Glossary

This glossary contains only definitions of new terms found in this book and are not in the Global Glossary. For definitions of other terms, see the Global Glossary at http://docs.sun.com:80/ab2/coll.417.1/GLOBALGLOSS/@Ab2TocView.

failback

The process of switching back network access to an interface detected as having been repaired.

failover

The process of switching network access from a failed interface to a good physical interface. Network access includes IPv4 unicast, multicast, and broadcast traffic, as well as IPv6 unicast and multicast traffic.

failure detection

The process of detecting when a NIC or the path from the NIC to some layer 3 device starts operating correctly after a failure.

IP link

A communication facility or medium over which nodes can communicate at the link layer. The link layer is the layer immediately below IPv4/IPv6. Examples include Ethernets (simple or bridged) or ATM networks. One or more IPv4 subnet numbers/prefixes are assigned to an IP link. A subnet number/prefix can not be assigned to more than one IP link. In ATM LANE, an IP link is a single emulated LAN. When using ARP, the scope of the ARP protocol is a single IP link.

Network Interface Card (NIC)

Network adapter that is either internal or a separate card that serves as an interface to a link.

physical interface

A node's attachment to a link. This attachment is often implemented as a device driver plus a network adapter. Some network adapters can have multiple points of attachment, for example, qfe. The usage of Network adapter in this document refers to a "Single Point of Attachment."

physical interface group

The set of physical interfaces on a system that are connected to the same link. They are identified by assigning the same (non-null) character string name to all the physical interfaces in the group.

physical interface group name

A name assigned to a physical interface that identifies the group. The name is local to a system. Multiple physical interfaces, sharing the same group name, form a physical interface group.

repair detection

The process of detecting when a NIC or the path from the NIC to some layer 3 device starts operating correctly after a failure.

standby

A physical interface that is not used to carry data traffic unless some other physical interface has failed.