DSA Terminology

[David Lang]

On Sat, 10 Sep 2022, Arınç ÜNAL wrote:

>> 
>> As a start, certain terms have cropped up multiple times in this 
> discussion. Could I ask for definitions for the following terms?
>
> Here's my understanding.

There is a difference between a physical device that passes bits and the 
logical interface that communicates with a network range. A given physical 
devices can have multiple logical interfaces on them, and a logical interface 
can use multiple physical devices to communicate (i.e. it's not a 1:1 
relationship between logical interfaces and physical devices.

LUCI is inconsistant and sometimes calls physical devices 'interfaces' and 
sometimes calls logical interfaces 'interfaces'

I would have to go back over this thread to give a better definition for each 
term, but they are not all names for the same thing as described below (well, 
they can be in simple configurations, but much more complex configurations are 
possible, and as people start using the power, the confusion of terms causes 
problems)

David Lang

>> 
>> Network:
>
> A network represents a group of computers communicating with each other.
>
>> 
>> Interface:
>
> Short for network interface.
>
>> 
>> Network Interface:
>
> A network interface is the point of interconnection, implemented on the 
> software, between computers.
>
>> 
>> Device:
>
> Another term for network interface, used a lot on Linux kernel development.
>
>> 
>> Netdev:
>
> A mailing list for all network-related Linux stuff.
>
> https://docs.kernel.org/process/maintainer-netdev.html#what-is-netdev
>
>> 
>> Other terms?
>
> I think this is inclusive enough.
>
> Arınç
>
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