W

A timer that delays moving traffic back to a repaired working path. It prevents repeated switching when a defect comes and goes.

Plain language A timer delaying traffic return to a repaired path to prevent repeated switching.

Used in RFC 4428 RFC 6378 RFC 7271 RFC 8227

An entity that receives presence information about a presentity, for example to decide how to contact them.

Plain language An entity receiving presence information about another person.

Used in RFC 3856 RFC 3859 RFC 4479 RFC 4480 RFC 4660 RFC 5196 RFC 5263 RFC 5344

The constraint that an optical connection must use the same wavelength along its path unless a wavelength converter is available. It is what makes routing and wavelength choice interdependent.

Used in RFC 7446 RFC 7449

A way of carrying several optical channels on one fiber by giving each its own wavelength of light. Each channel can then be managed separately.

Plain language Carrying several optical channels on one fiber by giving each its own wavelength.

Used in RFC 3471 RFC 3473 RFC 3591 RFC 4054 RFC 7449 RFC 8780 RFC 9093

An optical network in which traffic is carried on individual wavelengths of light that are switched through the network. Not every signal is compatible with every network element.

Plain language An optical network carrying traffic on individual wavelengths that are switched through the network.

Used in RFC 7579 RFC 7581 RFC 7688

A cipher key with a property that makes encryption with it less secure than with a normal key. Implementations should check for such keys and reject them.

Plain language A cipher key with a property making encryption less secure than with a normal key.

Used in RFC 2405 RFC 2451

The practice of using HTTP headers or HTML attributes to express relationships between web resources, standardized by RFC 5988.

Plain language Expressing relationships between web resources using HTTP headers or HTML attributes.

Used in RFC 6573 RFC 6690 RFC 6906 RFC 9423

The protection domain a user agent assigns to a URI. For most URIs it is the triple of scheme, host and port; otherwise it is a globally unique identifier.

Plain language The protection domain a user agent assigns to a URI.

Used in RFC 6454 RFC 7034 RFC 8615

Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning, a set of HTTP extensions (RFC 4918) for creating, changing and managing resources and their properties on a server.

Plain language Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning, a set of HTTP extensions for resource management.

Used in RFC 2291 RFC 3253 RFC 3648 RFC 3744 RFC 4316 RFC 4709 RFC 4791 RFC 5323 RFC 5689 RFC 5995 RFC 6352 RFC 6638 RFC 8144

A protocol that uses an HTTPS request to a well-known path to discover information about a person or other entity identified by a URI. The answer is a JSON Resource Descriptor.

Plain language A protocol using HTTPS to discover information about a person identified by a URI.

Used in RFC 7033 RFC 7565

Web Real-Time Communication, a set of specifications that lets web browsers exchange audio, video and arbitrary data directly in real time.

Plain language Web Real-Time Communication, specifications letting web browsers exchange audio, video and data directly.

Used in RFC 7478 RFC 7875 RFC 8825 RFC 8826 RFC 8831 RFC 8832 RFC 8833 RFC 8837 RFC 8850 RFC 9725

A protocol (RFC 6455) that gives a client and server a two-way message channel over a single TCP connection, started with an HTTP handshake.

Plain language A protocol providing a two-way message channel over a single TCP connection started with HTTP.

Used in RFC 6202 RFC 6455 RFC 7118 RFC 7355 RFC 7395 RFC 7692 RFC 7936 RFC 7977 RFC 8124 RFC 8307 RFC 8323 RFC 8441 RFC 8825 RFC 8826 RFC 8827 RFC 8831 RFC 8832 RFC 8857 RFC 8887 RFC 9220 RFC 9931

A queue-scheduling method that shares a link among several queues in proportion to assigned weights. RFC 2549 jokes that it MAY be implemented using scales.

Plain language A queue-scheduling method sharing a link among queues in proportion to assigned weights.

Used in RFC 1046 RFC 1633 RFC 2212 RFC 2549 RFC 2598 RFC 3246 RFC 3289 RFC 3290 RFC 3449 RFC 3670 RFC 4594 RFC 5865 RFC 6817 RFC 7567 RFC 7640 RFC 8033 RFC 8260 RFC 9332 RFC 9956

A service address in a domain that applications know how to find by name, such as apex=presence@example.com, allowing clients to contact a service without prior configuration.

Plain language A service address in a domain that applications know how to find by name.

Used in RFC 3341 RFC 3343 RFC 5595

The prefix 64:ff9b::/96, chosen by the IETF and configured by a network administrator for NAT64 and DNS64 to present IPv4 addresses in the IPv6 namespace.

Plain language The prefix the IETF picked for everyone to use for IPv4-in-IPv6 addresses.

Used in RFC 6052 RFC 7051

A URI path that begins with /.well-known/ and is reserved in an IANA registry for a particular purpose, so clients can find a given resource on any site without being told where it is. Defined in RFC 8615.

Plain language A URI path beginning with /.well-known/ reserved for a particular purpose.

Used in RFC 4387 RFC 5785 RFC 6415 RFC 6690 RFC 6694 RFC 6764 RFC 6920 RFC 7030 RFC 7033 RFC 7072 RFC 7252 RFC 7320 RFC 7711 RFC 7712 RFC 7808 RFC 8075 RFC 8164 RFC 8295 RFC 8307 RFC 8414 RFC 8461 RFC 8555 RFC 8615 RFC 8620 and 19 more

An electronic directory service that holds information about people and organizations, such as names, addresses and phone numbers, so they can be looked up.

Plain language An electronic directory service holding information about people and organizations.

Used in RFC 1107 RFC 1588 RFC 1689 RFC 1803 RFC 1943 RFC 2218 RFC 2968 RFC 2969

Portions of licensed radio spectrum that are not in use at a given place and time and can be used by others without interfering with the licensee.

Plain language Portions of licensed radio spectrum not in use and available for use without interference.

Used in RFC 6953 RFC 7545

An older text-based protocol for looking up registration data. RDAP responses can point to the WHOIS server for an object using the port43 member.

Plain language An older text-based protocol for looking up registration data.

Used in RFC 812 RFC 1309 RFC 1402 RFC 1588 RFC 1727 RFC 1736 RFC 1913 RFC 1914 RFC 2146 RFC 2345 RFC 2651 RFC 2654 RFC 2969 RFC 3013 RFC 6449 RFC 7480 RFC 7481 RFC 7485 RFC 9082 RFC 9083

A certificate whose name contains the * character. RFC 2818 says * matches any single domain name component or component fragment, so *.a.com matches foo.a.com but not bar.foo.a.com.

Plain language A certificate whose name contains the * character matching any single domain component.

Used in RFC 2595 RFC 2818 RFC 5425 RFC 5734 RFC 5922 RFC 6125 RFC 7817 RFC 8336 RFC 8659 RFC 9444 RFC 9525 RFC 9726 RFC 9799 RFC 9887

The DNS rule that a record owned by a name such as *.example can answer queries for names that do not otherwise exist under example. DNSSEC records the wildcard in the RRSIG Labels field so validators can recognize it.

Plain language A DNS rule where a record owned by a name such as *.example answers for non-existent names.

Used in RFC 882 RFC 974 RFC 1480 RFC 1703 RFC 2163 RFC 2535 RFC 2812 RFC 3833 RFC 4035 RFC 4592 RFC 5155 RFC 5229 RFC 5617 RFC 6672 RFC 7129 RFC 8198 RFC 8552 RFC 9077 RFC 9156 RFC 9824

A pattern used in NNTP to select newsgroup names, using wildcards such as an asterisk and an exclamation mark to exclude names.

Plain language A pattern used in NNTP to select newsgroup names using wildcards.

Used in RFC 2980 RFC 3977 RFC 6048

The unencrypted information visible in a protocol's packet headers on the network path, as opposed to encrypted payload or control information.

Plain language The unencrypted information visible in a protocol's packet headers on the network path.

Used in RFC 8546 RFC 9312

The WTP is the access point device that talks to wireless terminals over the air. In the CAPWAP framework it is managed by a WLAN controller.

Plain language The Wi-Fi access point device talking to wireless terminals over the air.

Used in RFC 4564 RFC 5413 RFC 5414 RFC 5415 RFC 5416 RFC 5833 RFC 7494

A group chartered within the IETF to produce specific documents on a defined topic. Its charter sets its scope and deliverables.

Plain language A group chartered within the IETF to produce specific documents on a defined topic.

Used in RFC 1396 RFC 2028 RFC 2418 RFC 3131 RFC 3427 RFC 3710 RFC 3774 RFC 3844 RFC 3933 RFC 3935 RFC 3979 RFC 4052 RFC 4440 RFC 4929 RFC 5434 RFC 6701 RFC 7154 RFC 7282 RFC 7418 RFC 7437 RFC 8179 RFC 9280 RFC 9281 RFC 9389 and 1 more

A worldwide-unique 64-bit identifier for a Fibre Channel node or port, used to look up the current address of a device.

Plain language A worldwide-unique 64-bit identifier for a Fibre Channel node or port.

Used in RFC 4044 RFC 4172 RFC 4439

A lock that stops anyone other than the person who took it from changing the resource it applies to. A server grants it to one author so that two people editing the same document cannot overwrite each other's work.

Plain language A server-side claim on a document. While it is held, only the person who took it may save changes.

Used in RFC 2291 RFC 2518

Web Services Description Language, an XML format for describing the interface and behavior of a web service, allowing automatic code generation.

Plain language Web Services Description Language, an XML format describing a web service's interface.

Used in RFC 5381 RFC 7878

An HTTP response header with which a server tells a client which authentication scheme and parameters it wants, usually sent along with a 401 status code.

Plain language An HTTP response header telling a client which authentication scheme it wants.

Used in RFC 2617 RFC 6750 RFC 7235 RFC 7616 RFC 7617 RFC 7804 RFC 8053 RFC 8760 RFC 9470 RFC 9577 RFC 9728