DSA Terminology

[Arınç ÜNAL]

On 10.09.2022 14:52, David Lang wrote:
> 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.

Agreed. I don't see my writing below contradicting this.

All I talk about is software, there's no physical remarks.

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

I find it nonsensical to bring physical devices into software 
definitions. It's not physical device that is being called interface, 
it's the driver creating an interface on software by making use of the 
physical device.

Be it software feature (vlan, bridging, tunnelling) or a physical device 
(a switch, a NIC, a wireless NIC), they're all called network interfaces 
on software.

I believe I explained types of network interfaces here in a sensible 
fashion:

https://openwrt.org/playground/arinc9/network.interfaces#certain_types_of_network_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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>>
> 
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Arınç