Home > Workload Solutions > Container Platforms > SUSE Containers as a Service > Guides > SUSE Rancher, SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro, and K3s for Edge Computing > Terminology
The following tables provide definitions for some terms that are used in this document:
Term | Definition |
Automation | Infrastructure automation enables speed through faster execution when configuring the infrastructure and aims to provide visibility to help other teams across the enterprise work quickly and more efficiently. Automation removes the risk that is associated with human error such as manual misconfiguration; removing this risk can decrease downtime and increase reliability. These outcomes and attributes help the enterprise move towards implementing a culture of DevOps, the combined working of development and operations. |
Availability | The probability that an item operates satisfactorily, without failure or downtime, under stated conditions, as a function of its reliability, redundancy, and maintainability attributes. Some major objectives to achieve wanted service level objectives are:
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Best practices | Information that can overlap both the SUSE and partner space. A stand-alone guide that is based on real-life installation and implementation experiences from subject matter experts provides reliable technical information that is not covered in other product documentation, or complementary, embedded sections in documentation describe considerations and possible steps forward. |
Integrity | Estimating and analyzing current conditions to prevent unexpected failures through predictive maintenance aspects must be managed to ensure stability, performance, reusability, and maintainability. |
Production | A deployed environment that customers or users can interact with and rely on to meet their needs, plus be operationally sustainable in terms of resource utilization and economic constraints. |
Proof-of-concept | A partial or nearly complete prototype that is constructed to demonstrate functionality and feasibility for verifying specific aspects or concepts under consideration. This prototype is often a starting point when evaluating a new, transitional technology. Sometimes it starts as a Minimum Viable Product (MVP7) that has enough features to satisfy an initial set of requests. After such insights and feedback are obtained and potentially addressed, redeployments may be used to iteratively branch into other realms or to incorporate other known working functionality. |
Reference architecture | A guide that contains the general steps to deploy and validate the structured solution components from both the SUSE and partner portfolios. This guide provides a shareable template of consistency for consumers to leverage for similar production-ready solutions, including design considerations, implementation suggestions, and best practices. |
Reference configuration | A guide with the basic steps to deploy the layered stack of components from both the SUSE and partner portfolios. This guide is considered a fundamental basis to demonstrate a specific, tested configuration of components. |
Scaling | The flexibility of a system environment to either vertically scale up, horizontally scale out, or conversely scale down by adding or subtracting resources as needed. Attributes such as capacity and performance are often the primary requirements to address, while still maintaining functional consistency and reliability. |
Security | Security ensures freedom from or resilience against potential harm, including protection from destructive or hostile forces. To minimize risks, governance is managed to avoid tampering, maintain access controls to prevent unauthorized usage, and integrate layers of defense, reporting, and recovery tactics. |