DSA Terminology

[Rich Brown]

I think I see where I went wrong. I have updated the definitions in the DSA Terminology page to incorporate what I understand from this conversation. See: https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/dsa/dsa-mini-tutorial#terminology 

Is this getting closer to a set of good definitions? Thanks.

Rich

> On Sep 10, 2022, at 9:47 AM, Arınç ÜNAL <arinc.unal at arinc9.com> wrote:
> 
> On 10.09.2022 14:59, Rich Brown wrote:
>> I got the following definitions from Arınç, I am taking the liberty of opening this to the entire list, so we can refine these definitions together. I include some questions in-line to clarify the definitions.
>>>>> As a start, certain terms have cropped up multiple times in this discussion. Could I ask for definitions for the following terms?
>>>>> 
>>>>> Network:
>>> 
>>> A network represents a group of computers communicating with each other.
>> 	Are there other constraints for what comprises a network? For example, which of these would be considered to be "a network" in our DSA discussion?
>> 	- Computers in the same subnet range
> 
> That's a network.
> 
>> 	- Computers on the same VLAN
> 
> That's a network.
> 
>> 	- Computers physically attached to a switch or bridge (perhaps on different subnets)
> 
> That'd be multiple networks but I guess that's technically a single network since computers on different subnets can still communicate with each other at the second layer.
> 
> The means of delivering data in between (switch, bridge etc.) is also expected on the examples above.
> 
>> 	- Are there other synonyms for "network"?
> 
> I don't believe so.
> 
>>>>> Network Interface:
>>> 
>>> A network interface is the point of interconnection, implemented on the software, between computers.
>> 	- I had earlier written "... physical connections that convey bits/frames to other computers ... such as individual Ethernet switch ports, wireless radios, USB networking devices, VLANs, or virtual ethernets."
>> 	- How much of this is correct? What should be added or removed?
>> 	- What about bridges, tunnels, alias interfaces - include or exclude them? Why?
>> 	- Must a network interface to be "implemented in software"?
> 
> That's what a network interface is. It's a software term.
> 
>> 	- Or do you mean that the network interface is the "software representation" of a physical connection?
> 
> Software representation of interconnection, doesn't have to be physical.
> 
>>>>> Interface:
>>> 
>>> Short for network interface.
>> 	- Can we *always* treat this as a synonym for "network interface"?
> 
> I believe so.
> 
>>>>> Device:
>>> 
>>> Another term for network interface, used a lot on Linux kernel development.
>> 	- Can we *always* treat this as a synonym for "network interface"?
> 
> No. Outside of Linux driver development, I don't see this widely used in computer networking software.
> 
>>>>> Netdev:
>>> 
>>> A mailing list for all network-related Linux stuff. https://docs.kernel.org/process/maintainer-netdev.html#what-is-netdev
>> 	- Is "netdev" used commonly in DSA/OpenWrt as a formal term?
>> 	- If not (and if we need to rename something in config files), could the term "netdev" provide a new word that isn't ambiguous?
> 
> I don't understand what you're getting at?
> 
> Arınç