Cloud Glossary: Letter N

Navigation: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

N

NAT Gateway

A managed service that enables instances in private subnets to connect to the internet while preventing inbound connections.

Namespace

A scope that provides a context for identifiers, allowing the same name to be used in different contexts without conflict.

NAS (Network Attached Storage)

A file-level storage technology that provides centralized data access for multiple clients over a network.

Native Cloud

Applications designed specifically to take advantage of cloud computing architecture and deployment models.

Network

A collection of interconnected devices that can communicate and share resources with each other.

Network ACL (Access Control List)

A security layer that controls traffic in and out of subnets by defining rules for allowed and denied connections.

Network Latency

The time delay in data transmission across a network, typically measured in milliseconds from source to destination.

Network Load Balancer

A type of load balancer that operates at the transport layer (Layer 4) to distribute TCP and UDP traffic.

Network Security Group

A security feature that filters network traffic to and from Azure resources in a virtual network.

Network Segmentation

The practice of dividing a network into smaller segments to improve security, performance, and management.

Network Topology

The arrangement and interconnection of network components, defining how devices are connected and communicate.

Nginx

A popular open-source web server and reverse proxy server known for high performance and low resource consumption.

NFS (Network File System)

A distributed file system protocol that allows users to access files over a network as if they were on local storage.

NIC (Network Interface Card)

A hardware component that connects a computer to a network, enabling network communication.

NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology)

A US federal agency that develops technology standards and cybersecurity frameworks widely adopted in cloud computing.

Node

A single point in a network or cluster that can process data, run applications, or provide services.

Node Pool

A group of nodes within a cluster that share the same configuration and can be managed as a unit.

NoSQL

A category of database systems that don't use traditional relational database structures and can handle unstructured data.

Notification

An automated message sent to users or systems to inform them of events, status changes, or required actions.

NUMA (Non-Uniform Memory Access)

A computer memory design where memory access time depends on the memory location relative to the processor.

NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express)

A storage protocol designed for solid-state drives that provides low latency and high throughput data access.

NAT Instance

An EC2 instance configured to provide Network Address Translation services for instances in private subnets.

Network Address Translation (NAT)

A method of mapping private IP addresses to public IP addresses to enable internet access for private networks.

Network Bandwidth

The maximum rate of data transfer across a network connection, typically measured in bits per second.

Network Interface

A software or hardware component that connects a device to a network and handles network communication.

Network Peering

A networking arrangement that allows two separate networks to connect and route traffic between them.

Network Policy

Rules that control network traffic flow between pods or services in container orchestration platforms.

Network Protocol

A set of rules and standards that govern how data is transmitted and received over a network.

Network Switch

A networking device that connects devices on a computer network by forwarding data between them.

Network Virtualization

The process of combining hardware and software network resources into a single virtual network.

NTP (Network Time Protocol)

A networking protocol for clock synchronization between computer systems over packet-switched networks.

Nginx Ingress Controller

A Kubernetes ingress controller that uses Nginx as a reverse proxy and load balancer for external access.

Node Affinity

Kubernetes scheduling constraints that restrict pods to run on particular nodes based on labels.

Node Autoscaling

Automatically adjusting the number of nodes in a cluster based on resource demands and utilization.

Node Selector

A Kubernetes feature that constrains pods to run on nodes with specific labels or characteristics.

NoSQL Database

A non-relational database designed to handle large volumes of structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data.

Notification Service

A cloud service that delivers messages to subscribed endpoints or clients across different platforms.

NPM (Node Package Manager)

A package manager for JavaScript that helps manage dependencies and libraries in Node.js applications.

NVME SSD

High-performance solid-state drives that use the NVMe protocol for faster data access and reduced latency.

Named Pipe

An inter-process communication mechanism that allows unrelated processes to exchange data through a named channel.

Natural Language Processing (NLP)

A branch of AI that helps computers understand, interpret, and manipulate human language.

Near Real-Time

Processing that occurs with minimal delay, typically within seconds rather than true real-time microsecond response.

Nested Virtualization

Running virtual machines inside other virtual machines, enabling complex testing and development scenarios.

Network Endpoint

A specific point in a network where devices can connect and communicate with other network resources.

Network Isolation

The separation of network traffic and resources to prevent unauthorized access and improve security.

Network Monitoring

The continuous observation of network performance, traffic, and health to detect issues and optimize performance.

Network Redundancy

Having multiple network paths or components to ensure continued connectivity if primary paths fail.

Network Service Mesh

A dedicated infrastructure layer that facilitates service-to-service communications in microservice architectures.

Network Throughput

The rate of successful data delivery over a network connection, typically measured in bits per second.

NGINX Plus

The commercial version of NGINX that includes additional features like load balancing, monitoring, and support.

Node Health

The operational status of individual nodes in a cluster, including resource utilization and connectivity.

Non-Persistent Storage

Temporary storage that doesn't retain data after system shutdown or container termination.

North-South Traffic

Network traffic that flows between clients and servers, typically crossing network boundaries or security zones.

Notebook

An interactive computing environment that combines code execution, rich text, mathematics, plots, and media.

NUMA Topology

The arrangement of processors and memory in Non-Uniform Memory Access systems affecting performance optimization.