Cloud Glossary: Letter B

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B

Backup

Creating copies of data to protect against loss, corruption, or accidental deletion. Modern backup strategies include automated scheduling, incremental backups, and cross-region replication.

Backup and Restore

The complete process of creating data copies and recovering them when needed. Includes backup verification, retention policies, and recovery time objectives (RTO).

Backup Policy

Rules defining what data to backup, how frequently, retention periods, and storage locations. Essential for compliance and disaster recovery planning.

Backup Repository

Storage location where backup data is kept. Can be on-premises, cloud-based, or hybrid, often with encryption and access controls.

Backup Retention

How long backup copies are kept before deletion. Balances storage costs with compliance requirements and potential recovery needs.

Backup Verification

Testing backup integrity and recoverability to ensure data can actually be restored when needed. Should be performed regularly.

Backup Window

Scheduled time period when backups are performed, typically during low-usage hours to minimize performance impact on production systems.

Bandwidth

The maximum amount of data that can be transmitted over a network connection in a given time period, usually measured in Mbps or Gbps.

Bandwidth Allocation

Distributing available network capacity among different applications, users, or traffic types to ensure optimal performance and fair usage.

Bandwidth Throttling

Intentionally limiting network speed for specific connections or applications to manage congestion or enforce usage policies.

Bare Metal

Physical servers without virtualization layers, providing direct access to hardware resources. Offers maximum performance for specialized workloads.

Bare Metal Server

A dedicated physical server with no hypervisor or virtualization software, giving complete control over the hardware environment.

Baseline

A reference point for measuring performance, security, or configuration standards. Used to detect changes and anomalies over time.

Bastion Host

A hardened server that provides secure access to private networks. Acts as a jump server for administrators to access internal resources.

Batch Processing

Executing jobs on large datasets without user interaction, typically during off-peak hours. Efficient for data processing, analytics, and bulk operations.

Batch Job

A single unit of work in a batch processing system, containing instructions and data to be processed without manual intervention.

BGP (Border Gateway Protocol)

The routing protocol used to exchange routing information between different autonomous systems on the internet. Critical for network connectivity.

Big Data

Extremely large datasets that require specialized tools and techniques for storage, processing, and analysis. Characterized by volume, velocity, and variety.

BigQuery (Google Cloud)

Google Cloud's fully managed data warehouse for analytics and business intelligence. Supports SQL queries on petabyte-scale datasets.

Blob Storage

Binary Large Object storage for unstructured data like images, videos, documents, and backups. Optimized for storing massive amounts of data.

Block

A fixed-size unit of data storage, typically 512 bytes to 64KB. Block storage provides low-level access to storage devices.

Block Storage

Storage that organizes data into fixed-size blocks, each with a unique identifier. Provides high performance and is used for databases and file systems.

Blockchain

A distributed ledger technology that maintains a continuously growing list of records (blocks) linked using cryptography. Provides immutability and transparency.

Blue-Green Deployment

A deployment strategy that uses two identical environments (blue and green). Traffic switches between them to enable zero-downtime deployments.

Boot Disk

The storage device containing the operating system and files needed to start a computer. Must be attached to the instance at launch.

Bootstrap

The initial process of configuring a new system or service, including loading configuration files and establishing basic connectivity.

Bot

An automated program that performs repetitive tasks, monitors systems, or simulates human interactions. Can be beneficial (chatbots) or malicious (attack bots).

Bottleneck

A point in a system where performance is limited by a single component. Common bottlenecks include CPU, memory, storage I/O, or network bandwidth.

Bridge

A network device that connects two or more network segments, forwarding traffic between them based on MAC addresses.

Broker

An intermediary service that facilitates communication between different systems or applications. Common in messaging systems and API management.

Bucket

A container for storing objects in cloud storage services. Each bucket has a globally unique name and contains access policies.

Buffer

Temporary storage area for data being transferred between systems with different processing speeds. Helps smooth out performance differences.

Build

The process of compiling source code into executable software, including dependency resolution, testing, and packaging.

Build Artifact

The output of a build process, such as compiled binaries, container images, or deployment packages. Stored in artifact repositories.

Build Pipeline

An automated sequence of steps that takes source code and produces deployable artifacts. Includes building, testing, and packaging phases.

Burst

Temporarily exceeding baseline performance levels to handle short-term spikes in demand. Common in CPU credits and network throughput.

Burst Balance

Credits accumulated when a burstable instance operates below baseline performance. Used to burst above baseline when needed.

Burst Capacity

The maximum performance level that can be achieved during burst periods, typically higher than baseline guaranteed performance.