N - Z

A–E F–M N–Z

namespace

As used by WMI, a namespace is a group of classes and instances. This group controls the scope and visibility of the classes and instances it contains. Namespaces are like logical databases.

network interface card (NIC)

A hardware plug-in board that connects a node to a local area network. Network Load Balancing currently supports FDDI, Ethernet and fast Ethernet adapter cards.

Also called adapter card.

Network Load Balancing cluster

One of two types of clusters provided by Windows Clustering that distributes and load balances network connections among servers, providing scalability for stateless TCP/IP applications and services.

NIC

See network interface card.

node

As used in the Network Load Balancing documentation, a node (also called a host) is a computer that runs an Internet server program or service. A cluster consists of multiple nodes connected over a local area network, which is in turn connected to the Internet.

port range

All of the port numbers within a range specified by a minimum and maximum port number. Every port rule includes a port range defining the port numbers affected by the rule.

port rule

A setting that determines how Network Load Balancing filters incoming traffic for a range of ports. Administrators configure a port rule by specifying a filtering mode, protocols, and a port range. A port rule applies the filtering mode to all traffic of the specified protocols flowing into all ports in the specified range. The Network Load Balancing API includes functions to enable and disable port rules.

protocol

The kind of network traffic to which a port rule applies. Protocol can be set to TCP, UDP, or both.

provider

A component that allows Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) to communicate with new kinds of managed objects by extending the WMI class repository. The Network Load Balancing Provider defines classes for querying and configuring Network Load Balancing clusters, nodes, and port rules.

provider client

The computer system from which an application connects to a provider through WMI.

provider node

The cluster node on which the Network Load Balancing provider is running.

remote administration

Describes how WMI views the connection between the provider client and the provider node. The connection is always treated as remote even if the provider client and the provider node are the same computer system. Remote administration has nothing to do with whether an operation is considered a local operation or a remote operation.

remote connection

A situation where the provider client and the provider node happen to be different computer systems. Remote connections has nothing to do with whether an operation is considered a local operation or a remote operation.

See also local connection and remote administration.

remote operation

Any operation initiated by the Network Load Balancing provider that affects a node other than the provider. The word "remote" in this context means "remote relative to the provider." A node will respond to a remote operation only if its RemoteControlEnabled setting is TRUE.

routed connection

A WMI connection in which the namespace resolves to the cluster IP address and is routed to a provider node according to the Network Load Balancing port rules currently in effect.

scalability

A measure of how well a computer system can grow to meet increasing demands.

server cluster

See failover cluster.

single-host filtering mode

A port rule setting in which all traffic flowing into the port range defined by the port rule is handled by a single node.

VIP

See cluster IP address.

Windows Clustering

A feature that supports two different types of clusters: the failover cluster and the network load balancing cluster.

Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)

A unified architecture for describing, accessing, and instrumenting objects. Part of this architecture is a large repository of CIM classes that WMI can use to carry out management tasks on specific objects.

WMI

See Windows Management Instrumentation.

WMI class

A template for a type of managed object. WMI classes are based on the Common Information Model (CIM), as implemented in Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI).