Glossary
802.3:
an IEEE specification for an ethernet frametype (details)
ARP:
Address Resolution Protocol; a protocol used to discover a device's
hardware address, given its IP address. Physical networks that
underlay the TCP/IP network (such as Ehternet) do not understand
IP addressing. Physical networks have their own addressing schemes;
different types of networks have different schemes. So there must
be some method of translating an IP address into a physical address.
This is what ARP does.
For example, on an ethernet network, a device wanting to send
a packet to another device on the network first sends out a broadcast
packet to all devices on the network. The broadcast packet contains
the IP address of the device for which it is seeking a hardware
address. The device that recognizes the IP address as its own
responds by sending its Ethernet address back to the requestor.
BOOTP:
Bootstrap protocol. A method of server addressing, which allows
devices on a network to obtain an IP address automatically.
BROADCAST :
A broadcast packet is one that all devices on the network will
listen to; a broadcast address is one in which the node bits are
all 1's, such as 192.20.128.255, where the first 3 octets are
the network number, and the last octet is the node number. With
a node number of 255, the last octet, in binary, is "11111111" .
DHCP:
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol: A method of server addressing,
which allows devices on a network to obtain an IP address automatically,
and dynamically.
DNS:
Domain Name Services, a method by which hostnames are resolved
into IP addresses.
DOMAIN NAME:
An address that identifies an Internet site, consisting of at
least 2 parts, as in "apple.com": The part on the left is the
name of the company, institution, or organization. The part on
the right identifies the highest subdomain which could be a country
(.ca = Canada), or the type of organization, such as ".com" for
commercial; ".gov" for government agencies; ".net" for network
service providers; "mil" for military institutions; ".org" for
not-for-profit organizations.
ETHERNET:
A network system consisting of three basic elements: 1. the physical
medium used to carry Ethernet signals between computers, 2. a
set of medium access control rules embedded in each Ethernet interface
that allow multiple computers to fairly arbitrate access to the
shared Ethernet channel, and 3. an Ethernet frame that consists
of a standardized set of bits used to carry data over the system.
ETHERNET II FRAMETYPE:
A specification that determines the sequence and length of fields
in a data packet (details).
ETHERNET ADDRESS :
a 48-bit hardware address for an ethernet interface device (also
called physical address, hardware address, MAC --media access
control--address). Each ethernet interface device must have a
unique hardware address. The first 3 bytes of the 48-bit address
are assigned to manufacturers, and are unique to that manufacturer;
the last 3 bytes are assigned by the manufacturers to their specific
cards or devices.
FIREWALL:
A system, or group of systems, that control access to a network;
for example, a router might be configured to only allow access
to devices on a particular subnet.
FRAME:
The Ethernet frame consists of a set of bits organized into several
fields. These fields include address fields, a variable size data
field that carries from 46 to 1,500 bytes of data, and an error
checking field that checks the integrity of the bits in the frame
to make sure that the frame has arrived intact. See also 802.3 and Ethernet II
FTP:
File Transfer Protocol, one of the TCP/IP protocols which allows
for file transfer across a network.
GATEWAY:
a device connecting two or more networks of differing protocols.
However, you often see gateway used synonymously with "router",
which connects two networks, which could be physically different,
but which use the same protocol.
HARDWARE ADDRESS:
See Ethernet address.
HOST:
A node on the network
MX RECORD:
Mail Exchange record. This entry in a DNS table is used to specify
how smtp mail is handled for a particular domain name. For example,
let's say your mail server's name is "wolfgang" in domain "acme.com".
Your user's mail addresses will be user@wolfgang.acme.com. However,
you'd prefer people to be able to send mail to them at "user@acme.com";
remember that "acme.com" is a domain name, i.e., it specifies
an Internet site, but not necessarily a particular host. When
setting up DNS for the acme.com domain, the dns administrator
will create an MX Record for "acme.com" which will point to "wolfgang.acme.com".
When a mail server has mail to deliver, (to "joe@acme.com", it
requests the mx record of the "acme.com", learns that the mail
is really handled by "wolfgang.acme.com", and the mail is sent
there.
PACKET:
a unit of data sent across a network. See also "frame."
PHYSICAL ADDRESS:
See Ethernet Address.
PING:
Packet Internet Groper, a test of a host's reachability across
an IP network. A packet is sent to the host; the host echos the
packet back. On Macs, you need some type of ping utility
PROTOCOL STACK:
A layered set of protocols which work together to provide a set
of network functions.
RARP:
Reverse Address Resolution Protocol, a method of server addressing
which enables hosts to obtain an IP address based on their hardware
address.
ROUTER:
A device connecting two or more networks, which may be dissimilar
physically, but which are using the same protocols.
SERVER:
Generically, any device offering services, such as mail service,
file service, printing services, domian name services, etc.
STACK:
See Protocol Stack.
SUBNET MASK:
a 32-bit number which determines which bits of the IP address
are the network number, and which are the node. |
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