Terms and Definitions

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We need somewhere to link to when defining uncommon or easily misunderstood terms. So here this is:

Term	Definition
node	A singular entry point in the database. Uniquely identified with a uid. Equivalent to NoSQL as a document, or RDBMS as a row.
server-node	A server running either a Dgraph zero or alpha service. In a distributed configuration, there will be multiple server-nodes, but in a standalone configuration, a single server-node will run both the zero and alpha services.
uid	A unique identifier, 64bit integer represented in hexadecimal form, that is unique within the scope of a Dgraph Cluster. Not to be confused with UUID which are universally unique identifiers and outside of the scope of Dgraph.
alpha service	The data processing/storing algorithms service. Distribution happens by spinning up alpha services in groups of 3 each in their own dedicated machine with their own hard disk
zero service	The cluster manager service. Every instance of a Dgraph must have a zero service running even if it is not distributed.