Definitions of Key Terms
Before you get started, you may want to review our list of key terms and definitions you will find in our documentation relating to Tempered products and services.
Product, Technology and Service terms
Note: These terms are specific to Tempered products,
technologies, or services and may have additional definitions or descriptions unique
to Tempered.
- HIP
- Host Identity Protocol. The secure protocol that ties our products together.
- IF-MAP/MAP/MAP2
- Interface to Metadata Access Points. Airwall Edge Services use this client/server protocol to communicate with the Conductor, which provides authentication keys and communication policy to them.
- Conductor
- The physical, virtual, or cloud-based appliance that centrally manages all connected Airwall Edge Services and devices.
- Airwall Edge Service
- Any HIP-enabled hardware or software connected to the Conductor. A collective term for all Airwall Gateways, Airwall Agents, and Airwall Servers.
- Airwall Gateway
- A physical, virtual, or cloud-based appliance that provides overlay network connectivity to connected devices.
- Airwall Agent
- Software program that allows people to connect to protected resources using their cell or laptop devices (available on Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android).
- Airwall Server
- Software program that allows people to connect to protected resources using their Windows or Linux Server.
- Underlay
- The Underlay is your existing Layer 2 networks, including the Internet if your Airwall Edge Services traverse it. Your Airwall Gateways and Conductor communicate with each other over this network.
- Overlay
- An Overlay is an Airwall secure network, where your devices and resources are protected by Airwall Gateways and accessed securely through Airwall Agents and Servers.
Terms related to our technology
Note: These terms are not specific to Tempered products,
technologies, or services and have definitions or descriptions relating to networks
and networking in general.
- Microsegmentation
- Compartmentalizing your network into isolated segments in which devices are only exposed to each other when they have a need to communicate.
- Multihoming
- Connecting a single device to multiple networks, physical and/or virtual.
- Tunneling
- Encapsulating network traffic in an encrypted connection between two points (e.g. a virtual private network).
- Bump-in-the-Wire (BITW)
- An antiquated term for a communications device introduced to a legacy system to enhance it. While we rarely use this terminology, it accurately describes our Airwall Gateway line of products, especially when used with legacy systems to enhance security.
- Back-haul Interface (BHI)
- An interface that carries traffic from a central network to the network's edge. Airwall Edge Services are considered a type of Back-haul Interface, carrying overlay traffic to and from protected devices.
- IPsec
- A secure network protocol stack for encrypting packets of data sent over an IPv4 network.
- Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP)
- An encryption protocol used by IPsec.
Legacy and deprecated terms
Note: Although no longer used, older white papers, web articles, and videos may use
these terms. Internally, the product may refer to components using these terms as
well, such as in log files, for example.
- Asguard/Asguard Networks
- Our previous company names. Sometimes you will see ama, which stands for Asguard Management Appliance, a previous internal name for the Conductor.
- SimpleConnect
- Previous term for the Conductor. Sometimes you will see sc as a prefix in log entries and exported files, meaning that they are related to the Conductor.
- Endbox
- Previous term for an Airwall Edge Service. This term is still used internally, so you might see it in logs.