IT Abbreviations and Glossary
This page should help you understand some common IT abbreviations used on the SIP and in the VSETH IT in general.
| Word / Abbreviation | General Definition / Explanation | Usage at VSETH | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
| AD - Active Directory | |||
| API - Application Programming Interface | An application programming interface (API) is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. | The SIP uses GRPC APIs extensively to offer general user information and management to different applications. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/API |
| Backend | |||
| Bash | |||
| CI / CD - Continuous Integration / Continous Deployment | |||
| CLI - Command Line Interface | A command-line interface (CLI) is a program that uses the terminal for input/output. | VSETH maintains several CLIs for different APIs, such as the sipctl to interact with the sip-manager. | |
| Container | |||
| DB - Database | In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically from a computer system. | Most applications use a database to store application data. For example, this page is stored in a PostgreSQL database used by the Confluence (Wiki) application. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database |
| Debian | Debian is an open-source Linux distribution focused on security and stability. | VSETH uses Debian and almost all of its VMs and as a base image in all docker containers. | https://www.debian.org/ |
| DNS - Domain Name System | The Domain Name System (DNS) is the phone book of the internet: it resolves domain names such as vseth.ethz.ch to the server's IP address. | DNS is used for almost all services. | https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/dns/what-is-dns/ |
| Domain | |||
| Exchange | Microsoft Exchange is the mail server product offered by Microsoft. | VSETH uses the Exchange server hosted by ETH for E-Mail hosting. | |
| Firewall | In computing, a firewall is a network security system that monitors and controls the incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predetermined security rules. For example, a firewall may only allow traffic over certain ports to servers. | All services of VSETH are hosted behind a firewall. On GCP, the Google Firewall service is used, and in the ETH, the ETH firewall is used. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewall_(computing) |
| Frontend | |||
| GCP - Google Cloud Platform | The Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is the name of Google's cloud service offering. | VSETH uses the GCP for Kubernetes, VM, and Database hosting. | https://cloud.google.com/ |
| GIT | Git is a popular open-source Source Control Management system. | VSETH uses Git to manage the code of all software projects. | https://git-scm.com/ |
| Gitlab | GitLab is a web-based DevOps lifecycle tool that provides a Git repository manager providing wiki, issue-tracking, and continuous integration and deployment pipeline[8] features, using an open-source license, developed by GitLab Inc. | https://about.gitlab.com/ | |
| GRPC - Google Remote Procedure Call | |||
| HTTP - HyperText Transfer Protocol | |||
| IAM - Identity and Access Management | |||
| IP - Internet Protocol | |||
| IP Address | |||
| JS - Java Script | JavaScript (JS) is a programming language often used for web applications. | VSETH uses JavaScript for Frontend Development. | |
| JSON - JavaScript Object Notation | |||
| K8s - Kubernetes | Kubernetes, also known as K8s, is an open-source system for automating deployment, scaling, and managing containerized applications. | VSETH uses Kubernetes for container hosting. | https://kubernetes.io/ |
| LDAP - Lightweight Directory Access Protocol | |||
| NAS - Network Attached Storage | A Network Attached Storage (NAS) is a server offering file-level storage to the systems over the network. | The Storage service is based on the ETH NAS service. | |
| Nethz | |||
| Port | |||
| Python | Python is a general-purpose programming language that is often used in data science as well as web development. | ||
| Rundeck | |||
| SCM - Source Control Management | |||
| shell | |||
| SIP - Student Innovation Platform | |||
| SMTP - Secure Message Transport Protocol | |||
| SQL | SQL is the language used to interact with relational database systems. It can be used to query and modify data in a relational database system. | Applications that use databases use SQL to interact with the database. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL |
| SSH - Secure Shell | SSH is a protocol to access a remote system over an insecure network securely. It usually uses a private/public key pair for authentication. | SSH is used to connect to VSETH VMs. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Shell |
| S3 | |||
| TCP - Transport Control Protocol | |||
| Teamcity | |||
| TypeScript | |||
| VM - Virtual Machine | |||
| VPN - Virtual Private Network | A virtual private network (VPN) extends a private network across a public network and enables users to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if their computing devices were directly connected to the private network. | ETH students can use the ETH VPN service to directly connect to the ETH network. The ISG uses the VSETH Realm to connect to the VSETH VPZ. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_private_network |
| VPZ - Virtual Private Zone | A virtual private zone (VPZ) is a zone of the network which is protected by a firewall to other zones in the network. | The ETH network is organized in VPZs. VSETH manages a single VPZ for all its offices and server locations. | |
| YAML | |||