Table Of Contents

Glossary

A
alert	A syslog or SNMP message notifying an operator or administrator of a problem.
API	Application programming interface. Specification of function-call conventions that defines an interface to a service.
audit logs	A log file containing a summary of major changes in the RDU database. This includes changes to system defaults, technology defaults, and classes of service.
autoconfiguration server (ACS)	A server that provisions a device or a collection of devices. In BAC, the ACS refers to the BAC server and in some instances, the DPE.

B
broadband	Transmission system that multiplexes multiple independent signals onto one cable. In Telecommunications terminology; any channel having a bandwidth greater than a voice-grade channel (4 kHz). In LAN terminology; a co-axial cable on which analog signaling is used.
Broadband Access Center (BAC)	An integrated solution for managing and provisioning broadband home networks. BAC is a scalable product capable of supporting millions of devices.

C
caching	Form of replication in which information learned during a previous transaction is used to process later transactions.
cipher suites	Provide cryptographic algorithms that the SSL module requires to perform key exchange, authentication, and Message Authentication Code.
customer premises equipment (CPE)	Terminating equipment, such as telephones, computers, and modems, supplied and installed at a customer location.
CPE WAN Management Protocol (CWMP)	A standard defined in the TR-069 specification by the DSL Forum. CWMP integrates the capabilities defined in TR-069 to increase operator efficiency and reduce network management problems.

D
device provisioning engine (DPE)	DPE servers cache device instructions and perform CWMP services. These distributed serves automatically synchronize with the RDU to obtain the latest instructions and provide BAC scalability.

F
fully qualified domain name (FQDN)	FQDN is the full name of a system, rather than just its hostname. For example, cisco is a hostname and www.cisco.com is an FQDN.

H
HTTPS	See Secure Sockets Layer and Transport Layer Security.

I
instruction generation	The process of generating policy instructions at the RDU for devices and distributing these instructions to the DPE. The instructions are cached by the DPE and informed about action needed to be performed on the CPE, which may include configuration, firmware upgrade or other operations.
IP address	An IP address is a 32-bit number that identifies each sender or receiver of information that is sent in packets across the Internet.

N
network address translation (NAT)	Mechanism for reducing the need for globally unique IP addresses. NAT allows an organization with addresses that are not globally unique to connect to the Internet by translating those addresses into globally routeable address space. This is also known as Network Address Translation.
network administrator	Person responsible for operation, maintenance, and management of a network. See also network operator.
network operator	Person who routinely monitors and controls a network, performing such tasks as reviewing and responding to alarms, monitoring throughput, configuring new circuits, and resolving problems. See also network administrator.
Network Time Protocol (NTP)	NTP is a protocol designed to synchronize server clocks over a network.

P
provisioning API	A series of BAC functions that programs can use to make the operating system perform various functions.
provisioning groups	Groupings of devices with a defined set of associated DPE servers, based on either network topology or geography.
publishing	Publishing provides provisioning information to an external datastore in real time. Publishing plug-ins must be developed to write data to a datastore.

R
redundancy	In internetworking, the duplication of devices, services, or connections so that, in the event of a failure, the redundant devices, services, or connections can perform the work of those that failed.
regional distribution unit (RDU)	The RDU is the primary server in the BAC provisioning system. It manages generation of device instructions, processes all API requests, and manages the BAC system.

S
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)	A protocol for transmitting private documents via the Internet. SSL uses a cryptographic system that uses two keys to encrypt data: a public key known to everyone and a private or secret key known only to the recipient of the message. By convention, URLs that require an SSL connection start with https: instead of http:. BAC 3.0 supports SSLv3. See Transport Layer Security.
shared secret	A character string used to provide secure communication between two servers or devices.

T
template files	XML files that contain configuration or firmware rules for devices.
Transport Layer Security (TLS)	A protocol that guarantees privacy and data integrity between client/server applications communicating over the Internet. BAC 3.0 supports TLSv1. See Secure Sockets Layer.
TR-069	A standard which defines the CPE WAN Management Protocol (CWMP), which enables communication between CPE and an autoconfiguration server.

V
Voice over IP (VoIP)	Mechanism to make telephone calls and send faxes over IP-based data networks with a suitable quality of service (QoS) and superior cost/benefit.

W
watchdog agent	A watchdog agent is a daemon process that is used to monitor, stop, start and restart BAC component processes such as the RDU, JRun, and the SNMP agent.

Posted: Fri Sep 1 00:13:14 PDT 2006
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