DevOps Dictionary

What are Namespaces? Namespaces in Kubernetes are virtual clusters within a physical Kubernetes cluster. They provide a way to logically divide and isolate resources, enabling multiple teams or applications to share a single cluster while maintaining separation. Namespaces are commonly used in multi-tenant environments, where different projects or teams need...

What is a NAT Gateway? NAT Gateway is a network service in cloud environments, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), that enables instances in a private subnet to access the internet while keeping their private IP addresses hidden. NAT stands for Network Address Translation, and a NAT Gateway allows outbound...

What is Nginx? Nginx (pronounced "engine-x") is an open-source, high-performance web server that also functions as a reverse proxy, load balancer, and HTTP cache. Known for its speed, scalability, and efficiency, Nginx is widely used to serve web content, manage traffic, and improve the reliability of web applications. It is...

What is Object Storage? Object Storage is a storage architecture that manages data as objects rather than files or blocks. Each object contains the data itself, metadata, and a unique identifier, making it highly scalable and ideal for storing large amounts of unstructured data like images, videos, backups, and log...

What is Observability? Observability is the ability to gain deep insights into the internal state of a system by collecting and analyzing its telemetry data, including logs, metrics, and traces. Observability enables teams to understand, diagnose, and troubleshoot performance issues in complex, distributed systems such as cloud-native applications and microservices...

What is an On-Demand Instance? On-Demand Instance refers to a cloud computing instance that is provisioned and billed based on actual usage, without requiring any long-term commitment or upfront payment. With on-demand instances, users can quickly scale up or down depending on their needs, paying only for the compute resources...

What is OpenTelemetry? OpenTelemetry (OTel) is an open-source observability framework for collecting, processing, and exporting telemetry data such as logs, metrics, and traces. It provides a unified API, SDK, and instrumentation libraries to help developers monitor and troubleshoot distributed systems, microservices, and cloud-native applications. OpenTelemetry is a Cloud Native Computing...

What is an Operator? An Operator in Kubernetes is a method of packaging, deploying, and managing complex, stateful applications. It leverages Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs) and custom controllers to extend Kubernetes' capabilities, automating tasks such as installation, configuration, updates, and scaling of applications. Operators are designed to encapsulate human operational...

Orchestration in cloud computing refers to the automated coordination and management of complex systems and services to achieve specific tasks and workflows. In cloud environments, orchestration is particularly important because it streamlines the deployment, scaling, and lifecycle management of applications and services across multiple cloud resources. Key Aspects of Orchestration...

What is PaaS? Platform as a Service (PaaS) is a cloud computing model that provides a fully managed environment for developing, deploying, and managing applications. PaaS eliminates the need to manage infrastructure, allowing developers to focus on coding and innovation. How Does PaaS Work? PaaS providers offer a platform with...

What is Packer? Packer is an open-source tool developed by HashiCorp that automates the creation of machine images for multiple platforms, including cloud environments, virtual machines, and containerized deployments. It allows users to build pre-configured and optimized images consistently across different environments. How Does Packer Work? Packer automates the image-building...

What is a Persistent Volume? A Persistent Volume (PV) in Kubernetes is a storage resource provisioned and managed independently of pods. PVs provide a way to abstract and manage storage in a Kubernetes cluster, enabling applications to persist data beyond the lifecycle of individual pods. PVs can be backed by...

What is a Persistent Volume Claim? A Persistent Volume Claim (PVC) in Kubernetes is a request for storage by a user. PVCs enable applications to use persistent storage by dynamically or statically binding to a Persistent Volume (PV). The PVC specifies the amount of storage required, access modes (e.g., read-only...

What is a Private Cloud? A Private Cloud is a cloud computing environment that is dedicated to a single organization. Unlike public clouds, private clouds offer exclusive access to computing resources, providing greater control, security, and customization. They can be hosted on-premises or by a third-party provider. How Does a...

Prometheus is an open-source systems monitoring and alerting toolkit designed primarily for reliability and scalability. It is used to collect metrics from applications and infrastructure, store them efficiently, and provide powerful query capabilities to analyze the data. Prometheus is widely adopted in the cloud-native ecosystem and is known for its...

What is Provisioning? Provisioning is the process of allocating and configuring resources such as computing power, storage, and network infrastructure to enable applications and services to run efficiently. It ensures that IT environments have the necessary resources to support business operations, scalability, and performance. How Does Provisioning Work? Provisioning involves...

What is a Proxy? A Proxy is an intermediary server that sits between a client and a destination server, handling requests and responses on behalf of the client. Proxies can be used for security, caching, traffic management, and load balancing. They help optimize performance, enhance security, and provide anonymity by...

What is a Public Cloud? A Public Cloud is a cloud computing model where computing resources such as servers, storage, and networking are owned and managed by a third-party provider and shared among multiple customers over the internet. Public clouds offer scalable, on-demand infrastructure with a pay-as-you-go pricing model. How...

What is Puppet? Puppet is an open-source configuration management and automation tool that allows IT teams to define, deploy, and maintain infrastructure as code (IaC). It automates software provisioning, configuration, and management across cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments. How Does Puppet Work? Puppet follows a declarative model where users define...

What is RDS? Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) is a managed cloud database service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that simplifies the setup, operation, and scaling of relational databases. RDS supports multiple database engines, including MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, Oracle, and Microsoft SQL Server, allowing users to focus on their...