Definitions

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

B

bastion host

An intermediate system that can reach other systems, usually to prevent direct connections and with more strict communication paths. Alternative names: jump host, jump server, jump box.

C

capability bounding set

maximum set of capabilities a process is allowed to have

control group

Set of tasks and their future children that is aggregated into a hierarchical groups, to allow allocating resources (e.g. CPU time, memory, network bandwidth)

core dump

File containing address space (memory) information of process when it terminates unexpectedly

E

exploit

commands that may trigger a bug or vulnerability in software or causing unexpected behavior, with the goal to crash software or make it do unanticipated actions

I

initrd

short for initial RAM disk, a mechanism used by Linux to load a temporary root file system into memory, so it can be used during the startup process. It helps getting the right support for hardware loaded, so that the actual root file system can be mounted and used. Initrd is also called early userspace, as it sits inbetween the kernel and userspace.

L

LUKS

Short for 'Linux Unified Key Setup', disk encryption specification to encrypt disk blocks.

M

multi-call binary

A binary or tool that provides multiple different services, which depends on the name it is started with

S

syscall

Short for system call, an interface between the Linux kernel and userspace; Allows processes to communicate and request resources.

J

journal

System service to collect and store logging data. Related service name is systemd-journal.

U

userspace

memory area for normal applications and some drivers, usually with one address space per process

UUID

Short for 'Universal Unique Identifier', a 128-bit value used to uniquely identify an object or entity, such as a system or disk