TermDefinition
802.1xSupplicant

IEEE 802.1X is an IEEE Standard for port-based Network Access Control (PNAC). It is part of the IEEE 802.1 group of networking protocols. It IEEE 802.1X defines the encapsulation of the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) over IEEE 802, which is known as “EAP over LAN” or EAPOL, optional point-to-point encryption over the local LAN segment.

The supplicant is an entity at one end of a point-to-point LAN segment that seeks to be authenticated by an authenticator attached to the other end of that link. As used in the IEEE 802.1X standard, a supplicant can be either hardware or software. In practice, a supplicant is a software application installed on an end-user's computer. The user invokes the supplicant and submits credentials to connect the computer to a secure network. If the authentication is successful, the authenticator typically allows the computer to connect to the network.

An 802.1X authenticator is an entity at one end of a point-to-point LAN segment that facilitates authentication of the entity attached to the other end of that link. In practice, the authenticator is usually a network switch or wireless access point that serves as the point of connection for computers joining the network. The authenticator receives connection requests from a supplicant on the connecting computer.

ACS   
Auto Configuration Servers. Developed as part of the TR-069 protocol to automatically configure Internet access devices such as modems, routers, gateways, set-top boxes, and VoIP phones for end-users. 
Analytics               

Collects and analyzes system data in real-time to monitor voice, video, and data traffic. SIP, Memory, and CPU utilization statistics analytics are enabled by default on the EdgeMarc. Statistics gathering is initiated after the system receives the first SNMP GET request. Refer to System Administration.

Blacklist                

Specifies a block of IP addresses that will be denied access to EdgeMarc.

Blacklists allow you to block persistent hacking attempts by specifying a list of IP addresses that will be completely blocked from accessing EdgeMarc. Any input to EdgeMarcfrom these IP addresses is dropped.

If you have an EdgeMarc outside the firewall, the IP address of the EdgeMarc specified here must be managed inside the firewall. See also Whitelist.

CAC                        Call Admission Control. Prevents oversubscription of VoIP networks. It is used in the call set-up phase and applies to real-time media traffic as opposed to data traffic. CAC mechanisms complement and are distinct from the capabilities of Quality of Service tools to protect voice traffic from the adverse effects of other voice traffic and to keep excess voice traffic off the network.
Cipher                    

SSL encryption algorithm creates a special certificate, which is used as a key between two computers on the Internet. This certificate creates a secret encrypted connection between the two networked computers, which blocks unwanted snooping of shared data.

Conduit                 

EdgeMarcuses conduits to communicate with the upstream softswitch for Plug and Dial. Using the conduit, EdgeMarc will inform the softswitch of a new phone and associate that phone with the requested user’s profile. The EdgeMarcdatabase includes an internal conduit. Additionally, EdgeMarcsupports selected Broadsoft and Metaswitch conduits.

CSV                       

Comma Separated Values. CSV is an exportable file that can be opened with XLS in a table format.

Default Gateway 
A router on a computer network that serves as an access point to another network.
Device                   

EdgeMarcdevices, IP phones, third-party nodes, SNMP-based nodes, EdgeConnects and (if licensed) Plug and Dial phones and Plug and Dial conduits.

Device Tree    

Shows hierarchical, collapsible lists of EdgeMarc devices, EdgeMarc Groups, EdgeConnects, Phones, Configuration Files and other nodes/devices managed by EdgeMarc. The entries in the device tree are associated with icons and are color-coded for quick identification of node/device type and service-affecting problems. You can use the controls at the top level of the Device Tree to expand and collapse the folders in the hierarchy and also to search for EdgeMarc Groups and nodes/devices managed by EdgeMarc.

Device Level
The Device Level in the EdgeMarc device tree shows the individual nodes/devices being managed by EdgeMarc. Nodes/devices include EdgeMarc devices, phones, third-party nodes, SNMP-based nodes and EdgeConnects. If licensed, a node/device may also be Plug and Dial phones and Plug and Dial conduits.
Device Tree Group Level
The Group Level in the device tree lists all the nodes/devices in a selected EdgeMarc Group. There may also be sub-groups shown at the Device Tree Group Level.

Device Tree Top

Level

The Top Level in the Device Tree lists all EdgeMarc Groups and nodes/devices being managed by EdgeMarc. You can use the controls at the top level of the Device Tree to expand and collapse the folders in the hierarchy and also to search for EdgeMarc Groups and nodes/devices managed by EdgeMarc.
DHCP                      Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol is a network application protocol used by devices (DHCP clients) to obtain configuration information for operation in an Internet Protocol network. This protocol reduces system administration workload, allowing devices to be added to the network with little or no manual intervention.

DID and Short DID

Direct Inward Dial number is usually called the “phone number”. Short DID is usually 3-5 digits for PBX-style dialing.

DNDirectory number.
DNS                        Domain Name System. The system is used on the Internet for translating names of network nodes into addresses.
DSCP                      Differentiated Services Code Point. Uses 6 bits of the TOS field in an IP packet header.
EAP                         Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) authentication protocol. See FAST and PEAP.
EdgeMarc Configuration Template

An XML file that describes all the configuration files for a given EdgeMarc or group of EdgeMarc devices. An EdgeMarc template specifies the file names, variable names, types, constraints, and descriptions that can (but not necessarily must) be set for an EdgeMarc. The information and settings will vary depending on the EdgeMarcimplementation.

EdgeMarc Configuration Template Manager

An application in EdgeMarc which provides a simple way to create, modify, and manage EdgeMarc templates. Using the Template Manager, you can generate, edit, copy, rename, delete, import, and export template files. Once you've made your modifications, you can save and use the template to push configuration values to the EdgeMarc.

EM
EdgeMarc

EdgeMarc Configuration Template Editor

The EdgeMarc Configuration template Editor (Editor) is accessible from the EdgeMarc Configuration Template Manager. Once you have generated an EdgeMarc configuration template, you use the Editor to modify the configuration settings in the template.

EdgeMarc Group

A collection of EdgeMarcdevices, IP phones, third-party nodes, SNMP-based nodes, EdgeConnects and (if licensed) Plug and Dial phones and Plug and Dial conduits that have been grouped together in EdgeMarc to make them easier to manage. By grouping nodes/devices, you can apply a single action to all nodes/devices in the EdgeMarc Group at once, which saves you from having to configure each node/device individually. EdgeMarc Groups can also contain other EdgeMarc sub Groups. EdgeMarc Groups in the device tree are shown in blue.

EdgeMarc Product License

The EdgeMarcproduct license specifies the number of EdgeMarc devices (and similar nodes/devices), Tenants, endpoints, and conduits that your EdgeMarc can manage. The EdgeMarc product license does not expire. You purchase an EdgeMarc product license based on the number of nodes you need. You can add additional nodes; however, if you do so, you will need to update the product license key in EdgeMarc.

EdgeMarc Support License
The EdgeMarc support license is set by the Edgewater Networks sales or support team at the time your product is shipped. It has a fixed expiration date. The support license key allows for upgrades and patches until the expiration date. When your EdgeMarc support license expires, EdgeMarc is still operational but you can no longer do patch upgrades or install new software on the EdgeMarc. A red alert displays at the top of the EdgeMarc License screen in the EdgeMarcGUI when the support license is about to expire.

EdgeView Group Name

Allows you to input the EdgeView Service Control Center (EdgeView SCC) group name within which the EdgeMarc will reside. This overrides any entry of the EdgeMarc MAC address in the EdgeView database. Refer to System Administration.
Endpoint               
An endpoint typically refers to a phone, but it can be any device managed by EdgeMarc.
FAST                      

EAP-FAST (Flexible Authentication via Secure Tunneling) is a protocol proposal by Cisco Systems as a replacement for LEAP. The protocol was designed to address the weaknesses of LEAP while preserving the “lightweight” implementation. The use of server certificates is optional in EAP-FAST. EAP-FAST uses a Protected Access Credential (PAC) to establish a TLS tunnel in which client credentials are verified.

EAP-FAST has three phases, two of which are supported on the EdgeMarc.

Phase 1: Tunnel establishment. Authenticates using the PAC and establishes a tunnel key to provide confidentiality and integrity during the authentication process.

Phase 2:  Authentication. Authenticates the peer with multiple tunneled, secure authentication mechanisms (credentials exchanged).

Feature Server
The upstream switch at the customer premises to which EdgeMarc communicates to get information about the phones. Also referred to as a “softswitch.”

Generic Phone Configuration File

All phone manufacturers have a common or generic phone configuration file for each phone model. EdgeMarc Plug and Dial include these files for each supported phone model. In a typical IP phone deployment (without Plug and Dial), system administrators must modify the generic phone configuration files with customer-specific network and phone settings. EdgeMarc Plug and Dial simplifies this process by automatically creating phone-specific configuration files based on input retrieved by the IVR when the user self-provisions their phone.
Generic Phone Template
A template file created from the phone manufacturer’s generic phone configuration file. Generic phone templates are called “Plug and Dial Templates” in EdgeMarcEdgeMarc.
Group                    

An EdgeMarcGroup. A collection of EdgeMarcdevices, IP phones,

third-party nodes, SNMP-based nodes, EdgeConnects and (if licensed) Plug and Dial phones and Plug and Dial conduits that have been grouped together in EdgeMarcto make them easier to manage. By grouping nodes/devices, you can apply a single action to all nodes/devices in the EdgeMarcGroup at once, saving you from configuring each node/device individually. EdgeMarcGroups can also contain other EdgeMarcGroups. EdgeMarcGroups in the device tree are shown in blue.

GUI                        Graphical User Interface
HA                          High Availability. High Availability (HA) is designed to eliminate a single point of failure in a network configuration. High Availability uses the concept of a Primary and Secondary system with a heartbeat to define which system is active and which one is Idle and an automated data replication. If the Active system fails, the Idle system becomes active automatically.
IMIX                       Internet Mix or IMIX refers to typical Internet traffic passing some network equipment such as routers, switches or firewalls. When measuring equipment performance using an IMIX of packets, the performance is assumed to resemble what can be seen in “real world” conditions.
IP AddressA device identifier on a TCP/IP network.
IP Address File List
One of the three types of EdgeMarc configuration files. Contains only a list of IP addresses separated by new lines. Other EdgeMarc configuration file types are a Raw File and a Variable/Value file.
IVR      

Interactive voice response (IVR) is a technology that allows users to interact with a company’s host system via a telephone keypad or by speech recognition, after which they can service their own inquiries by following the IVR dialogue. IVR systems can respond with prerecorded or dynamically generated audio to further direct users on how to proceed. IVR applications can control almost any function, where the interface can be broken down into a series of simple interactions. IVR systems deployed in the network are sized to handle large call volumes.

Jitter The variation in packet transit delay caused by queuing, contention, and serialization effects on the path through the network. In general, higher levels of jitter are more likely to occur on either slow or heavily congested links.
LAN                       

Local Area Network. A LAN is a shared communications system to which many computers, switches, IP telephones, and IP telephone client adapters are attached. In addition to needing an Internet connection, the system must also be connected to your LAN to serve your voice, video and data needs.

Note: Your EdgeMarc is shipped with a LAN IP address of 192.168.1.1. This allows you to access the system using a PC to configure it. You can access the system using the preset IP address and the default subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. Ribbon recommends that you change the default password using the System page once you configure your system.

LLC                        
Logical Link Control (LLC) Encapsulation. Multiple protocols are multiplexed over a single ATM VC. The protocol of a carried protocol data unit (PDU) is identified by prefixing the PDU with an LLC header. See VC.
LLDP     
The Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) is a vendor-neutral link layer protocol in the Internet Protocol Suite used by network devices for advertising their identity, capabilities, and neighbors on an IEEE 802 local area network, principally wired Ethernet. Information gathered with LLDP is stored in the device as a management information database (MIB) and can be queried with the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) as specified in RFC 2922. The topology of an LLDP-enabled network can be discovered by crawling the hosts and querying this database.
MAC address Media Access Control address. A hardware address that uniquely identifies each node of a network.
Menu Bar
The EdgeMarc Status page menu bar on the Top Level, Group Level, and Device Level screens contains submenus for monitoring, provisioning, configuring and performing operations on EdgeMarcdevices, EdgeMarcGroups, and other nodes/devices managed by EdgeMarc. The menu bar options change depending on which level you are at in the device tree.
MOS                       

Mean Opinion Score. MOS is a test used in telephony networks to obtain the user's view of the quality of the network.

Node/Device
EdgeMarcdevices, phones, third-party nodes, SNMP-based nodes, EdgeConnects and (if licensed) Plug and Dial phones and Plug and Dial conduits.
Other Devices  
Third-party nodes and SNMP nodes.
Parent Group
When there are subgroups under an EdgeMarcGroup, the top level. EdgeMarcGroup is considered the Parent Group.
PEAP                     

Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol (PEAP) is part of the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) protocols. 

PEAP uses Transport Layer Security (TLS) to create an encrypted channel between an authenticating PEAP client, such as a wireless computer, and a PEAP authenticator, such as a server running Network Policy Server (NPS) or other Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) server.

Phone Template  
 A configuration file used to provision a phone.
Phone-specific Configuration File

A phone-specific configuration file that contains MAC address-specific configuration information such as the phone number (DID), phone extension, phone display name, and the AuthName/Pwd. The content of the phone-specific file overrides what is in the generic phone configuration file. Phone-specific files typically have the phone’s MAC address embedded in the filename.

Phone-specific Template

A template file which is created from a phone-specific configuration file. These files can also be used without Plug and Dial; you can manually set up a phone using these files without using the IVR. Phone-specific templates are referred to as “Phone Templates” in EdgeMarc.
Plug and Dial  
Refers to the workflow for automatically managing endpoints when a conduit is used. Sometimes referred to as “PnD”, Plug-n-Dial, PND, and P&D.
PoE                         Power over Ethernet.
PPPoATM               Point-to-Point Protocol Over Asynchronous Transfer Mode is a network protocol for encapsulating PPP frames in AAL5. It is used mainly with DOCSIS and DSL carriers.
PPPoE                   

Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet. A network protocol for encapsulating PPP frames inside Ethernet frames. Used for the following: 

PPPoE-speaking Internet DSL services where a PPPoE-speaking modem-router connects to the DSL service. Both the ISP and the modem-router need to speak PPPoE. PPPoE-over-DSL is referred to as PPPoEoA or PPPoE over ATM. 

A PPPoE-speaking DSL modem is connected to a PPPoE-speaking Ethernet-only router using an Ethernet cable. For such two-box systems, DSL modem plus Ethernet-only router, PPPoE is now the preferred solution.

Proxy ARP   
Proxy using the Address Resolution Protocol to create a bridge between two interfaces on the system.
Raw File 
One of the three types of EdgeMarc configuration files. A Raw File may be any text file, especially those that do not meet the formats of the other two file types: Variable/Value File or IP Address File List.
RegEx     
Regular Expression.
revertive mode   
Revertive mode operation forces the configured primary WAN to return to active state after it recovers from a failure.
Rights        
Provides the system administrator with the ability to restrict users from using certain parts of EdgeMarc. Examples include Analyzing, Monitoring, Template Editing, Conduit Editing, Provisioning, VPN Editing, VPN Viewing, Device Configuration and System Administration.
SaaS   
Software as a service. Software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted.
SIP                         Session Initiation Protocol. Protocol designed to signal the setup of voice and multimedia calls over IP networks.
SIP Server     
The upstream SIP proxy server.
SNMP                     Simple Network Management Protocol. Network management protocol is used almost exclusively in TCP/IP networks to monitor and control network devices and manage configurations, statistics collection, performance, and security.
SNMP Read-Only Community String

The SNMP password EdgeMarc is used so that outside Network Management Systems can access it.

Softswitch             The upstream switch at the customer premises that EdgeMarc communicates with to retrieve information about the clients. Also referred to as the “feature server.”
SSH                      
Secure Shell (SSH) is a cryptographic network protocol for secure data communication, remote shell services or command execution, and other secure network.
State                      The UP/DOWN status of a node
Strict Password  
Strict passwords require 6-8 characters, 2 or more character types and no dictionary words.
Substitution VariablesSpecial variables that will, at deployment time, be replaced with actual useful value
Survivability         
The Survivability feature enables an EdgeMarc to provide local calls (station to Station or station to PSTN if there is local PSTN connectivity) when the WAN link is failing.
Syslog                   

System Logs (syslog). Debugging logs that are collected by EdgeMarc and used to diagnose and resolve issues. The user does not ordinarily see these messages.

Tenant                  

A Tenant has properties that are used for managing devices under the Tenant, such as whether an EdgeMarc can use Plug and Dial, how many nodes are supported by the Product License, default passwords, and ports. A Tenant is always tied to one EdgeMarcGroup, but the EdgeMarc Group may have subgroups.

Trap  
A Simple Network Management Protocol trap is a message that is initiated by a network element and sent to the network management system.
Unassigned Group

An EdgeMarc Group in the device tree, which contains nodes/devices that have been discovered by EdgeMarcbut have not been assigned to an EdgeMarc Group. When the EdgeMarc comes online or is rebooted, it sends a message through Syslog, and EdgeMarc will then automatically add it to the “Unassigned” EdgeMarc Group in the device tree. The “Unassigned” EdgeMarcGroup is automatically created if necessary.

Variable/ValueFile

One of the three types of EdgeMarcconfiguration files. Contains variable/value pairs only of the format: variable=value. Other types of EdgeMarcconfiguration files are an IP Address File List and a Raw File List.


VC     
Virtual circuit (VC) based multiplexing. One PVC is defined per protocol. See LLC.
VPN
A Virtual Private Network extends a private network and the resources contained in the network across public networks like the Internet. It enables a host computer to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if it were a private network with all the functionality, security and management policies of the private network.
VPN Group      
A logical grouping of EdgeMarc devices for VPN configurations.


VPN Policy        
Defines the values of VPN properties.
WAN                       Wide Area Network
Whitelist               

Specifies a block of IP addresses that are allowed to conduct management sessions with EdgeMarc. For EdgeMarcdevices that are not behind a firewall (for example, an EdgeMarc on the edge of the Internet), the Whitelist feature specifies a list of IP addresses that are allowed to conduct a management session with EdgeMarc. IP addresses that are not in the Whitelist are blocked from accessing EdgeMarc.

The Whitelist feature is similar in behavior to the “trusted management hosts” feature on the EdgeMarc. EdgeMarcadministrators must use PCs/Workstations with the source IP addresses or networks listed in the Whitelist. See also Blacklist.