Terms
YOU/YOUR
Refers to the intended reader, developers using PulseBeam CPaaS. You log in to the admin console and get keys to write web applications. You use @pulsebeam/server
and @pulsebeam/peer
SDKs to create applications.
PULSEBEAM SDK CLIENT
@pulsebeam/peer
JS Client SDK for creating WebRTC connections with PulseBeam from web clients see SDK Docs
PULSEBEAM SDK SERVER
@pulsebeam/server
SDK for generating tokens to allow your clients to use your PulseBeam Project see SDK Docs
APPLICATION/PROJECT
the app you are creating with PulseBeam. For project creation see admin console and Quickstart. For project concepts see Project Access
PEER/CUSTOMER/USER/END-USER
Your user. E.g. Alice and Bob the intended audience for your application
WE/US/PULSEBEAM
PulseBeam, us, the CPaaS provider
KEYS
Key pair(s) for your PulseBeam project see key docs
SECRETS/PRIVATE KEYS
The private key in the asymmetric key set provided by PulseBeam to you
CONNECT/CONNECTION
The link created by PulseBeam between Alice and Bob. This link is for secure data transfer in real-time. It is a peer-to-peer WebRTC connection.
REAL-TIME
End-to-end latency of data sent over the connection will usually be 50-200ms (Same as telephone call latency)(which is sufficient to be perceived by human users as real-time). This is achieved through various WebRTC protocols which allows your software and projects to connect human and/or non-human systems, perform functions, and can respond to events within predictable and specific time constraints, time frame, or deadline. Latency can be higher, as networks and distances between peers are variable.
PEER-TO-PEER
Refers to the targets of the connection and the path of data flow over the connection. Data flows directly between two peers over the internet. All data is encrypted, so only the two peers can read it.
WEBRTC/WEBRTC AGENT
WebRTC, short for Web Real-Time Communication, defines a protocol for two WebRTC agents to negotiate bidirectional secure real-time communication connection. Learn more here
SIGNALING
When Alice goes to their browser, WebRTC Agent in the browser, has no idea who it is going to communicate with or what they are going to communicate about. Signaling performs this discovery, bootstrapping the connection. Learn more about signaling in WebRTC and PulseBeam’s signaling security
STUN
In order to connect the peers, Signaling needs to know the address of the peers, but because of networking infrastructure, often peers don’t know their own address. STUN servers exist to echo back a peer’s address to itself. Read more about STUN here and here
TURN/RELAY
In some cases, due to one or both peer’s network firewalls and configuration, in order to make a connection between the peers, data will be forced to flow through an intermediary server. We refer to this server as a TURN server, and call it a relay. Read more about TURN here and here. You can force TURN over all connections.
TOKEN
PulseBeam’s access control system. Issued by you, for Alice and Bob to use PulseBeam infrastructure and resources. Read more about security concepts. See PulseBeam Server SDK and PulseBeam CLI for generating tokens.
POLICY
PeerPolicy
defines which peers this peer can connect to. You define the security policy on the token. We enforce policies that you set on the token. Learn about concepts here and format and setting policies here.
PULSEBEAM CLI
CLI vended by PulseBeam to allow you to generate tokens from your key without hosting a server. See docs