Cloud Glossary: Letter E

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E

EBS (Elastic Block Store)

Amazon's block-level storage volumes for use with EC2 instances, providing persistent storage that persists independently of instance lifecycle.

EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud)

Amazon's web service that provides secure, resizable compute capacity in the cloud, designed to make web-scale cloud computing easier.

ECR (Elastic Container Registry)

Amazon's fully managed container registry that makes it easy to store, manage, and deploy Docker container images.

ECS (Elastic Container Service)

Amazon's highly scalable container orchestration service that supports Docker containers and allows running applications on a managed cluster.

Edge Computing

Computing that brings data processing closer to the location where it's needed, reducing latency and bandwidth usage.

Edge Location

A site that CloudFront uses to cache copies of content closer to users for faster delivery and reduced latency.

EFS (Elastic File System)

Amazon's scalable file storage for use with Amazon EC2, providing a simple interface to create and configure file systems.

EKS (Elastic Kubernetes Service)

Amazon's managed Kubernetes service that makes it easy to run Kubernetes on AWS without needing to install and operate your own clusters.

Elastic Load Balancer

A service that automatically distributes incoming application traffic across multiple targets, improving fault tolerance.

Elasticity

The ability to automatically scale computing resources up or down based on demand, a key characteristic of cloud computing.

ElastiCache (AWS)

Amazon's web service that makes it easy to deploy, operate, and scale an in-memory cache in the cloud.

Encryption

The process of converting data into a coded form to prevent unauthorized access, ensuring data confidentiality and security.

Encryption at Rest

Protecting data stored on disk by encoding it, ensuring it remains secure even if storage media is compromised.

Encryption in Transit

Protecting data while it moves between locations, ensuring secure communication channels and preventing interception.

Encryption Key

A piece of information used in cryptographic algorithms to transform plaintext into ciphertext and vice versa.

Endpoint

A URL where an API can be accessed or a connection point for network communications between services.

Enterprise

Large-scale business applications and solutions designed to meet the complex needs of organizations with robust security and compliance.

Environment

A collection of computing resources and configurations where applications are deployed, such as development, staging, or production.

Error Handling

Programming practices and system design patterns for gracefully managing and responding to errors and exceptions.

ETL (Extract, Transform, Load)

A data integration process that combines data from multiple sources into a single, consistent data store for analysis.

Event

An action or occurrence recognized by software that may be handled by the system, often triggering automated responses.

Event-Driven Architecture

A software architecture pattern where system components communicate through events, enabling loose coupling and scalability.

Event Grid (Azure)

Azure's fully managed event routing service that allows for uniform event consumption using a publish-subscribe model.

Event Hub (Azure)

Azure's big data streaming platform and event ingestion service capable of receiving and processing millions of events per second.

Event Sourcing

A pattern where state changes are stored as a sequence of events, allowing for audit trails and system reconstruction.

EventBridge (AWS)

Amazon's serverless event bus that makes it easier to build event-driven applications by connecting application data from various sources.

Eventual Consistency

A consistency model where the system will become consistent over time, provided no new updates are made to a given data item.

Eviction

The removal of data from cache or the termination of processes when resources are needed for higher-priority tasks.

Execution

The process of running a program, script, or command, including resource allocation and result generation.

Execution Role

A set of permissions that define what actions a service or application can perform on behalf of a user or system.

ExpressRoute (Azure)

Azure's service that lets you create private connections between Azure datacenters and infrastructure on your premises or in a colocation environment.

External IP

A publicly routable IP address that allows resources to communicate with the internet and be accessed from outside the network.

Egress

Outbound network traffic leaving a system, service, or network, often subject to monitoring and cost considerations.

Elastic

The ability to dynamically provision and de-provision processing, memory, and storage resources to match application demand.

Email Service

Cloud-based email delivery services that provide reliable, scalable email sending capabilities for applications.

EMR (Elastic MapReduce)

Amazon's cloud-native big data platform for processing vast amounts of data using open-source tools like Apache Spark and Hadoop.

Ephemeral Storage

Temporary storage that exists only for the duration of an instance's lifecycle and is lost when the instance stops or terminates.

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)

Business process management software that allows organizations to use integrated applications to manage business operations.

ESB (Enterprise Service Bus)

An architectural pattern for integrating various applications and services within an enterprise environment.

Escape

The process of encoding special characters to prevent them from being interpreted as commands or causing security vulnerabilities.

Ethernet

A family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks and data centers.

ETL Pipeline

A data pipeline that extracts data from sources, transforms it to fit operational needs, and loads it into a destination system.

EventStore

A database optimized for storing and querying event data, commonly used in event sourcing architectures.

Exception

An error or unexpected condition that occurs during program execution, requiring special handling to maintain system stability.

Exchange

A message routing system that determines how messages are delivered to queues in message broker systems.

Exponential Backoff

A retry strategy that increases wait times exponentially between retries to avoid overwhelming a system during failures.

Export

The process of extracting data from a system in a format that can be used by other systems or for backup purposes.

Extension

Additional software components or plugins that extend the functionality of a system or application.

External Load Balancer

A load balancer that distributes traffic from the internet to backend services, providing public access to applications.

Edge Case

A problem or situation that occurs only at extreme operating parameters or under unusual conditions.

Edge Network

A distributed network infrastructure that brings computation and data storage closer to the sources of data.

Edge Server

A server deployed at the edge of a network to reduce latency and improve performance for end users.

ELB (Elastic Load Balancer)

Amazon's load balancing service that automatically distributes incoming application traffic across multiple targets.

Elasticsearch

A distributed search and analytics engine built on Apache Lucene, commonly used for log analytics and full-text search.

Element

A basic component or building block in a system, data structure, or user interface.

Emulator

Software that replicates the functionality of another system, often used for testing and development.

Enablement

The process of providing resources, tools, and knowledge necessary to achieve specific goals or capabilities.

Encoding

Converting data from one format to another, often for transmission, storage, or compatibility purposes.

End-to-End Encryption

A security method where data is encrypted on the sender's system and only decrypted on the recipient's system.

Endpoint Security

Security measures and tools designed to protect network endpoints such as computers, mobile devices, and servers.

Enforcement

The implementation and monitoring of policies, rules, and compliance requirements within a system.

Engine

The core component of a system that performs the primary processing or computational tasks.

Enhancement

Improvements or additions to existing systems, features, or capabilities to increase performance or functionality.

Enterprise Architecture

A comprehensive framework that describes the structure and operation of an organization's IT systems and processes.

Enterprise Service

Large-scale, robust services designed to meet the complex requirements of enterprise organizations.

Entry Point

The initial point where execution begins in a program or where access is granted to a system.

Enumeration

The process of listing or counting items systematically, often used in security testing and data analysis.

Ephemeral

Temporary or short-lived resources that exist only for a specific duration or purpose.

Epoch

A specific point in time used as a reference for measuring time intervals, often in timestamps and scheduling.

Escalation

The process of transferring an issue to a higher level of authority or more specialized personnel for resolution.

Evaluation

The process of assessing system performance, compliance, or effectiveness against defined criteria or benchmarks.

Event Processing

The capture, analysis, and response to events in real-time or near real-time as they occur in a system.

Exclusion

The practice of preventing specific items, users, or traffic from accessing resources or being included in operations.

Expiration

The automatic termination or invalidation of resources, credentials, or data after a specified time period.

Exploit

A piece of software or technique that takes advantage of a security vulnerability to gain unauthorized access.

Expression

A combination of variables, operators, and values that evaluates to a result, commonly used in queries and configurations.