Glossary

Networking & infrastructure terms, explained.

ASN: Autonomous System Number — a globally unique identifier for a network that runs its own routing policy on the internet.
BGP: Border Gateway Protocol — the protocol networks use to exchange routing information and decide how traffic reaches its destination.
RPKI: Resource Public Key Infrastructure — cryptographically signs route origins so networks can reject invalid or hijacked routes.
IRR: Internet Routing Registry — a public database of routing policy and prefixes used to build and validate peering filters.
Anycast: A routing method where one IP address is announced from many locations, so users reach the nearest point of presence.
CDN: Content Delivery Network — a network of edge servers that cache and serve content close to users for speed and resilience.
DDoS: Distributed Denial of Service — an attack that floods a target with traffic from many sources to disrupt availability.
IPv6: The current generation of the Internet Protocol, with a vastly larger address space than IPv4.
Peering: An arrangement where two networks exchange traffic directly, often at an internet exchange, to improve performance and cost.
PoP: Point of Presence — a physical location where a network connects to the internet and serves nearby users.
IX: Internet Exchange — shared infrastructure where many networks meet to peer and exchange traffic efficiently.
WHOIS: A protocol and database for looking up who registered a domain, IP range, or autonomous system.