Machines Glossary

Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is a symmetric encryption algorithm.

Bare metal is a physical server in Paperspace that is dedicated exclusively to a single user without any virtualization layer.

Continuous integration and continuous delivery/deployment (CI/CD) encompass several automated processes commonly performed in software development, such as building, testing, and deploying a software application. CI/CD reduces human intervention during the maintenance processes of software applications.

A client library is a collection of code that helps to interact with a particular API.

Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) is an API created by NVIDIA for parallel computing.

A Core Machine in Paperspace is a Linux or Window-based virtual machine (VM). The Core Machine runs on top of virtualized hardware.

A central processing unit, also called a processor or CPU, is an essential piece of computer hardware that executes the instructions from a computer program.

Client URL (cURL) serves as a command-line tool and library for sending requests to and receiving responses from servers through network protocols. It is often used to troubleshoot or test responses from servers and APIs.

Daemon is a program performs system administration such as network communications, system monitoring, log management, and job scheduling in the background of Unix operation systems (OS).

In a denial-of-service (DoS) attack, a threat actor renders information systems, devices, or other network resources inaccessible by overwhelming the target with malicious traffic. A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack is a type of DoS attack where the overloading traffic originates from multiple attacking machines, amplifying the severity of the attack.

An endpoint is a specific URL or network address that a client device or application uses to interact with a server or service. Most internet connected apps and websites communicate with endpoints to retrieve information, process user interactions, and perform other processes. For example, when you open a weather app on your phone, the weather app requests for the latest forecast information from a server endpoint.

An environment variable is a in-memory key/value pair that developers use to store configuration details about their app.

Ephemeral files are temporary files used for program execution and tasks.

An epoch is a single iteration through a dataset when training a machine learning model.

A gateway is a server or router that provides access to networks from other networks or the public internet.

A Gradient model is a scalable trained machine learning or deep learning model.

Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) is a specialized processor meant to accelerate graphics rendering or processing complex mathematical calculations such as during machine learning training.

A handshake is the authentication process between two networked devices to ensure that both devices are who they claim to be.

A hypervisor is a virtual machine monitor (VMM) that allows multiple operating systems to run simultaneously on one host computer.

Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) is a network layer protocol used to diagnose problems between devices within a network.

The Internet Protocol (IP) is a communications protocol used to connect computers across a network, specifically the internet. IP consists of rules and regulations for transmission of packets across a network including routing and addressing. IP ensures that the packets of data that travel across a network arrive at the correct location.

IPv4, or Internet Protocol version 4, is a networking protocol that maps 32-bit IP addresses to devices on a network. IPv4 routes most of the network traffic on the internet.

IPv6, or Internet Protocol version 6, is a networking protocol that maps IP addresses to devices on a network. IPv6 is the most recent version of the IP protocol and greatly expands the available address space compared to IPv4.

A key, or bucket key, is a unique data key for objects in a bucket.

Machine type is the set of virtualized hardware resources used for a virtual machine (VM) instance.

A network is a collection interconnected servers or computers that communicate and share resources amongst each other.

Network File System (NFS) is a distributed file system protocol that allows a user access to files within a computer over a network.

NVLink is a scalable interlink created by NVIDIA which connects multiple GPUs at a high speed across either a single or multiple system(s).

An Operating System Template or Machine is a disk image of a pre-designed or pre-configured version of a machine.

An operating system, or OS, is a system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, such as Windows, macOS, or Linux.

Peering is when two Internet networks connect via Internet Service Providers (ISP) and exchange traffic directly without having to pay for a third party to carry the traffic.

A port is a communication endpoint of a network connection. A port is identified using a port number for each transport protocol.

Random-Access Memory, or RAM, is a memory storage made to store and access memory on a short-term basis.

Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) is a proprietary protocol developed by Microsoft that is used to provide users the ability to connect to another computer through a graphical interface remotely over a network.

A runtime environment is an execution environment for deploying and running applications. Runtime environments contain the necessary applications, dependencies, and operating system to run an application. For example, when you create an app on App Platform, App Platform inspects the code and app resources, and then selects the appropriate runtime environment, such as Node, to run the app in.

S3-Compatible Object Storage, or S3 is a storage solution that uses the S3 API.

A solid-state drive, or SSD, is a persistent data storage device. SSDs use flash memory, which significantly improves latency and I/O performance over older, electromechanical hard disk drives (HDDs).

SSH (Secure Shell Protocol) is a method to secure remote logins and communications from one computer to another which provides strong authentication and protects communication through strong encryption.

Symmetric ciphers use the same key for encrypting and decrypting data.

Two-factor authentication (2FA) is form of authentication that requires two forms of verification before authorizing access to a user. 2FA increases security because the resource is inaccessible even if one factor, like a password, gets compromised.

A virtual central processing unit, virtual processor, or vCPU is a physical CPU assigned to a virtual machine (VM).

A virtual machine, or VM, is a self-contained virtualization of an operating system.

Virtual Network Computing (VNC) is a program that shares desktops remotely using the Remote Frame Buffer protocol (RFB). VNC allows a remote user to control another computer through RFB protocol.

Virtual Private Networks (VPN) are used create a private and secure connection to the public Internet.