C

Call admission control

A mechanism to limit the number of calls on a network and thus control the allocation of resources.

Capacity

A measure of the system's ability to transfer information (voice, data, video, combinations of these).

Capacity plan

A written description of network performance (capacity) required for the flows that are described in the flowspec.

Capacity planning

Overengineering bandwidth in the network to accommodate most short- and long-term traffic fluctuations. Also known as traffic engineering.

Centralized management

When all management data (e.g., pings, SNMP polls/ responses, traceroutes) radiate from a single (typically large) management system.

Characterizing behavior

Representing how users and applications use the network to develop and understand their requirements.

Checks and balances

Methods to duplicate measurements to verify and validate network management data.

CIDR block

A group of network addresses that are represented by a classless interdomain routing (CIDR) advertisement of the form (network address, mask length).

Classful addressing

Applying predetermined mask lengths to addresses to support a range of network sizes. The result is a set of classes of addresses (A, B, C, D, and E), each of which supports a different maximum network size.

Classification

The ability to identify traffic flows as part of traffic conditioning.

Classless interdomain routing

The absence of class boundaries in network routing.

Client-server architectural model

An architectural model that follows the client-server flow model. In this case there are obvious locations for architectural features, in particular where flows combine.

Client-server flow model

A flow model in which the flows are asymmetric and hierarchically focused toward the client.

Closely coupled

In the distributed-computing flow model, when there are frequent transfers of information between computing devices.

Coarse granularity

In the distributed-computing flow model, when each task is dedicated to a single computing device.

Component characteristics

The characteristics between architectural components (IP services, network management, security and privacy, and addressing and routing) that describe the relationships between these components. These characteristics are operation, interactions, dependencies, trade-offs, and constraints.

Component constraints

Restrictions within a component architecture or between component architectures; can even be across the entire (reference) architecture.

Component dependencies

Requirements that one component has on one or more other components in order to function.

Component interactions

The requirements that each component has to communicate with other components.

Component operation

Determining the mechanisms that make up each component, how each mechanism works, and how that component works as a whole.

Component trade-offs

Decision points in the development of an architecture to prioritize and choose between features and functions of each component and thereby optimize the overall (reference) architecture.

Composite flow

A combination of requirements from multiple applications, or of individual flows, that share a common link, path, or network.

Confidence

A measure of the ability of the network to deliver data without error or loss at the design throughput.

Configuration

For network management, the setting of parameters in a network element for operation and control of that element.

Conforming traffic

Traffic that is within performance boundaries as determined by metering (traffic conditioning).

Connection support

When a connection is established by the technology whenever information is transferred across the network.

Content delivery network

A network that bypassed the core of the Internet to provide better performance in delivering information to its users.

Critical flows

Flows that are considered more important than others in that they are higher in performance, have strict requirements, or serve more important users, applications, and devices.