Glossary
AlterPath Manager E2000 Manual Glossary-3
Cluster A cluster is a group of one or more computers working as a
group to execute a certain task. From the user standpoint, a
cluster acts as a large computer system.
Console Terminal used to configure network devices at boot (start-up)
time. Also used to refer to the keyboard, video and mouse
user interface to a server.
Console Port Most of the equipment in a data center (servers, routers,
switches, UPS, PBX, etc.) has a serial console port for out-
of-band management purposes.
DHCP Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. A protocol for
automatic TCP/IP configuration that provides static and
dynamic address allocation and management.
DHCP enables individual computers on an IP network to
extract their configurations from a server (the 'DHCP server')
or servers, in particular, servers that have no exact
information about the individual computers until they request
the information. The overall purpose of this is to reduce the
work necessary to administer a large IP network. The most
significant piece of information distributed in this manner is
the IP address.
DNS Server Domain Nam e Server. The computer you use to access the
DNS to allow you to contact other computers on the Internet.
The server keeps a database of host computers and their IP
addresses.
Domain Name The unique name that identifies an Internet site. Domain
Names always have 2 or more parts, separated by dots. The
part on the left is the most specific, and the part on the right is
the most general. A given machine may have more than one
Domain Name but a given Domain Name points to only one
machine. For example, the domain names: matisse.net,
mail.matisse.net, workshop.matisse.net can all refer to the
same machine, but each domain name can refer to no more
than one machine. Usually, all of the machines on a given