. |
Ethernet |
A protocol for electrical connections and base addressing
that is widely used in local area networks. |
Event |
In PacketWise, a defined occurrence, such as an application
reaching a certain bit rate, that can be used to trigger an alert
message sent via email, an SNMP trap message, or both. |
Exception Class |
A class that has been tagged to be sorted above standard
(non-exception) classes in the traffic tree. Exception classes give
you the ability to redefine the search order that PacketWise uses
to find a match for a traffic flow. |
Excess Rate |
The portion of the data rate for a traffic class
that exceeds the minimum allocated rate. |
Failover |
The process by which a unit monitors the site router
WAN links, using SNMP, and adjusts its link rate accordingly if
the router switches to a lower-bandwidth backup WAN link. Failover
should not be confused with hot standby, in which two units act
as a redundant pair. |
FECN |
See Forward
Explicit Congestion Notification. |
Flash Memory |
A type of nonvolatile, electronic storage media used
in the Packeteer unit to store the PacketWise software. |
Flow |
A specific instance of a connection, session, or
packet-exchange activity by an identified traffic class. |
Forward Explicit Congestion Notification (FECN) |
A flow control method used in Frame Relay to advise
the sender that upstream network resources are busy. |
Full Duplex |
A mode of data transmission in which each device
is able to transmit and receive data simultaneously. See also Half
Duplex. |
Gateway |
The network device, often a router, to which packets
destined for another network are sent. |
Guaranteed Rate |
In a rate policy, the minimum allocated bandwidth
made available to each connection in a traffic class. Unused bandwidth
is loaned to other traffic classes. |
Guaranteed Rate Failure |
An instance when PacketWise is unable to allocate
the guaranteed rate when applying a class' rate policy. |
Half Duplex |
A mode of data transmission in which each device
alternately receives and transmits data. |
High Availability |
A network topology feature that ensures mission critical
applications are available 100% of the time, on a 24x7 basis. This
goal is typically accomplished by having multiple access routers with
multiple WAN link interfaces. Packeteer units can enhance a high availability
topology by detecting when interfaces and routers go down and then
adjusting the rate of the flows and partitions based on the status
of the devices. High availability has two modes: basic
and advanced. |
Hits |
The number of times traffic flows match the criteria
specified in a traffic class. |
Host |
A computer that is connected to a TCP/IP network,
including the Internet. Each host has a unique IP address. |
Host Database
(hostdb) |
A record of all hosts that have active connections
through the Packeteer unit. Once a host closes its connection, the
host will be purged from the database. In addition, the unit will
clear host entries if they aren't active for approximately ten minutes.
Thus, the hostdb is a real-time list of hosts. The Packeteer features
that use the hostdb include Top Talkers/Listeners, host accounting,
and the classification-acceleration cache. |
Hot Standby |
A strategy that uses two Packeteer units connected
in parallel, with one unit active and the other acting as a hot
spare. In the event of a failure in the active unit, the spare unit
takes over automatically, using the same IP address. Hot standby
should not be confused with the failover feature, a process that
adjusts link rate when a router switches to a backup WAN connection. |
HTTP over SSL
(HTTPS) |
A protocol for transferring private documents over
the Internet. |
Ignore Policy |
A bandwidth allocation rule that exempts a traffic
class from bandwidth management. Used for traffic not destined for
the WAN. |
Inbound Rate |
In PacketWise, the rate at which data is arriving
at the local site across the wide area network. |
Inheritable Traffic Class |
A traffic class with a policy that can be given to
a sibling class, if the sibling doesn't have its own policy. |
Inside NIC Mode |
In PacketWise, the speed selection for the LAN connection
facing the local computer network. Choose from 10BaseT, 100BaseT,
or automatic. |
Inside Port |
The unit's 8-pin modular Ethernet connector for the
local LAN. |
Internet Protocol (IP) |
A network protocol for addressing and sending data
packets. The messenger-oriented component of TCP/IP. |
IP Address |
The dotted-decimal identifier used by the Internet
Protocol to contact a specific network device — for example,
10.10.10.10. |
IP Precedence |
A QoS traffic priority method for TCP/IP that uses
the three-bit Type of Service (TOS) field in the IP header. |
IQOS |
Stands for Internet Quality of Service. Used
by Packeteer to uniquely name LDAP objects created by PacketWise. |
LAN Expansion Module (LEM) |
A card that provides additional network interfaces to the PacketShaper, offering additional deployment options for complex topologies with multiple LANs. |
Leaf Class |
A child class that doesn't have any of its own child
classes. |
Legacy Flows |
Traffic using a non-TCP/IP protocol, often encapsulated
in a TCP or IP wrapper. |
LEM |
See LAN Expansion Module. |
Link |
A communications connection that is used to transmit data from
a source to a destination (for example, a T1 line). See also Access
Link and Link Rate. |
Link Rate |
The capacity of the access link,
measured in bits per second. For example, a T1 access link has a link
rate of 1.5 Mbps. The link has an inbound and an outbound rate. |
List Mode |
In PacketWise, a security mode that excludes all
access to the management functions on the given interface (Inside
or Outside), except from an IP address named in a list. See also
Secure
Mode and Unsecure
Mode. |
Load Balancing |
The process of dividing network traffic between parallel
paths or devices in order to handle more transactions without overloading
a specific resource. |
Local Area Network |
A computer network that spans a relatively small
area, such as a single building or group of buildings. |
Local Host |
In networking, a reference to this
computer. In the traffic tree, the Localhost class refers to the
PacketShaper or PacketSeeker unit. |
Look Access |
Read-only permission for the PacketWise software.
See also Touch
Access. |
Look Community String |
The PacketWise password required before an SNMP manager
can read the value of a PacketWise manageable object. |
Look Password |
The PacketWise password required before look access
is granted. |
MAC Cache Entries |
Short-term memory records of the data link control
layer addresses for known hosts. |
Matching Rule |
A set of characteristics that identifies a specific
traffic type. |
Measurement Engine |
A PacketWise background process that collects time-series
and histogram data. This data is stored on the unit's hard drive. |
Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) |
This technology puts labels in each packet that identify
the specific path for the packet, thus saving the time needed for
a router to look up the address to the next node to forward the packet
to. The "multiprotocol" in its name refers to the fact that
it works with the Internet Protocol (IP), Asynchronous Transport Mode
(ATM), and Frame Relay network protocols. |
Net Mask |
The dotted-decimal expression that determines which
portion of an IP address represents the network address and which
portion is for the host — for example, 255.0.0.0. |
Network Delay |
The number of milliseconds spent in transit when
a client and server exchange data. Includes the transit time for
all packets required for a request-response transaction. |
Network Efficiency |
The ratio of TCP packets not requiring retransmission
to the total number of TCP packets sent. |
Network Interface Card (NIC) |
An onboard chipset or an add-in circuit board that
provides support for connection to a local area network. |
Never-Admit Policy |
A bandwidth allocation rule that tells PacketWise
to enforce admission control at the beginning of each flow. Used
to reject or redirect web traffic and restrict non-TCP traffic. |
NIC |
See Network
Interface Card. |
Outbound Rate |
In PacketWise, the maximum rate at which data can
be transmitted to another site across the wide area network. |
Outside NIC Mode |
In PacketWise, the speed selection for the LAN connection
facing the site router or WAN connection. Choose from 10BaseT, 100BaseT,
or automatic. |
Outside Port |
The unit's 8-pin modular Ethernet connector for the
path to the router and WAN. |
Oversubscribed |
A situation in which the sum of all partition sizes
on a unit is greater than the link size. |
Packet Capture |
A feature that captures packets for future analysis,
allowing you to analyze detailed information about the packets in
a class, such as the source and destination IP addresses and protocols
used. |
PacketCare |
The Packeteer customer support contract suite. |
PacketSeeker |
A Packeteer monitoring device that identifies your
network traffic, measures response times, tracks bandwidth utilization,
and performs a variety of other analytical tasks. |
PacketShaper |
A Packeteer product that is an application-based
traffic and bandwidth management system. |
PacketWise |
The software used by Packeteer's PacketShaper, PacketSeeker,
and PacketShaper Xpress. |
Partition |
A bandwidth pipe assigned to a given traffic class
to protect or restrict all the flows in that class. |
Policy |
A rule assigned to a given traffic class that defines
how a single flow will be handled during bandwidth allocation. |
PolicyCenter |
A Packeteer software package that centralizes management
and propagates configuration changes to large numbers of Packeteer
appliances. |
Priority Policy |
A bandwidth allocation rule that sets the relative
precedence for traffic without allocating a specific rate. |
Protocol |
A set of rules governing the transmission and receiving
of data. |
Proxy Service |
A network traffic relay application that represents
trusted, usually local, clients when they access unknown network
resources. Often used to protect a local corporate LAN from potentially
hostile outside hosts. |
QoS |
See Quality
of Service. |
Quality of Service
(QoS) |
In PacketWise, a measure of the performance of a
network component against expectations. |
Queuing |
The process of delaying packets until a bandwidth-related
condition is met. |
Rate Policy |
A bandwidth allocation rule used to smooth bursty
traffic, such as HTTP, using TCP rate control. Rate policies can
have a guaranteed minimum rate and/or be burstable at a selected
priority level. |
Reboot |
The process of interrupting a computing device, causing
it to reload its operating system and restart all default operations. |
ReportCenter |
A Packeteer software product that gathers performance
and event data from a network of PacketWise devices, stores the
information in a database, and provides dynamic HTML graphical reports
on demand or on a scheduled basis. |
Response Time Measurement (RTM) |
A PacketWise feature that tracks delay statistics
for connection-based TCP traffic classes and breaks each response
time measurement into network delay, server delay, and total delay.
For example, you can measure response times for applications, web
traffic, individual hosts, or subnets. |
Reset |
The process of interrupting a computing device and
causing it to return to a default condition. |
RJ-45 |
A modular connector used, among other places, on
10BaseT and 100BaseT Ethernet cables. Used for the INSIDE
and OUTSIDE
ports on Packeteer units. |
RTM |
See Response
Time Measurement. |
Safe Mode |
A built-in safeguard that enables recovery from a corrupted
software image. For more information, see Safe
Mode. |
SameSide |
A special traffic class that measures traffic not
destined for the WAN. |
Secure Mode |
In PacketWise, a security mode that prohibits access
to the management functions on the given interface (Inside or Outside)
from any IP address. See also List
Mode and Unsecure
Mode. |
Secure Shell (SSH) |
A program and protocol that provides strong authentication
and secure communications for logging onto a remote computer. |
Server Delay |
The time the server uses to process a client's request
after it receives all required data; the time between when the server
receives the last request packet and when it sends the first packet
of the reply. |
Shaping |
A PacketWise bandwidth management feature that improves
upon default bandwidth allocation by enforcing policies on traffic
flows and partitions on aggregate flows in a traffic class. |
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) |
A widely used member of the TCP/IP suite of protocols
designed to support remote management of network components and
the gathering of alarm and event information. |
Simple Network Time Protocol (SNTP) |
A connectionless (UDP) protocol used to synchronize
the time in a client (PacketWise) to a high accuracy network time
server. |
Site Router |
The IP address of the LAN interface for the router
used to access the wide area network. |
Software Version |
The revision of PacketWise currently operating in
the PacketShaper/PacketSeeker unit. This information is located
on the info
tab in the PacketWise browser interface. |
SNMP |
See Simple
Network Management Protocol. |
SNMP Traps |
Unsolicited, connectionless messages sent by PacketWise
to a configured SNMP host. These messages report alarms or indicate
that a configured event has occurred. |
SNTP |
See Simple
Network Time Protocol. |
SSH |
See Secure Shell. |
Synthetic Transactions |
Web or other TCP transactions that PacketShaper and
PacketSeeker can send at regular intervals to verify the availability
of critical hosts. |
T1 |
A WAN protocol used to carry data and voice signals
over a four-wire circuit at a rate of 1.544 Mbps. |
T3 |
A WAN protocol used to carry data and voice signals
over optical fiber or coaxial cables at a rate of 44.736 Mbps. Time
division multiplexing can be used to combine 28 T1 circuits into
a T3 circuit. |
TCP |
See Transmission
Control Protocol. |
TCP Flows |
The number of unique sessions using Transmission
Control Protocol. |
TCP Rate Control |
A method of throttling traffic flow, specified in
the Transmission Control Protocol, and utilized by PacketWise. |
Top Listeners |
An identified traffic class for which PacketWise
has been configured to record the host names or IP addresses of
the devices receiving the greatest amounts of traffic (the "listeners"). |
Top Talkers |
An identified traffic class for which PacketWise
has been configured to record the host names or IP addresses of
the devices transmitting the greatest amounts of traffic (the "talkers"). |
Touch Access |
Read/write permission for the PacketWise software.
See also Look
Access. |
Touch Community String |
The PacketWise password required before an SNMP manager
can set the value of a PacketWise manageable object. |
Touch Password |
The password required by PacketWise before read/write
access is granted. |
Traffic Class |
See Class. |
Traffic Discovery |
The PacketWise process of observing and creating
traffic classes for all packets as they pass through the unit. This
process compiles a list of the protocols and applications in use
on a network, creating a traffic
tree. |
Traffic Tree |
A hierarchical list of traffic classes that are used
on a network. The traffic discovery process creates the tree automatically. |
Transaction |
An exchange of packets between two hosts on a computer
network. |
Transaction Delay |
The delay experienced by an application communicating
between two hosts. |
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) |
A reliable transport-layer method for managing end-to-end
data flow between network-connected computers. The session-oriented
component of TCP/IP. |
Tunnel Partner |
A PacketShaper or PacketSeeker unit that is at one
end of a compression tunnel. |
Type-Of-Service (TOS) |
A three-bit portion of the IP header in a TCP/IP
packet reserved for controlling Quality of Service (QoS). |
UDP |
See User
Datagram Protocol. |
Unsecure Mode |
In PacketWise, a security mode that allows access
to the management functions on the given interface (Inside or Outside),
from any IP address. See also List
Mode and Secure
Mode. |
User Datagram Protocol (UDP) |
An OSI model layer 4 network protocol that supports
connectionless services, such as the IP suite. |
WAN |
See Wide
Area Network. |
UTC |
An international time standard similar to Greenwich
mean time. UTC stands for "coordinated universal time."
When scheduling policies to run at a specific time, you can enter
the time in UTC or local time. |
VLAN (Virtual LAN) |
A local area network that maps workstations on some
other basis than geographic location (for example, by department,
type of user, or application). |
Weighted Fair Queuing |
A method of sequencing packets that defines bandwidth
allocation according to an application's needs. |
Wide Area Network (WAN) |
One or more electronic circuits that connect computers
in different locations. |
Xpress |
Packeteer’s compression feature. See Compression
Overview. |
