ITCA key terms

Delivery of computing services such as servers, storage, databases, and software over the internet on a pay-as-you-go basis, removing the need to own and maintain physical infrastructure.

Technology that creates a software-based abstraction of physical hardware, allowing multiple isolated virtual machines or environments to run on a single physical host.

Software layer that creates and runs virtual machines, allocating physical CPU, memory, and storage resources among guests while keeping them isolated from one another.

A software-defined computer with its own operating system and virtual hardware that runs on a hypervisor, isolated from other machines sharing the same host.

A lightweight, portable unit that packages an application with its dependencies and shares the host operating system kernel, starting faster and using fewer resources than virtual machines.

Open-source platform for building, shipping, and running applications inside containers, including tooling to create images and manage container lifecycles on a host.

Open-source orchestration system that automates deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications across clusters of machines.

Cloud model that provides on-demand virtualized compute, storage, and networking resources, leaving the customer responsible for operating systems, middleware, and applications.

Cloud model that supplies a managed environment for developing and running applications, including runtime, middleware, and databases, while the provider handles the underlying infrastructure.

Cloud model in which a provider hosts and operates a complete application that customers access over the internet, typically by subscription, without managing servers or code.

Cloud environment owned and operated by a provider whose resources are shared among many customers over the internet and provisioned on demand.

Cloud infrastructure dedicated to a single organization, giving it greater control, customization, and isolation while it still uses cloud-style automation and self-service.

Environment combining public cloud and private infrastructure, connected so data and applications can move between them under common management and policy.

Cloud execution model where the provider manages servers entirely, runs code in response to events, scales automatically, and bills only for resources consumed during execution.

Serverless offering in which developers deploy individual functions that the platform triggers on events, scales automatically, and bills per invocation and execution time.

A defined contract that lets one software component request services or data from another, specifying available operations, input formats, and expected responses.

An interface style using standard HTTP methods and stateless requests to access resources identified by URLs, commonly exchanging representations such as JSON.

A lightweight text format for structured data using objects, arrays, strings, numbers, booleans, and null, widely used for configuration files and API payloads.

A human-readable data serialization format that uses indentation to express structure, common for configuration files and infrastructure definitions.

Practice of defining and provisioning infrastructure through machine-readable configuration files, enabling version control, repeatability, and automated deployment instead of manual setup.

Open-source tool that provisions infrastructure from declarative configuration files and tracks the deployed state so resources can be planned, applied, and changed consistently.

Agentless automation tool that configures systems and deploys software by running ordered tasks described in YAML playbooks, usually over SSH.

Discipline of keeping systems in a defined, documented state by automating installation and settings, so environments stay consistent and drift is detected and corrected.

Practice of automatically building and testing code changes continuously and then delivering or deploying them through a pipeline, reducing manual steps and release risk.

A collaboration culture and set of practices that unites development and operations teams to shorten delivery cycles through automation, shared ownership, and continuous feedback.

System that records changes to files over time, letting teams review history, branch work, and merge contributions; Git is the most widely used example.

Distributed version control system in which every clone holds the full history, supporting branching, merging, and collaboration through repositories such as GitHub or GitLab.

Core software that manages hardware resources, schedules processes, enforces permissions, and provides services that applications use to run on a computer.

Open-source operating system family built on the Linux kernel, widely deployed for servers and cloud workloads and administered largely through a command-line shell.

Central component of an operating system that manages memory, processes, devices, and system calls, mediating access between software and hardware.

Command-line interpreter that reads user commands, launches programs, and connects them through pipes and redirection, commonly Bash on Linux systems.

Encrypted network protocol for logging into and running commands on remote systems, also used for secure file transfer and tunneling.

A numeric label assigned to a device on a network so data can be routed to it; IPv4 uses 32-bit addresses and IPv6 uses 128-bit addresses.

A logically divided portion of an IP network, defined by a network address and prefix length, that groups hosts and controls which traffic stays local.

Notation that expresses an IP range as an address followed by a slash and prefix length, such as /24, indicating how many leading bits define the network.

Distributed naming system that translates human-readable domain names into IP addresses so clients can locate services on a network.

Component that distributes incoming traffic across multiple backend servers to improve availability, responsiveness, and fault tolerance.

Security control that inspects network traffic and permits or blocks it according to rules, protecting systems from unauthorized access.

Encrypted tunnel that carries traffic between remote users or sites over an untrusted network, making them appear to be on a private network.

Design approach that keeps a service running despite component failures by adding redundancy, health checks, and automatic failover across multiple instances.

A copy of data stored separately so it can be restored after loss, corruption, or disaster, with defined schedules, retention, and tested recovery procedures.

Planned set of processes and infrastructure that restores systems and data after a major outage, guided by recovery time and recovery point objectives.

Continuous collection and review of metrics, logs, and events from systems to detect problems, understand performance, and trigger alerts before users are affected.

Automated notification triggered when a monitored metric or event crosses a defined threshold, directing responders to investigate and act.

Recording timestamped events from applications and systems into a searchable store so incidents can be investigated and behavior audited.

Discipline that applies software engineering to operations, using service level objectives, error budgets, and automation to balance reliability with delivery speed.

Process of transforming readable data into ciphertext using a key, so only parties holding the correct key can decrypt and read it.

Protocol that encrypts and authenticates data in transit between clients and servers, underpinning HTTPS and secure API communication.

Digitally signed credential that binds a public key to an identity, letting clients verify a server's authenticity during a TLS handshake.

Process of verifying that a user, device, or service is who it claims to be, typically through credentials, tokens, or certificates.

Process of deciding what an authenticated identity is permitted to do, enforced through roles, policies, or access control lists.

Requiring two or more independent verification factors, such as a password plus a one-time code, so a stolen password alone is not enough to sign in.

Security principle of granting each user or service only the minimum permissions needed for its task, limiting the damage from mistakes or compromised accounts.