autonomous system --A collection of networks that share the same routing protocol and that are under the same system administration.
ASN.1 --Abstract Syntax Notation One. The data types independent of particular computer structures and representation techniques. Described by ISO International Standard 8824.
BGP --Border Gateway Protocol. The exterior Border Gateway Protocol used to exchange routing information between routers in separate autonomous systems. BGP uses TCP. Because TCP is a reliable protocol, BGP does not experience problems with dropped or fragmented data packets.
BGP prefixes--A route announcement using the BGP. A prefix is composed of a path of autonomous system numbers, indicating which networks the packet must pass through, and the IP block that is being routed. A BGP prefix would look something like: 701 1239 42 206.24.14.0/24. (The /24 part is referred to as a CIDR mask.) The /24 indicates that there are 24 ones in the netmask for this block starting from the left side. A /24 corresponds to the natural mask 255.255.255.0.
Cisco Express Forwarding --An advanced Layer 3 IP switching technology. Cisco Express Forwarding optimizes network performance and scalability for networks with large and dynamic traffic patterns.
CE router--customer edge router. A router on the border between a VPN provider and a VPN customer that belongs to the customer.
CIDR --classless interdomain routing. A technique supported by BGP4 and based on route aggregation. CIDR allows routers to group routes to reduce the quantity of routing information carried by the core routers. With CIDR, several IP networks appear to networks outside the group as a single, larger entity. With CIDR, IP addresses and their subnet masks are written as four octets, separated by periods, followed by a forward slash and a two-digit number that represents the subnet mask.
community --In SNMP, a logical group of managed devices and NMSs in the same administrative domain.
community name --See community string.
community string --A text string that acts as a password and is used to authenticate messages sent between a managed station and a router containing an SNMP agent. The community string is sent in every packet between the manager and the client. Also called a community name.
IETF --Internet Engineering Task Force. A task force consisting of over 80 working groups responsible for developing Internet standards. The IETF operates under the auspices of ISOC. See also ISOC.
informs --A type of notification message that is more reliable than a conventional trap notification message, because the informs message notification requires acknowledgment, and a trap notification does not.
ISOC --Internet Society. An international nonprofit organization, founded in 1992, that coordinates the evolution and use of the Internet. In addition, ISOC delegates authority to other groups related to the Internet, such as the IAB. ISOC is headquartered in Reston, Virginia (United States).
label --A short, fixed-length data construct that tells switching nodes how to forward data (packets or cells).
LDP --Label Distribution Protocol. A standard protocol between MPLS-enabled routers that is used for the negotiation of the labels (addresses) used to forward packets.
LFIB --Label Forwarding Information Base. In the Cisco Label Switching system, the data structure for storing information about incoming and outgoing tags (labels) and associated equivalent packets suitable for labeling.
LSR --label switch router. A device that forwards MPLS packets based on the value of a fixed-length label encapsulated in each packet.
MIB --Management Information Base. A database of network management information that is used and maintained by a network management protocol such as SNMP or CMIP. The value of a MIB object can be changed or retrieved using SNMP or CMIP commands, usually through a GUI network management system. MIB objects are organized in a tree structure that includes public (standard) and private (proprietary) branches.
MPLS --Multiprotocol Label Switching. A method for forwarding packets (frames) through a network. It enables routers at the edge of a network to apply labels to packets (frames). ATM switches or existing routers in the network core can switch packets according to the labels with minimal lookup overhead.
MPLS interface --An interface on which MPLS traffic is enabled.
MPLS VPN --Multiprotocol Label Switching Virtual Private Network. An IP network infrastructure delivering private network services over a public infrastructure using a Layer 3 backbone. Using MPLS VPNs in a Cisco network provides the capability to deploy and administer scalable Layer 3 VPN backbone services including applications, data hosting network commerce, and telephony services to business customers.
For an MPLS VPN solution, an MPLS VPN is a set of provider edge routers that are connected by means of a common "backbone" network to supply private IP interconnectivity between two or more customer sites for a given customer. Each VPN has a set of provisioning templates and policies and can span multiple provider administrative domains (PADs).
NMS --network management system. A powerful, well-equipped computer (typically an engineering workstation) that is used by a network administrator to communicate with other devices in the network. An NMS is typically used to manage network resources, gather statistics, and perform a variety of network administration and configuration tasks.
notification --A message sent by an SNMP agent to a network management station, console, or terminal to indicate that a significant event within Cisco software has occurred. See also trap.
PE router --provider edge router. A router on the border between a VPN provider and a VPN customer that belongs to the provider.
PPVPN --Provider-Provisioned VPN. The name of the IETF working group that is developing the PPVPN-MPLS-VPN MIB.
QoS --quality of service. A measure of performance for a transmission system that reflects its transmission quality and service availability.
RSVP --Resource Reservation Protocol. A protocol for reserving network resources to provide quality of service guarantees to application flows.
RT --route target. An extended community attribute that identifies a group of routers and, in each router of that group, a subset of forwarding tables maintained by the router that can be populated with a BGP route carrying that extended community attribute. The RT is a 64-bit value by which Cisco discriminates routes for route updates in VRFs.
SNMP --Simple Network Management Protocol. The network management protocol used almost exclusively in TCP/IP networks. SNMP provides a means to monitor and control network devices, and to manage configurations, statistics collection, performance, and security. Seealso SNMP2.
SNMP2 --SNMP Version 2. Version 2 of the popular network management protocol. SNMP2 supports centralized and distributed network management strategies, and includes improvements in the Structure of Management Information (SMI), protocol operations, management architecture, and security. See also SNMP.
traffic engineering --The techniques and processes used to cause routed traffic to travel through the network on a path other than the one that would have been chosen if standard routing methods had been used.
trap --A message sent by an SNMP agent to a network management station, console, or terminal, indicating that a significant event occurred. Traps (notifications) are less reliable than inform requests, because the receiver does not send an acknowledgment when it receives a trap. The sender cannot determine if the trap was received. See also notification.
VPN --Virtual Private Network. A group of sites that, as the result of a set of administrative policies, are able to communicate with each other over a shared backbone network. A VPN is a secure IP-based network that shares resources on one or more physical networks. A VPN contains geographically dispersed sites that can communicate securely over a shared backbone. See alsoMPLS VPN.
VPN ID --A mechanism that identifies a VPN based on RFC 2685. A VPN ID consists of an Organizational Unique Identifier (OUI), a three-octet hex number assigned by the IEEE Registration Authority, and a VPN index, a four-octet hex number, which identifies the VPN within the company.
VRF --VPN routing and forwarding instance. A VRF consists of an IP routing table, a derived forwarding table, a set of interfaces that use the forwarding table, and a set of rules and routing protocols that determine what goes into the forwarding table. In general, a VRF includes the routing information that defines a customer VPN site that is attached to a PE router.