A Growing List Of Networking Terms
Networking terms glossary
translated in regular English. If you are new to home networking, the constantly
growing list of networking terms on this page will help!
You will no doubt hear or read a few of these terms on different
occasion and so to save you the aggravation of trying to figure it out, we thought
we could save you some frustrations!
Networking
terms will be added often and regularily but if
you see one that is not here, just send me an email and I will add it and even
email you the definition.
Networking Terms List
802.11b IEEE specification for wireless networking at 11 Mbps
using direct-sequence spread-spectrum (DSSS) technology and operating in the
unlicensed radio spectrum at 2.5GHz.
Networking terms in plain English: Wireless networking
technology that transmits at the speed of 11 Mbps. It is the slower of the
two listed here.
802.11g A soon to be ratified IEEE specification for wireless
networking at 54 Mbps using direct-sequence spread-spectrum (DSSS) technology
and operating in the unlicensed radio spectrum at 2.5GHz. 802.11g is backwards
compatible with 802.11b.
Networking terms in plain English: Wireless networking technology
that transmits at the speed of 54 Mbps. It is the faster of the two listed
here. It is also the faster wireless networking technology.
Cat 5 Category 5 unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cabling. An
Ethernet network operating at 10 Mbits/second (10BASE-T) will often tolerate
low quality cables, but at 100 Mbits/second (10BASE-Tx) the cable must be rated
as Category 5, or Cat 5 or Cat V, by the Electronic Industry Association (EIA).
This rating will be printed on the cable jacket. Cat 5 cable contains eight
conductors, arranged in four twisted pairs, and terminated with an RJ45 type
connector. In addition, there are restrictions on maximum cable length for both
10 and 100 Mbits/second networks.
Networking terms in plain English: If you are using a network
card (and most are), that is transferring data at 100 Mbps (mega bits per
second), you will need the right cable other wise it can reduce the transfer
speed if the wrong cable is used. So, look for the Cat 5 category cable and
most of them will be labeled telling you that it is a Cat 5. Also, the RJ45
connector just looks like a larger version of the phone jack connector.
DHCP An Ethernet protocol specifying how a centralized DHCP
server can assign network configuration information to multiple DHCP clients.
The assigned information includes IP addresses, DNS addresses, and gateway (router)
addresses.
Networking terms in plain English: Will be updated soon.
DNS Short for Domain Name System (or Service), an Internet
service that translates domain names into IP addresses. Because domain names
are alphabetic, they're easier to remember. The Internet however, is really
based on IP addresses. Every time you use a domain name, therefore, a DNS service
must translate the name into the corresponding IP address. For example, the
domain name www.example.com might translate to 198.105.232.4. The DNS system
is, in fact, its own network. If one DNS server doesn't know how to translate
a particular domain name, it asks another one, and so on, until the correct
IP address is returned.
Domain Name A descriptive name for an address or group of addresses
on the Internet. Domain names are of the form of a registered entity name plus
one of a number of predefined top level suffixes such as .com, .edu, .uk, etc.
For example, in the address mail.NETGEAR.com, mail is a server name and NETGEAR.com
is the domain.
DSL Short for digital subscriber line, but is commonly used
in reference to the asymmetric version of this technology (ADSL) that allows
data to be sent over existing copper telephone lines at data rates of from 1.5
to 9 Mbps when receiving data (known as the downstream rate) and from 16 to
640 Kbps when sending data (known as the upstream rate). ADSL requires a special
ADSL modem. ADSL is growing in popularity as more areas around the world gain
access.
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol DHCP. An Ethernet protocol
specifying how a centralized DHCP server can assign network configuration information
to multiple DHCP clients. The assigned information includes IP addresses, DNS
addresses, and gateway (router) addresses.
Gateway A local device, usually a router, that connects hosts
on a local network to other networks.
IP Internet Protocol is the main internetworking protocol
used in the Internet. Used in conjunction with the Transfer Control Protocol
(TCP) to form TCP/IP.
IP Address A four-byte number uniquely defining each host
on the Internet, usually written in dotted-decimal notation with periods separating
the bytes (for example, 134.177.244.57). Ranges of addresses are assigned by
Internic, an organization formed for this purpose.
ISP Internet service provider.
Internet Protocol The main internetworking protocol used in the Internet. Used
in conjunction with the Transfer Control Protocol (TCP) to form TCP/IP.
local area network LAN. A communications network serving users
within a limited area, such as one floor of a building. A LAN typically connects
multiple personal computers and shared network devices such as storage and printers.
Although many technologies exist to implement a LAN, Ethernet is the most common
for connecting personal computers.
MAC address The Media Access Control address is a unique 48-bit
hardware address assigned to every network interface card. Usually written in
the form 01:23:45:67:89:ab.
Mbps Megabits per second.
Point-to-Point Protocol PPP. A protocol allowing a computer
using TCP/IP to connect directly to the Internet.
PPPoA PPPoA. PPP over ATM is a protocol for connecting remote
hosts to the Internet over an always-on connection by simulating a dial-up connection.
PPPoE PPPoE. PPP over Ethernet is a protocol for connecting
remote hosts to the Internet over an always-on connection by simulating a dial-up
connection.
PPP over ATM PPPoA. PPP over ATM is a protocol for connecting
remote hosts to the Internet over an always-on connection by simulating a dial-up
connection.
PPTP Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol. A method for establishing
a virtual private network (VPN) by embedding Microsoft’s network protocol
into Internet packets.
Router A device that forwards data between networks. An IP
router forwards data based on IP source and destination addresses.
SSID A Service Set Identification is a thirty-two character
(maximum) alphanumeric key identifying a wireless local area network. For the
wireless devices in a network to communicate with each other, all devices must
be configured with the same SSID. This is typically the configuration parameter
for a wireless PC card. It corresponds to the ESSID in the wireless Access Point
and to the wireless network name. See also Wireless Network Name and ESSID.
Subnet Mask A mask used to determine what subnet an IP address
belongs to. Subnetting enables a network administrator to further divide an
IP address into two or more subnets. An IP address has two components, the network
address and the host address. For example, consider the IP address 150.215.017.009.
Assuming this is part of a Class B network, the first two numbers (150.215)
represent the Class B network address, and the second two numbers (017.009)
identify a particular host on this network.
Subnetting enables the network administrator to further divide the host part
of the address into two or more subnets. In this case, a part of the host address
is reserved to identify the particular subnet. This is easier to see if we show
the IP address in binary format. The full address is: 10010110.11010111.00010001.00001001
The Class B network part is: 10010110.11010111 and the host address is 00010001.00001001
If this network is divided into 14 subnets, however, then the first 4 bits of
the host address (0001) are reserved for identifying the subnet.
The subnet mask is the network address plus the bits reserved for identifying
the subnetwork. (By convention, the bits for the network address are all set
to 1, though it would also work if the bits were set exactly as in the network
address.) In this case, therefore, the subnet mask would be 11111111.11111111.11110000.00000000.
It's called a mask because it can be used to identify the subnet to which an
IP address belongs by performing a bitwise AND operation on the mask and the
IP address. The result is the subnetwork address: Subnet Mask 255.255.240.000
11111111.11111111.11110000.00000000 IP Address 150.215.017.009 10010110.11010111.00010001.00001001
Subnet Address 150.215.016.000 10010110.11010111.00010000.00000000 The subnet
address, therefore, is 150.215.016.000. TCP/IP The main internetworking protocols
used in the Internet. The Internet Protocol (IP) used in conjunction with the
Transfer Control Protocol (TCP) form TCP/IP.
WAN Wide Area Network. A long distance link used to extend
or connect remotely located local area networks. The Internet is a large WAN.
Networking terms in plain English: Will be updated soon...
WEP Wired Equivalent Privacy is a data encryption protocol
for 802.11b wireless networks. All wireless nodes and access points on the network
are configured with a 64-bit or 128-bit Shared Key for data encryption
Networking terms in plain English: Will be updated soon....
Wi-Fi A trade name for the 802.11b wireless networking standard,
given by the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA, see http://www.wi-fi.net),
an industry standards group promoting interoperability among 802.11b devices.
Networking terms in plain English: Will be updated soon...
Wireless Network Name (SSID) Wireless Network Name (SSID)
is the name assigned to a wireless network. This is the same as the SSID or
ESSID configuration parameter.
Networking terms in plain English: Will be updated soon...
WPA Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is a specification of standards-based,
interoperable security enhancements that increase the level of data protection
and access control for existing and future wireless LAN systems.
Networking terms in plain English: Will be updated soon...
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