Glossary¶
Terms, Acronyms, and Definitions
A¶
AIOps (Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations)
Application of machine learning and analytics to IT operations for automated problem detection, root cause analysis, and remediation.
API (Application Programming Interface)
Software interface that allows different applications to communicate and exchange data programmatically.
AppDynamics
Cisco's application performance monitoring (APM) platform with AI-powered business transaction analytics.
ASA (Adaptive Security Appliance)
Cisco's legacy firewall platform, being migrated to FTD in modern deployments.
B¶
BFD (Bidirectional Forwarding Detection)
Network protocol for fast failure detection between adjacent routers, commonly used in SD-WAN.
Business Transaction
Complete user interaction flow through an application, tracked end-to-end by AppDynamics.
C¶
Catalyst Center (formerly DNA Center)
Cisco's network management and automation platform with AI/ML analytics for campus and branch networks.
CDR (Call Detail Record)
Record of a communication session containing metadata like duration, endpoints, and quality metrics.
Cognition Engine
AppDynamics AI component that automatically detects anomalies and correlates business impact.
D¶
DNA Center
See Catalyst Center (platform was renamed in 2024).
DPI (Deep Packet Inspection)
Network traffic analysis that examines packet payloads to identify applications and content.
Duo Beyond
Cisco's Zero Trust access platform providing device trust, passwordless authentication, and risk-based MFA.
E¶
Enterprise Agent
ThousandEyes monitoring agent deployed in customer infrastructure for network visibility.
F¶
FMC (Firepower Management Center)
Centralized management platform for Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) firewalls.
FTD (Firepower Threat Defense)
Cisco's next-generation firewall combining traditional firewall with advanced threat protection.
G¶
gRPC (gRPC Remote Procedure Calls)
High-performance RPC framework used for streaming telemetry from network devices.
H¶
HEC (HTTP Event Collector)
Splunk's HTTP-based interface for ingesting data from applications and APIs.
Hybrid Cloud
IT architecture combining on-premises infrastructure with public cloud services.
I¶
ISE (Identity Services Engine)
Cisco's network access control platform providing authentication, authorization, and policy enforcement.
IPsec (Internet Protocol Security)
Protocol suite for securing IP communications through encryption and authentication.
M¶
MDT (Model-Driven Telemetry)
Network telemetry approach using YANG data models to stream device state in real-time.
MLTK (Machine Learning Toolkit)
Splunk add-on providing machine learning algorithms for anomaly detection and predictive analytics.
MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching)
WAN technology using labels to route traffic, commonly used in enterprise networks before SD-WAN.
MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication)
Security mechanism requiring multiple forms of verification (password + token + biometric, etc.).
N¶
NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology)
U.S. agency that publishes cybersecurity frameworks and standards (e.g., NIST 800-207 for Zero Trust).
O¶
OMP (Overlay Management Protocol)
SD-WAN control plane protocol for exchanging routing and policy information between edge devices.
OpenTelemetry (OTel)
Vendor-neutral standard for collecting and exporting telemetry data (traces, metrics, logs).
P¶
Path Visualization
ThousandEyes feature showing complete network path from source to destination with hop-by-hop metrics.
pxGrid (Platform Exchange Grid)
Cisco's open API framework for sharing contextual information between security platforms.
Q¶
QoE (Quality of Experience)
User-perceived quality metric for applications and services (MOS scores, jitter, latency, packet loss).
QoS (Quality of Service)
Network traffic prioritization mechanism ensuring critical applications get required bandwidth and low latency.
R¶
RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service)
Protocol for centralized authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA).
RBAC (Role-Based Access Control)
Access control model granting permissions based on user roles rather than individual identities.
S¶
SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language)
Standard for exchanging authentication and authorization data between identity providers and service providers.
SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network)
WAN architecture using software to intelligently route traffic across multiple transport links.
SecureX
Cisco's cloud-native security platform integrating security tools and automating threat response.
SGT (Security Group Tag)
Cisco TrustSec tag applied to network traffic enabling policy enforcement based on user/device groups.
SIG (Secure Internet Gateway)
Cloud-based security service providing web filtering, malware protection, and data loss prevention.
SIEM (Security Information and Event Management)
Platform aggregating and analyzing security events from multiple sources (Splunk Enterprise Security).
Snort
Open-source intrusion detection system integrated into Cisco Firepower platforms.
SPL (Search Processing Language)
Splunk's query language for searching, analyzing, and visualizing log data.
SSO (Single Sign-On)
Authentication scheme allowing users to log in once and access multiple applications.
T¶
TAC (Technical Assistance Center)
Cisco's technical support organization providing troubleshooting and issue resolution.
Telemetry
Automated collection and transmission of operational data from network devices and applications.
ThousandEyes
Cisco's network intelligence platform providing visibility into Internet, WAN, and application performance.
TrustSec
Cisco's software-defined segmentation solution using security group tags (SGTs) for policy enforcement.
U¶
UEBA (User and Entity Behavior Analytics)
Security analytics using machine learning to detect anomalous user and device behavior.
Umbrella
Cisco's cloud-delivered security platform providing DNS-layer protection and secure web gateway.
V¶
vManage
Cisco SD-WAN centralized management platform for configuration, monitoring, and policy orchestration.
W¶
Webex
Cisco's cloud collaboration platform including meetings, calling, messaging, and contact center.
WiFi 7 (802.11be)
Latest wireless standard providing 320MHz channels, multi-link operation, and ultra-low latency.
WxCC (Webex Contact Center)
Cisco's cloud-native contact center platform with AI-powered customer experience features.
X¶
XDR (Extended Detection and Response)
Security approach integrating multiple security tools for unified threat detection and automated response.
Y¶
YANG (Yet Another Next Generation)
Data modeling language used for model-driven telemetry and network programmability.
Z¶
Zero Trust
Security model requiring strict identity verification for every access request, regardless of network location (NIST 800-207).
Common Units and Metrics¶
Mbps / Gbps
Megabits per second / Gigabits per second (throughput measurement)
ms (millisecond)
Network latency measurement (1/1000 of a second)
MOS (Mean Opinion Score)
Call quality metric ranging from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent)
IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second)
Storage performance metric
RPS (Requests Per Second)
Application performance metric
API Response Codes¶
200 OK — Request successful
201 Created — Resource created successfully
401 Unauthorized — Authentication required
403 Forbidden — Authentication valid but insufficient permissions
404 Not Found — Resource does not exist
500 Internal Server Error — Server-side error
This glossary covers terms used throughout the AI Observability, Zero Trust, AI-Ready Network, and Network Forensics documentation.