Glossary
Below are some important terms and phrases related to N|Solid and its ecosystem that appear throughout the documentation.
| Term | Description |
|---|---|
| Affected Processes Subview | Part of the Security view in the Console, contains an entry for every application affected by a given vulnerability |
| Asynchronous | Function timing paradigm powered by libuv that enables Node.js to be non-blocking |
| CPU Profile | A sample of an application's stack trace that captures function call frequency and duration |
| Containers | Isolated software that includes everything needed to run it: code, runtime, and system-level tools, libraries, and settings. A tool to help standardize application environments across machines |
| Docker | A containerization platform provider. Visit their website for more info |
| Event Loop | A construct that represents the event-based and phase-controlled asynchronous logic of Node.js |
| Flame Graph | A CPU profiling visualization that shows function call hierarchy and time on-CPU as a measure of width |
| Heap Snapshot | A memory profiling tool that outlines the structure and sizes of the objects and variables in memory and accessible to JavaScript |
| Image | A lightweight, standalone executable package for running containers |
| Integrations | The use of Slack notifications, emails, or custom webhooks to help your team monitor supported application events |
| JSON | JavaScript Object Notation; a lightweight, easy to parse data-interchange for JavaScript and the Web |
| License Key | A unique identifier for authorizing N|Solid access |
| Module | Simple, focused Node.js file with related functions |
| Node.js | A JavaScript runtime built on Google's V8; uses an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model that makes it lightweight and efficient. Visit their website for more info |
| npm | The Node.js and JavaScript package manager. Visit their website for more info |
| N|Solid Agent | An advanced native C++ component that runs on its own thread inside your application, with direct access to the core elements of Node.js, libuv and the V8 JavaScript engine |
| N|Solid CLI | The Command Line Interface for N|Solid. Read the Command Line Interface section for more details |
| N|Solid Console | A web application that provides centralized access to all of your applications, and an aggregated view of each application's processes. This holistic view simplifies triage at runtime, makes it easier to find outliers, and takes advantage of advanced diagnostic tools directly from your browser |
| N|Solid Runtime | A build of Node.js bundled with an advanced native C++ component that provides access to detailed metrics and allows you to control application behavior in production |
| Package | A suite of Node.js modules packaged together |
| Process | An N|Solid instance that has its N|Solid Agent connected to the N|Solid Console |
| Process Detail View | A view in the Console that shows detailed information relating to a specific process. At the top of the view it displays data that N|Solid receives from the process, including the pid, host, platform, and CPU configuration |
| Process Targeting | Causes one minute of the process's recent historic metrics to be visualized as a trail following the process around the graph. Available on the scatterplot in the Processes View. One process can be targeted at a time |
| Processes View | A view in the Console that provides a visual overview of all or a subset of N|Solid applications monitored by the Console. Includes the Scatterplot |
| Saved Views | A graph defined by a search query. Allow you to view processes that fulfill certain parameters and to instruct N|Solid to take certain actions based on conditions within a given saved view |
| Scatterplot | An animated, customizable graph that provides an overview of application performance across all or a subset of connected processes |
| Security View | A view in the Console that displays a list of all the vulnerabilities found across all applications |
| Sunburst | A CPU profiling visualization that shows function call hierarchy and time on-CPU as a measure of radius |
| Tags | Keywords that can be attached to processes that aid in identification and filtering |
| Threshold | A performance limit around which actions such as notifications and heap snapshots can be configured |
| Treemap | A CPU profiling visualization that shows function call hierarchy and time on-CPU as a measure of area |
| Vulnerability | A point of known security concern for an application. In N|Solid, often caused by npm packages with finite semver ranges |