Glossary of Terms

The following table provides descriptions of some key terminology used in the Infoblox products. Some terms, such as Grids and high availability, are used in different ways by other networking product vendors. The alphabetically arranged table can help you understand the terms and concepts as Infoblox uses them and as they are used in this guide.

Active Node	The NIOS appliance in an HA (high availability) pair that receives, processes, and responds to all service requests. When an HA failover occurs, the active node becomes the passive node in the HA pair.
API (Application Programming Interface)	A set of rules and specifications that software programs follow to communicate with each other. It serves as an interface between different software programs and facilitates their interaction. Infoblox provides a Perl API to help facilitate the integration of Infoblox NIOS appliances into network environments. It is an alternate method to the GUI (graphical user interface) in which you use a mouse pointer to click and select options and items to perform tasks.
Authenticated DHCP	The process of authenticating a network device before a DHCP server assigns a lease. On Infoblox appliances, you can divide a network into segments for unauthenticated, authenticated, and guest users. The Infoblox DHCP server assigns clients to the appropriate segment based on their MAC addresses and authentication credentials.
BIND (Berkeley Internet Name Domain)	The most commonly used DNS server on the Internet. It allows a standard way to name objects and resource records in distributed UNIX environments. It also provides operations to store and retrieve information of these objects and records.
bloxSYNC	An Infoblox proprietary mechanism for secure, real-time synchronization of the database that maintains the data, system configuration, and protocol service configuration between the active and passive nodes of an HA pair. With bloxSYNC, the nodes continuously synchronize changes of their configurations and states. When a failover occurs, the passive node can quickly take over services from the active node.
Bucket	A bucket contains indexed data.
Bulk Host	If you need to add a large number of A and PTR records, you can have the NIOS appliance add them as a group and automatically assign host names based on a range of IP addresses and the host name format you specify. Such a group of records is called a bulk host, which the appliance manages and displays as a single bulk host record.
Captive Portal	An Infoblox service that you enable on Grid members to register users, guest users, or both types of users for authentication purposes on network segments that you define using the authenticated DHCP feature.
CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing) Notation	A compact specification of an IPv4 or IPv6 address and its associated routing prefix. For example, the CIDR notation of 192.168.100.1/24 represents the IPv4 address of 192.168.100.1 and its routing prefix of 192.168.100.0, or its subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. The CIDR notation of 2001:DB8::/48 represents the IPv6 addresses from 2001:DB8:0:0:0:0:0:0 to 2001:DB8:0:FFFF:FFFF:FFFF:FFFF:FFFF.
CLI (Command-line Interface)	A way to interact with Infoblox products by typing text-only commands to perform specific tasks.
Cluster Grouping	Grouping reporting appliances as a disaster recovery measure.
Dashboard	Your home page on Infoblox Multi-Grid Manager, Grid Manager, and System Manager. It provides easy access to tasks and to the status of your Grids and networks. It also provides various widgets for viewing and managing data.
DDNS (Dynamic DNS)	The automatic updating of real-time DNS configuration changes and other information on a DNS server when a network device is assigned a new IP address.
DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol)	A configuration protocol that provides address assignments to network devices within a network. It keeps track of network configuration for each network device.
DHCP Failover Association	The pairing of two DHCP servers that establish a TCP connection for their communications. The servers form a pair of DHCP failover peers and provide DHCP protocol redundancy to minimize DHCP service outages.
DHCP Filter	A set of criteria and rules used to screen requesting hosts by matching MAC addresses, relay agent identifiers, DHCP options, or RADIUS authentication results.
DHCP Template	A set of predefined properties that you use to create IPv4 and IPv6 DHCP objects, such as networks and DHCP ranges, on the Infoblox appliance.
DIW (Data Import Wizard)	An Infoblox software tool that facilitates the import of DNS, DHCP, and TFTP data from legacy servers to Infoblox NIOS appliances. DIW supports DNS data import in the following formats: BIND 9, BIND 8, BIND 4, Microsoft DNS, Lucent VitalQIP, and Nortel NetID. It supports DHCP data import in the following formats: ISC DHCP, Microsoft DHCP, Lucent VitalQIP, and Nortel NetID.
DNS (Domain Name System)	A hierarchical naming system that translates domain names of any network devices into IP addresses for the purpose of locating and addressing these devices worldwide.
DNS View	On Infoblox appliances, a DNS view provides the ability to serve one version of DNS data to one set of clients and another version to another set of clients. With DNS views, the Infoblox appliance can provide a different answer to the same DNS query, depending on the source and match destinations of the query.
DNSSEC (Domain Name System Security Extensions)	A suite of IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) specifications to secure certain kinds of information provided by DNS for use on IP networks. It is a set of extensions to DNS, which provide DNS resolvers with the original authentication of DNS data, authenticated denial of existence, and data integrity.
DNSone™	The software package that enables Infoblox appliances to provide DNS, DHCP and TFTP services. You can add the Grid upgrade to Infoblox appliances running DNSone.
Endpoint	An IP device such as a personal computer, laptop, or mobile handheld device. This term is often used in a security context.
Extensible Attribute	Metadata you define to capture additional information about an object managed by the Infoblox NIOS appliance. You can use predefined attributes or create your own. You can also specify required attributes and restrict the values that users can enter for each attribute.
Filters	Criteria the Infoblox NIOS appliance uses to request specific information in the database. You can use filters to control the amount and the kind of data displayed in a panel or table in Infoblox Multi-Grid Manager, Grid Manager, and System Manager.
FQDN (fully qualified domain name)	A complete domain name that specifies its exact location in the hierarchy of the DNS. It specifies all the domain levels, including the top-level domain and the root domain.
FTP (File Transfer Protocol)	A standard network protocol used to transfer files from one network device to another over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet. FTP is built on a client-server architecture and utilizes separate control and data connections between the client and server.
Gateway	The default router for the immediate network segment of an interface.
Grid™ Technology	Infoblox's unique and patented high availability Grid technology ensures network reliability. The Infoblox Grid provides resilient network services, failover, recovery, and seamless maintenance for an Infoblox deployment inside a single building, across a networked campus, or between remote locations. The Infoblox Grid establishes a distributed relationship between individual or paired appliances to remove single points of failure and other operational risks inherent in legacy DNS, DHCP, and IP address management infrastructure.
Grid Manager	The NIOS web interface that provides access to your Grid for performing IPAM, DNS, and DHCP management and other administration tasks.
Grid Master	The Grid member in an Infoblox Grid that maintains the NIOS database that is distributed among all members of the Grid. You connect to the Grid Master to configure and monitor the entire Grid.
Grid Member	Any single Infoblox NIOS appliance or HA pair that belongs to a Grid. Each member can use the data and services of the Grid. You can also modify settings so that a Grid member can use unique data and member-specific services.
HA Pair	Two physical Infoblox NIOS appliances that are linked to perform as a single virtual appliance in an HA (high availability) configuration. The HA configuration provides hardware redundancy to minimize service outages. In this configuration, one appliance is the active node and the other is the passive node.
Host Record	On Infoblox appliances, host records provide a unique approach that enables you to manage multiple DNS records and DHCP and IPAM data collectively, as one object on the appliance.
IBOS (Infoblox Orchestration Server)	IBOS is the Infoblox IF-MAP (Interface to Metadata Access Points) server that contains a searchable database for storing state information about network resources. It is the central point with which IF-MAP clients communicate to send and retrieve real-time information defined in the IF-MAP data format.
IF-MAP (Interface for Metadata Access Points)	An open standard client-server protocol developed by the Trusted Computing Group as one of the core protocols of the TNC (Trusted Network Connect) open architecture. IF-MAP allows network resources to share real-time information.
IP Map	In Infoblox Grid Manager or System Manager, this is a graphical representation of all IPv4 addresses in a given subnet.
IPAM (IP Address Management)	Infoblox IPAM provides a means of planning, tracking, and managing IP address space in a network. It glues DNS and DHCP services together so that each service is aware of changes in the other. The Infoblox IPAM implementation offers an IP address-centric approach so you can manage your networks and IP addresses through a centralized GUI.
Leaf Network	On Infoblox appliances, a network that does not contain any subnets. Lease Logging Member An Infoblox Grid member that is designated to collect DHCP lease events.
License Pool	A license pool is a container associated with the Grid and holds dynamic licenses for a specific feature. Licenses in the pool can be dynamically allocated to and deallocated from Grid members. When not in use, dynamic licenses are released back to the pool for future allocation. There is no expiration for dynamic licenses.
Limited-Access User	An admin user account that has specific roles and permissions assigned. Limited-access users have restricted access to Infoblox Multi-Grid Manager, Grid Manager, and System Manager, and can only perform certain tasks based on their assigned roles and permissions.
Lite Upgrade	On Infoblox appliances, a lite upgrade occurs when there are incremental changes to the NIOS software that do not require any change to the database. The appliance can perform a lite upgrade only if the format of the database between the existing NIOS version and the upgrade version is the same. In general, when you upgrade from a major release to a patch release or a patch release to another patch release, you are performing a lite upgrade.
Loopback Interface	On Infoblox appliances, the virtual network interface on which you can consolidate DNS servers for migration purposes, add anycast addresses to improve the performance of the DNS service, and separate DNS traffic.
Managing Member	An Infoblox Grid member that is configured to manage Microsoft DNS and DHCP servers.
Master Candidate	An Infoblox Grid member that is designated to assume the role of the Grid Master as a disaster recovery measure.
Master Grid	A group of Infoblox appliances that are connected to provide a single point of administration for multiple Grids and network management of these Grids.
Master Grid Member	Any single Infoblox appliance or HA pair that belongs to the Master Grid. All Master Grid members serve as Master Candidates.
Multi-Grid Manager	The NIOS web interface that provides access to the Master Grid, from which you can manage multiple Grids and their networks.
Multi-Grid Master	The Infoblox Master Grid member that maintains the NIOS database that is distributed among all Master Grid members. You connect to Multi-Grid Manager to configure and monitor the Master Grid.
Multi-Grid Master Candidate	An Infoblox Master Grid member that is designated to assume the role of the Multi-Grid Master as a disaster recovery measure.
Name Server Group	On Infoblox appliances, a server group that contains one primary DNS server and/or one or more secondary DNS servers. Specifying a single name server group can simplify DNS zone creation.
NAT (Network Address Translation) Group	A group of Infoblox Grid members that are configured on the same side of a NAT appliance. In a Grid configuration where the Grid Master is configured behind a NAT appliance and there are Grid members on both sides of the NAT appliance, it is necessary to create a NAT group to ensure that the Grid Master and Grid members use the correct NAT and interface addresses for Grid communications.
Network Block	On Infoblox appliances, an IP address space that is defined in the Master Grid. A network block can consist of other network blocks, network containers, and leaf networks.
Network Container	On Infoblox appliances, an automatically created container of multiple networks that are subnets of the IP address space configured for the network container. A network container cannot be assigned to a Grid member or be directly created.
Network Discovery	A set of tools provided by the Infoblox NIOS appliance for detecting active hosts on specified networks and specified VMware vSphere servers.
Network Map	In Infoblox Grid Manager and System Manager, Network Map presents a complete view of your network space, including the different types of networks that are in it and its unused address space. You can use Network Map to design and plan your network infrastructure, configure and manage individual networks, and evaluate their utilization.
Network Mask or Netmask	A numeric representation of the bits that are used to split an IP address into the network portion and the host portion. In Infoblox products, this is represented by either quad-dotted decimal representation or CIDR notation for IPv4 network masks, or by CIDR notation for IPv6 network masks.
Network View	On Infoblox appliances, a single routing domain with its own networks and shared networks. A network view can contain both IPv4 and IPv6 networks. All networks must belong to a network view on the Infoblox appliance.
NIOS	An Infoblox proprietary system that powers Infoblox solutions with an embedded processor that delivers core network services. It is the operating system that runs on the NIOS appliances—a security-hardened, real-time set of appliances built to ensure the non-stop operation of network infrastructure. NIOS automates the error-prone and time-consuming manual tasks associated with deploying and managing IPAM, DNS, and DHCP required for continuous IP network availability and business uptime.
NIOS Virtual Appliance	Any Infoblox supported platform, such as AWS, VMWare, Azure appliances that runs the vNIOS software. These appliances are also known as the vNIOS appliances.
Node	A single Infoblox appliance of an HA (high availability) pair. An HA pair consists of an active node and a passive node.
NTP (Network Time Protocol)	A protocol for synchronizing the clocks of computer systems over packet-switched, variable latency data networks; it essentially keeps network devices on a common clock by resisting the effects of variable latency by means of a jitter buffer.
Passive Node	The Infoblox NIOS appliance in an HA pair that constantly keeps its database synchronized with that of the active node, so it can take over core network services when an HA failover occurs. When an HA failover occurs, the passive node becomes the active node in the HA pair.
PortIQ	An Infoblox switch port appliance that enables quick discovery of the Ethernet switch ports. PortIQ identifies ports that are not fully utilized and those that exceed their capacity. You can use PortIQ to troubleshoot LAN environments.
Quick Filter	A filter that stores specific filter criteria for requesting information displayed in a specific panel in Infoblox Multi-Grid Manager, Grid Manager, and System Manager. For more information, see "Filter."
Overlapping Network	On Infoblox appliances, a network that exists in multiple locations, which can be multiple Grids in the Master Grid or within various network views in a Grid.
Replication	Database distribution among the Infoblox Grid Master and Grid members as well as among the Multi-Grid Master and Master Grid members.
Replication Factor (Reporting - Multi-Site Cluster)	The number of copies of reporting data in each bucket that the cluster maintains.
Reservation	On Infoblox appliances, a static IP address that you create for future use. A reservation is a pre-provisioned fixed address. You can reserve this static IP address on the NIOS appliance and assign it to a client in the future.
Resource Records	A collection of data in the DNS server database. Each resource record specifies information about a DNS object. For example, an A (address mapping) record maps a host name to an IP address, and a PTR (reverse-lookup pointer) record maps an IP address to a host name. The DNS server uses these records to answer queries.
Roaming Host	On Infoblox appliances, a host with a dynamically assigned IP address and a specific set of properties and DHCP options. When you create a roaming host for a network device, the device can receive any dynamically assigned address from the network to which it belongs.
Scope	A DHCP address range on a Microsoft server. Microsoft scope information is converted to equivalent DHCP range information after Microsoft data is synchronized with the NIOS appliance.
Search Factor	The number of searchable copies of reporting data in each bucket that the cluster maintains.
Shared Network	On Infoblox appliances, a network segment to which you assign two or more subnets. When subnets in a shared network contain IP addresses that are available for dynamic allocation, the addresses are put into a common pool for allocation when client requests arise.
Shared Record Group	On Infoblox appliances, a set of resource records that you add to multiple DNS zones. You can create resource records in a group and share the group among multiple zones. The zones handle the shared resource records as any other resource record.
SSO (Single Sign On)	An Infoblox feature that allows you to automatically sign in to selected Grids from the Master Grid, without having to log in to each individual Grid each time you sign on.
Smart Folder	On Infoblox appliances, a virtual folder in which you place the results of filter criteria that you select to request specific data in the NIOS database. Once you set up a smart folder, the appliance displays up-to-date information based on your filter and grouping criteria each time you access the folder.
Subnet (or network)	A logical division of an IP network. A subnet of network may also be called a network. For example, 10.1.0.0/16 is a subnet of 10.0.0.0/8, and fc80:8:8:16::/64 is a subnet of fc80:8:8::/48.
Superscope	On a Microsoft server, superscope comprises multiple scopes or DHCP address ranges created on a single physical network segment. Microsoft superscope information is converted to equivalent network information after Microsoft data is synchronized with the NIOS appliance.
Superuser	An admin user account that has unrestricted access to Infoblox Multi-Grid Manager, Grid Manager, or System Manager.
Support Bundle	A tar.gz file that contains configuration files and system files of the Infoblox NIOS appliance. You can download a support bundle for an independent appliance and for each member in a Grid.
System Manager	The NIOS web interface that provides access to an independent appliance (single or HA) for performing IPAM, DNS, and DHCP management and other administration tasks.
TFTP (Trivial File Transfer Protocol)	A data transfer service that provides devices—such as phones, RFID readers, IP cameras, and other devices—with up-to-date software and configuration data.
Traffic Capture	An Infoblox tools that captures the traffic on one or all of the ports on a NIOS appliance. The NIOS appliance saves all captured traffic in a .cap file and compresses it into a .tar.gz file.
Upgrade Group	On Infoblox appliances, a group of Grid members that you put together so you can perform software distribution and upgrade at the same time.
VIP (Virtual IP)	On Infoblox appliances, the shared IP address of an HA pair. A VIP address links to the HA port on the active node of an HA pair.
VRID (Virtual Router ID)	VRID identifies the VRRP (Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol) HA pair to which the Infoblox appliance belongs. Through VRID, two HA nodes identify each other as belonging to the same HA pair, and they obtain a virtual MAC address to share with a VIP. A VRID can be any number between 1 and 255, and it must be unique on the local LAN so that it does not conflict with any other Infoblox appliances using VRRP on the same subnet.
vNIOS	The virtual version of NIOS. You can install Infoblox vNIOS software on any supported virtual platform and configure the system as a vNIOS virtual appliance.
VRRP (Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol)	An industry standard MAC address level HA failover mechanism.