Parent folderOpen Confluence

RWS Architecture article

Vault Taxonomy

This note defines the core vocabulary used in the RWS Architecture Vault: note types, statuses, and how domain is used.

  1. Typeindex
  2. Statusactive
  3. Domain40-facts
On this page
  1. Note Types
  2. Status by Type (canonical: .vault/statuses.json)
  3. ADR (type: adr)
  4. Architecture (type: architecture)
  5. Topic (type: topic)
  6. Fact (type: fact)
  7. Source (type: source)
  8. DC 3.0 building blocks (type: abb / type: sbb)
  9. Workpackage (type: workpackage)
  10. Confluence mirror (type: confluence_page)
  11. Index (type: index)
  12. Principle (type: principle)

This note defines the core vocabulary used in the RWS Architecture Vault: note types, statuses, and how domain is used.

Where CI enforces behavior, schemas, .vault/ config, and validators are leading: this document should reflect what is enforced (not the other way around).

Note Types

TypeCommon locationsPurpose
adrRWS-ARCH/30-decisions/Architectural Decision Record (MADR-style): the *why* behind a non-trivial choice.
architectureRWS-ARCH/20-architecture/Stable system/subsystem design documentation.
topicRWS-ARCH/10-topics/Topics with a subtype (investigation or knowledge).
factRWS-ARCH/40-facts/Stable, reusable facts/definitions (“authoritative truths”).
sourceRWS-ARCH/50-sources/Curated summaries of external evidence used by architecture and ADRs.
indexRWS-ARCH/index.md, RWS-ARCH/*/index.md, RWS-ARCH/*/*-index.mdLanding/index pages that provide navigation across domains/collections.
principleRWS-ARCH/60-principles/Cross-domain guardrails and vision principles ("kaders") that constrain and shape domain architecture.
abbRWS-ARCH/70-togaf/abb/DC 3.0 capability building blocks, linked to organizational domains and candidate SBBs.
sbbRWS-ARCH/70-togaf/sbb/DC 3.0 solution building blocks that implement ABBs.
workpackageRWS-ARCH/80-workpackages/Implementation packages that trace delivery scope to architecture and decisions.
confluence_pageRWS-ARCH/90-confluence/Mirrored Confluence page wrappers that render stored Confluence storage-format source.

Schema-validated in CI: adr, architecture, topic, fact, source, index, principle, abb, sbb, workpackage, confluence_page.

Notes:

  • RWS-ARCH/00-inbox/ is a scratch area and is excluded from most validators.
  • Legacy type aliases (for example type: decision) are no longer accepted; use the canonical type value.
  • Type is inferred from path in some cases (e.g. 30-decisions/ => adr, 20-architecture/ => architecture, 20-architecture/{platform,network,storage,security}/index.md => index).
  • Navigation pages can be type: index even under 40-facts/ when they serve as curated entry points (use index_scope: general).

Status by Type (canonical: .vault/statuses.json)

ADR (type: adr)

  • draft
  • accepted (requires approved_on)
  • rejected
  • superseded

Architecture (type: architecture)

  • draft
  • active
  • approved
  • archived

Topic (type: topic)

Topics use subtype + subtype-specific statuses:

  • subtype: investigation → investigating, paused, closed
  • subtype: knowledge → active, deprecated, planned

Fact (type: fact)

  • active
  • deprecated

Source (type: source)

  • active
  • deprecated

DC 3.0 building blocks (type: abb / type: sbb)

DC 3.0 building-block notes use dedicated ABB and SBB types:

  • type: abb -> draft, candidate, active, review_needed, superseded, archived
  • type: sbb -> draft, candidate, selected, active, review_needed, superseded, archived

Workpackage (type: workpackage)

  • proposed
  • planned
  • in_progress
  • blocked
  • done
  • cancelled

Confluence mirror (type: confluence_page)

  • mirrored
  • stale
  • conflicted
  • archived

Index (type: index)

  • draft
  • active
  • archived

Principle (type: principle)

  • draft
  • active
  • deprecated

Domains

The vault uses a small, stable set of canonical domain keys for frontmatter and filtering.

Canonical source of truth:

  • .vault/domains.json

CI enforces that domain values (where used) match the canonical list.

Notes:

  • Physical network/fabric topics are part of the network domain.
  • CI-enforced folder/domain alignment applies to:
  • type: topic under 10-topics/{domain}/
  • type: architecture under 20-architecture/{domain}/
  • type: adr under 30-decisions/{domain}/
  • For those note types and paths, domain must match the folder name.
  • fact, source, index, togaf, workpackage, and notes outside those enforced path rules may use other canonical domain keys when it improves filtering/navigation.
DomainScope
platformPlatform operating model and runtime implementation areas in the platform hierarchy (including OpenShift runtime topics, architecture notes, and ADRs under platform/).
openshiftOpenShift product-focused references/summaries and runtime landing facets (for example selected 40-facts/, 50-sources/, and runtime-specific index navigation).
networkDatacenter networking and fabric (including EVPN/VXLAN fabrics), routing, network-edge (north-south/datacenter edge) load balancing, and L1 cabling/optics only where they affect link budgets and fabric correctness; excludes building cabling, racks, power, and cooling.
storageblock-file-s3-storage (Kubernetes Storage Integration, ABB) via ODF (red-hat-openshift-data-foundation) (SBB), block-file-s3-storage (Distributed Storage Platform, ABB) via Ceph (ceph) (SBB), RBD, storage backends, performance characteristics.
securityIAM (smart-access) (Identity and access management), certificates, SSO (federated-authentication) (single sign-on), RBAC, policy, compliance.
aiAI/ML workloads, inference, GPU usage, vLLM, model hosting.
dc30DC 3.0 project-wide planning, cross-domain capability structure, and delivery views that span platform, network, storage, security, and AI.
confluenceMirrored Confluence source pages and source-derived metadata used for comparison, rendering, and reconciliation.

Current baselines (for example the current DC fabric topology by rollout lane) are captured in ADRs/architecture notes (see adr-019-hybrid-network-rollout-aci-a-ai-only-evpn-b-target, with historical context in adr-016-network-topology-2026); taxonomy keeps scope timeless.

Link Hygiene

Networking Disambiguation

  • route leaking shares route visibility between VRFs; it is not address translation.
  • VRF overlap allows identical prefixes in isolated domains; it does not create direct cross-VRF communication.
  • overlay encapsulation changes packet transport behavior; it does not reduce required pod IP count.

Deprecated Terms

These notes exist to prevent rediscovery of removed terminology:

Common Tags

  • hcp
  • odf
  • ceph
  • metallb
  • gpu
  • bgp
  • service-mesh
  • istio
  • ambient
  • external-mode
  • monitoring