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Old October 4th, 2006, 08:37 PM
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z1p z1p is offline
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Networking Glossary part 2; M to Z

Maximum Transmission Unit [MTU] - The largest possible unit of data that can be sent on a particular network implementation.

Media Access Control [MAC] Address - A MAC address is a unique identifier the manufacturer attached to most forms of networking equipment. e.g. Each NIC has a different MAC address. A MAC address is usually present as 6 hexidecimal numbers separated by '-' or ':', such as 00-50-56-e5-25-55.

Medium Dependent Interface[MDI] - See uplink port.

modem - The name comes from 'MOdulator DEModulator'. The interface between a computer and a telephone line.

netmask - A bit mask used to specify the network prefix portion of an IPv4 IP address. It is usually represented as a 'dotted' decimal number where each 'dot' separated segment represents 8 bits. Common netmasks are 255.0.0.0 for Class A Networks, 255.255.0.0 for Class B Networks, and 255.255.255.0 for Class C Networks. However, other netmasks can be used to divide a network into multiple subnets.

For IPv6 the network prefix is specified using a '/' notation, such as 2001:db8::/32. The number after the slash specifies the number of bits to use as the network portion of the IP address. The slash notation can also be used for IPv4 addresses and has in fact become the preferred notation.

network adapter - See Network Interface Card.

Network Address Translation [NAT] - The function in a router or firewall that replaces a local IP address in traffic to and from an external network, such as the internet, with a public IP address. Also, known as IP-masquerading.

Network Attached Storage[NAS] - A stand-alone file server device that attaches to the LAN and allows computers on the LAN to share the storage.

Network Interface Card [NIC] - The circuit board needed to provide network access to a computer. Network interface cards, or NICs, mediate between the computer and the physical media, such as cabling, over which transmissions travel. Also, referred to as a network adapter.

passive hub - A type of hub that passes signals along to all connected devices but has no additional capability.

passphrase - In wireless networking, it is one or more words used to create the encryption key for the network.

patch cable - See straight-through ethernet cable.

Personal Area Network [PAN] - A Bluetooth network consisting of 2 to 8 devices. Also, referred to as a piconet.

ping - A program used to test reachability of destinations by sending them an ICMP echo request and waiting for a reply. The term is also used as a verb: "Ping host X to see if it is up!"

Point to Point Protocol [PPP] - A protocol used to connect two nodes on a network. It is typically used in dial-up connections to the Internet and other networks.

Point to Point Protocol over Ethernet [PPPoE] - An implemention of PPP on top of the ethernet protocol used by many ISPs that provide DSL services.

Quality of Service [QoS] - Stands for quality of service, a term used generally to refer to performance at or above a certain standard. More specifically, QOS refers to the maximum amount of
delay and data loss considered acceptable for transmissions.

RJ-45 - A type of connector used with twisted-pair wiring; similar to, but larger than, a telephone jack.

Round-Trip Time[RTT] - The time it takes to transmit a data packet over a network and receive a response(ACK) back. This is one of the major components of network latency. While the ping command reports response times from a remote network device, this is not the same as RTT.

router - A network device that transmits message packets, routing them over the best route available at the time. Routers are used to connect multiple network segments, including those based on differing architectures and protocols. Hybrid routers that provide the features of a router, switch, and firewall are commonly used in small installations such as a home or small office.

Secure Shell [SSH] - A protocol used for secure communication between network devices. This is now commonly found on most new versions of Linux and Unix, but is also available for Windows. In addition to providing secure remote sessions between computers, it can be used used as a tunnel to secure and encrypt other protocols and applications. [Note: There are known vulnerabilities with SSH-1, so SSH-2 is preferred.]

SFTP[Secure FTP] - A version of FTP which uses SSH as a network protocol so that data transferred is encrypted during the network transfer.

static IP address - An IP address that is manually set on a computer so that it always uses the same IP address.

straight-through ethernet cable - This type of UTP cable derived its name from the way in which the RJ45 connectors were fitted to the cable. All the wires are run straight through so that pin 1 on one end is connected to pin 1 on the other end, etc. It is used to connect an individual computer, printer or other device to a network. [picture]

Subnet - A group of IP addresses with a common routing prefix. In IPv4 the netmask is used to define the bits in an ip address that should be used as its routing prefix. IPv4 has 3 classes of IP addresses, each has its own minimum number of routing prefix bits. (note: The fewer prefix bits, the larger the subnet can be.) IPv6, the number of bits in the routing prefix is specified after the IP address following a slash (i.e. 2001:db8:85a3::8a2e:370:7334/64). If the routing prefix is omitted from an IPv6 address it is assumed to be 64. The same slash notation can be used to specify an IPv4 IP address and its routing prefix (i.e. 192.168.0.1/24).

switch - A network device capable of forwarding packets only to the port associated with the particular network address.

Symmetric DSL [SDSL] - A variation of HDSL that uses one pair rather than two pairs of wires and transmits at 1.544 Mbps.

Symmetric High-speed DSL [SHDSL] - An international standard for multi-rate symmetric DSL transmitted over a single copper pair at data rates of 192 kbps to 2.3 Mbps or over two copper pairs at 384 kbps to 4.6 Mbps.

Time To Live [TTL] - The maximum number of hops that a IP packet can make. Each router along an IP packet's path decrements the packet's TTL, if the TTL reaches 0, the packet is dropped and an error is returned to the sender.

Transmission Control Protocol [TCP] - The major transport protocol in the Internet suite of protocols. It is typically layered on top of the Internet Protocol (IP), which is why the term TCP/IP is frequently used.

TCP/IP - A protocol suite designed for enabling communications over interconnected, sometimes dissimilar, networks. It is supported by almost all networks and provides the basis of Internet communications.

Teredo - One of several IPv6 transition technologies. It is a tunneling protocol used to allow the use of IPv6 through a IPv4 NAT device. This is available on Windows Server 2003 and XP and it is installed and enabled by default on Windows Server 2008, Vistaans Windows 7. There are also implementations available for Linux and Mac OS X.

traceroute - On Unix based Operating Systems, like linux, it is a program that shows you the route over the network between the local machine and another network device, listing all the intermediate routers a connection must pass through to get to its destination. It can be used to help determine if there are network issues and where they are happening on the network.

tracert -On Windows based computers, it is a program that shows you the route over the network between the local machine and another network device, listing all the intermediate routers a connection must pass through to get to its destination. It can be used to help determine if there are network issues and where they are happening on the network.

Uniform Resource Locator [url] - The address for a resource (document) on the Internet.

Universal Naming Convention [UNC] - A Microsoft Windows notation for specifying a network resource on a LAN, usually a a shred file or folder. It is made of two pieces, the server supplying the resource and the path for the resource, in the form \\server\path. For example, the UNC for the share called shared_docs on the computer named my_pc would be \\my_pc\shared_docs

Universal Plug and Play [UPnP] - A set of computer network protocols whose purpose is to simplify the installation and management of network devices. It is available in the newer versions of Windows and some of the newer network devices designed for the home or small office.

Universal Serial Bus [USB] - A serial bus standard for connecting various devices. Commonly found in computers and video games, it allows devices to be connected and disconnected without requiring that the systems or devices be restarted. Low power device are able to obtain their power via the USB connection.

uplink port - An uplink port is a special port on network devices that reverses the transmit and receive circuits of the cable connected to it eliminating the need for a crossover cable. On some devices the port is labeled as the WAN port, while other provide a port that auto detects whether it should be crossed over. An auto detecting port is usually labeled MDI/MDI-X.

User Datagram Protocol [UDP] - A transport protocol in the Internet suite of protocols.

Unshielded Twisted Pair [UTP] - a cable that consists of two or more insulated conductors in which each pair of conductors are twisted around each other without a shielding metal layer. This is the style of cable used in most ethernet networks. See category 5 cable and category 6 cable.

Virtual Private Network [VPN] - A network that uses encryption and other technologies,
including tunneling, to provide secure communications over the Internet.

Wide Area Network [WAN] - A geographically dispersed network, one that relies on the linking of various network segments. A WAN can be one large network, or it can consist of a number of linked LANs.

Wi-Fi Protected Access [WPA] - A wireless network security standard providing more robust protection than WEP. When supported it should be chosen over WEP for securing a wireless network.

Windows Internet Naming Service [WINS] - The name resolution system used for Windows NT Server 4.0 and earlier operating systems. It has been largely replaced by DNS in Windows 2000 and later, but it supported by the newer versions of Windows.

Wired Equivalent Privacy [WEP] - The original security standard used in wireless networks to encrypt the wireless network traffic. While it does provide some protection to a wireless network, it has been shown to be easily cracked. Using WPA or WPA2 to secure a wireless network provides more protection.

Wireless Access Point [WAP] - A wireless transceiver connected to a wired network that links the two network types.

wireless router - A hybrid network device that provides the functionality of a router and a wireless access point[WAP]. It is commonly used in small installations, such as a home or small office, and usually also includes the capabilities of a firewall and a switch.

Wireless LAN [WLAN] - A local area network based either fully or in part on wireless transmission technologies, usually radio signals.

Wireless Zero Configuration - The WLAN configuration tool that is part of Microsoft XP. This service was renamed to WLAN AutoConfig in Vista.

WLAN AutoConfig - The WLAN configuration tool that is part of Microsoft Vista. This service replaces the Wireless Zero Configuration service that was found in XP.

workgroup - A loosely connected group of Windows based computers configured to advertise themselves under a common name. Typically used on small networks to share disk and printer resources. Linux and other versions of Unix can participate in a workgroup when running Samba.

Last edited by z1p; August 12th, 2010 at 03:00 PM. Reason: added SFTP