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Network transparency refers to the ability of a protocol to transmit data over thenetwork in a manner which is not observable to those using the applications that are using the protocol. In this way, users of a particular application may access remote resources in the same manner in which they would access their own local resources. An example of this iscloud storage, where remote files are presented as being locally accessible, andcloud computing where the resource in question is processing.
The term is often partially correctly applied in the context of theX Window System, which is able to transmit graphical data over the network and integrate it seamlessly with applications running and displaying locally; however, certain extensions of the X Window System are not capable of working over the network.[1]
In acentralized database system, the only available resource that needs to be shielded from the user is the data (that is, thestorage system). In adistributed DBMS, a second resource needs to be managed in much the same manner: thenetwork. Preferably, the user should be protected from the network operational details. Then there would be no difference between database applications that would run on the centralized database and those that would run on a distributed one. This kind of transparency is referred to asnetwork transparency ordistribution transparency. From adatabase management system (DBMS) perspective, distribution transparency requires that users do not have to specify where data is located.
Some have separated distribution transparency into location transparency and naming transparency.
Location transparency in commands used to perform a task is independent both of locations of the data, and of the system on which an operation is carried out.
Naming transparency means that a unique name is provided for each object in the database.
Transparency in firewall technology can be defined at the networking (IP orInternet layer) or at theapplication layer.
Transparency at the IP layer means the client targets the real IP address of the server. If a connection is non-transparent, then the client targets an intermediate host (address), which could be a proxy or a caching server. IP layer transparency could be also defined from the point of server's view. If the connection is transparent, the server sees the real client IP. If it is non-transparent, the server sees the IP of the intermediate host.
Transparency at the application layer means the client application uses the protocol in a different way. An example of a transparent HTTP request for a server:
GET/HTTP/1.1Host:example.orgConnection:Keep-Alive
An example non-transparent HTTP request for a proxy (cache):
GEThttp://foo.bar/HTTP/1.1Proxy-Connection:Keep-Alive
Application layer transparency is symmetric when the same working mode is used on both the sides. The transparency is asymmetric when the firewall (usually a proxy) converts server type requests to proxy type or vice versa.
Transparency at the IP layer does not automatically mean application layer transparency.example.org
