Interface: The term interface port refers to the physical network connector. The term interface or link refers to the logical instance of a network interface port, as seen and configured by the OS. (Not all OS interfaces are backed by hardware: some are virtual.)
Packet: The term packet refers to a message in a packet-switched network, such as IP packets.
Frame: A physical network-level message, for example an Ethernet frame.
Socket: An API originating from BSD for network endpoints.
Bandwidth: The maximum rate of data transfer for the network type, usually measured in bits per second. “100 GbE” is Ethernet with a bandwidth of 100 Gbits/s. There may be bandwidth limits for each direction, so a 100 GbE may be capable of 100 Gbits/s transmit and 100 Gbit/s receive in parallel (200 Gbit/sec total throughput).
Throughput: The current data transfer rate between the network endpoints, measured in bits per second or bytes per second.
Latency: Network latency can refer to the time it takes for a message to make a round-trip between endpoints, or the time required to establish a connection (e.g., TCP handshake), excluding the data transfer time that follows.
A Passionate Techie 