CODEWITHSUNDEEP
socketsinterfaceip
Vad
Vad

Reputation: 4099

IP or Interface?

Why are IP addresses called interfaces in config files. For example, see below an excerpt from Redis config file.

# If you want you can bind a single *interface*, if the bind option is not
# specified all the *interfaces* will listen for incoming connections.
#
bind 127.0.0.1

Upvotes: 0

Views: 34

Answers (1)

alk
alk

Reputation: 70931

A (network) interface does not necessarily need to represent an IP(v4) address.

"Interface" is just the name for a (generic) device interfacing with the world outside of the host carrying the device.

A typical case for an interfacing device is an ethernet card. There are many different sorts of protocols around which make use of an ethernet card to communicate with outside of the host, IP(v4) is only one of them.

Referring your example:

# If you want you can bind a single *interface* ...

Documenters sometimes are lazy bastards. The text above should read:

# If you want you can bind a single *interface* providing a specific IPv4 address ...

Upvotes: 1

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