| id | term | description |
|---|
| 122 |
domain |
"Domain" is a heavily overused term in the Internet. It can be used in the Administrative Domain context, or the Domain Name context. See also: Administrative Domain, Domain Name System. |
| 344 |
Protocol Data Unit (PDU) |
"PDU" is internationalstandardscomitteespeak for packet. See also: packet. |
| 82 |
Comite Consultatif International de Telegraphique et Telephonique |
(CCITT) This organization is part of the United National International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and is responsible for making technical recommendations about telephone and data communications systems. Every four years CCITT holds plenary sessions where they adopt new standards; the most recent was in 1992. [Source: NNSC] |
| 56 |
binary |
11001001 |
| 143 |
Ethernet |
A 10-Mb/s standard for LANs, initially developed by Xerox, and later refined by Digital, Intel and Xerox (DIX). All hosts are connected to a coaxial cable where they contend for network access using a Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) paradigm. See also: 802.x, Local Area Network, token ring. |
| 349 |
queue |
A backup of packets awaiting processing. |
| 58 |
Birds Of a Feather (BOF) |
A Birds Of a Feather (flocking together) is an informal discussion group. It is formed, often ad hoc, to consider a specific issue and, therefore, has a narrow focus. |
| 14 |
address mask |
A bit mask used to identify which bits in an IP address correspond to the network and subnet portions of the address. This mask is often referred to as the subnet mask because the network portion of the address can be determined by the encoding inherent in an IP address. |
| 363 |
Reseaux IP Europeenne (RIPE) |
A collaboration between European networks which use the TCP/IP protocol suite. |
| 17 |
Administrative Domain (AD) |
A collection of hosts and routers, and the interconnecting network(s), managed by a single administrative authority. |
| 43 |
Autonomous System (AS) |
A collection of routers under a single administrative authority using a common Interior Gateway Protocol for routing packets. |
| 119 |
distributed database |
A collection of several different data repositories that looks like a single database to the user. A prime example in the Internet is the Domain Name System. |
| 431 |
Usenet |
A collection of thousands of topically named newsgroups, the computers which run the protocols, and the people who read and submit Usenet news. Not all Internet hosts subscribe to Usenet and not all Usenet hosts are on the Internet. See also: Network News Transfer Protocol, UNIX-to-UNIX CoPy. [Source: NWNET] |
| 87 |
Coordinating Committee for Intercontinental Research Networks (CCIRN) |
A committee that includes the United States FNC and its counterparts in North America and Europe. Co-chaired by the executive directors of the FNC and the European Association of Research Networks (RARE), the CCIRN provides a forum for cooperative planning among the principal North American and European research networking bodies. See also: Federal Networking Council, RARE. [Source: MALAMUD] |
| 79 |
client-server model |
A common way to describe the paradigm of many network protocols. Examples include the name-server/name-resolver relationship in DNS and the file-server/file-client relationship in NFS. See also: client, server, Domain Name System, Network File System. |
| 287 |
namespace |
A commonly distributed set of names in which all names are unique. [Source: MALAMUD] |
| 77 |
circuit switching |
A communications paradigm in which a dedicated communication path is established between two hosts, and on which all packets travel. The telephone system is an example of a circuit switched network. See also: connection-oriented, connectionless, packet switching. |
| 327 |
packet switching |
A communications paradigm in which packets (messages) are individually routed between hosts, with no previously established communication path. See also: circuit switching, connection- oriented, connectionless. |
| 76 |
checksum |
A computed value which is dependent upon the contents of a packet. This value is sent along with the packet when it is transmitted. The receiving system computes a new checksum based upon the received data and compares this value with the one sent with the packet. If the two values are the same, the receiver has a high degree of confidence that the data was received correctly. [Source: NNSC] |
| 294 |
network |
A computer network is a data communications system which interconnects computer systems at various different sites. A network may be composed of any combination of LANs, MANs or WANs. See also: Local Area Network, Metropolitan Area Network, Wide Area Network, internet. |
| 422 |
Trojan Horse |
A computer program which carries within itself a means to allow the creator of the program access to the system using it. See also: virus, worm. See RFC 1135. |
| 446 |
worm |
A computer program which replicates itself and is self- propagating. Worms, as opposed to viruses, are meant to spawn in network environments. Network worms were first defined by Shoch & Hupp of Xerox in ACM Communications (March 1982). The Internet worm of November 1988 is perhaps the most famous; it successfully propagated itself on over 6,000 systems across the Internet. See also: Trojan Horse, virus. |
| 78 |
client |
A computer system or process that requests a service of another computer system or process. A workstation requesting the contents of a file from a file server is a client of the file server. See also: client-server model, server. [Source: NNSC] |
| 185 |
host |
A computer that allows users to communicate with other host computers on a network. Individual users communicate by using application programs, such as electronic mail, Telnet and FTP. [Source: NNSC] |
| 71 |
Bulletin Board System (BBS) |
A computer, and associated software, which typically provides electronic messaging services, archives of files, and any other services or activities of interest to the bulletin board system's operator. Although BBS's have traditionally been the domain of hobbyists, an increasing number of BBS's are connected directly to the Internet, and many BBS's are currently operated by government, educational, and research institutions. See also: Electronic Mail, Internet, Usenet. [Source: NWNET] |
| 81 |
Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) |
A consortium formed by American Research Libraries, CAUSE, and EDUCOM to promote the creation of, and access to, information resources in networked environments in order to enrich scholarship and enhance intellectual productivity. |
| 90 |
cracker |
A cracker is an individual who attempts to access computer systems without authorization. These individuals are often malicious, as opposed to hackers, and have many means at their disposal for breaking into a system. See also: hacker, Computer Emergency Response Team, Trojan Horse, virus, worm. |
| 72 |
Campus Wide Information System (CWIS) |
A CWIS makes information and services publicly available on campus via kiosks, and makes interactive computing available via kiosks, interactive computing systems and campus networks. Services routinely include directory information, calendars, bulletin boards, databases. |
| 451 |
X.25 |
A data communications interface specification developed to describe how data passes into and out of public data communications networks. The CCITT and ISO approved protocol suite defines protocol layers 1 through 3. |
| 273 |
Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) |
A data network intended to serve an area approximating that of a large city. Such networks are being implemented by innovative techniques, such as running fiber cables through subway tunnels. A popular example of a MAN is SMDS. See also: Local Area Network, Switched Multimegabit Data Service, Wide Area Network. [Source: NNSC] |
| 255 |
Local Area Network (LAN) |
A data network intended to serve an area of only a few square kilometers or less. Because the network is known to cover only a small area, optimizations can be made in the network signal protocols that permit data rates up to 100Mb/s. See also: Ethernet, Fiber Distributed Data Interface, token ring, Wide Area Network. [Source: NNSC] |
| 326 |
Packet Switch Node (PSN) |
A dedicated computer whose purpose is to accept, route and forward packets in a packet switched network. See also: packet switching, router. [Source: NNSC] |
| 5 |
abstract syntax |
A description of a data structure that is independent of machine- oriented structures and encodings. [Source: RFC1208] |
| 190 |
hub |
A device connected to several other devices. In ARCnet, a hub is used to connect several computers together. In a message handling service, a hub is used for the transfer of messages across the network. [Source: MALAMUD] |
| 68 |
brouter |
A device which bridges some packets (i.e., forwards based on datalink layer information) and routes other packets (i.e., forwards based on network layer information). The bridge/route decision is based on configuration information. See also: bridge, router. |
| 412 |
terminal server |
A device which connects many terminals to a LAN through one network connection. A terminal server can also connect many network users to its asynchronous ports for dial-out capabilities and printer access. See also: Local Area Network. |
| 410 |
Terminal Access Controller (TAC) |
A device which connects terminals to the Internet, usually using dialup modem connections and the TACACS protocol. |
| 64 |
bridge |
A device which forwards traffic between network segments based on datalink layer information. These segments would have a common network layer address. See also: gateway, router. |
| 372 |
router |
A device which forwards traffic between networks. The forwarding decision is based on network layer information and routing tables, often constructed by routing protocols. See also: bridge, gateway, Exterior Gateway Protocol, Interior Gateway Protocol. |
| 360 |
repeater |
A device which propagates electrical signals from one cable to another. See also: bridge, gateway, router. |
| 343 |
protocol converter |
A device/program which translates between different protocols which serve similar functions (e.g., TCP and TP4). |
| 375 |
Routing Information Protocol (RIP) |
A distance vector, as opposed to link state, routing protocol. It is an Internet standard IGP defined in STD 34, RFC 1058 (updated by RFC 1388). See also: Interior Gateway Protocol, Open Shortest Path First.... |
| 341 |
Prospero |
A distributed filesystem which provides the user with the ability to create multiple views of a single collection of files distributed across the Internet. Prospero provides a file naming system, and file access is provided by existing access methods (e.g., anonymous FTP and NFS). The Prospero protocol is also used for communication between clients and servers in the archie system. See also: anonymous FTP, archie, archive site, Gopher, Network File System, Wide Area Information Servers. |
| 174 |
Gopher |
A distributed information service that makes available hierarchical collections of information across the Internet. Gopher uses a simple protocol that allows a single Gopher client to access information from any accessible Gopher server, providing the user with a single "Gopher space" of information. Public domain versions of the client and server are available. See also: archie, archive site, Prospero, Wide Area Information Servers. |
| 443 |
Wide Area Information Servers (WAIS) |
A distributed information service which offers simple natural language input, indexed searching for fast retrieval, and a "relevance feedback" mechanism which allows the results of initial searches to influence future searches. Public domain implementations are available. See also: archie, Gopher, Prospero. |
| 261 |
Mail Exchange Record (MX Record) |
A DNS resource record type indicating which host can handle mail for a particular domain. See also: Domain Name System, Electronic Mail. [Source: MALAMUD] |
| 171 |
gross |
A dozen dozen (144). |
| 414 |
Time to Live (TTL) |
A field in the IP header which indicates how long this packet should be allowed to survive before being discarded. It is primarily used as a hop count. See also: Internet Protocol. [Source: MALAMUD] |
| 342 |
protocol |
A formal description of message formats and the rules two computers must follow to exchange those messages. Protocols can describe low-level details of machine-to-machine interfaces (e.g., the order in which bits and bytes are sent across a wire) or high-level exchanges between allocation programs (e.g., the way in which two programs transfer a file across the Internet). [Source: MALAMUD] |
| 253 |
little-endian |
A format for storage or transmission of binary data in which the least significant byte (bit) comes first. See also: big-endian. [Source: RFC1208] |
| 55 |
big-endian |
A format for storage or transmission of binary data in which the most significant bit (or byte) comes first. The term comes from "Gulliver's Travels" by Jonathan Swift. The Lilliputians, being very small, had correspondingly small political problems. The Big-Endian and Little-Endian parties debated over whether soft- boiled eggs should be opened at the big end or the little end. See also: little-endian. [Source: RFC1208] |
| 137 |
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) |
A foundation established to address social and legal issues arising from the impact on society of the increasingly pervasive use of computers as a means of communication and information distribution. |
| 166 |
frame |
A frame is a datalink layer "packet" which contains the header and trailer information required by the physical medium. That is, network layer packets are encapsulated to become frames. See also: datagram, encapsulation, packet. |
| 125 |
DS1 |
A framing specification for T-1 synchronous lines. See also: T1 |
| 126 |
DS3 |
A framing specification for T-3 synchronous lines. See also: T3 |
| 108 |
Defense Data Network (DDN) |
A global communications network serving the US Department of Defense composed of MILNET, other portions of the Internet, and classified networks which are not part of the Internet. The DDN is used to connect military installations and is managed by the Defense Information Systems Agency. See also: Defense Information Systems Agency. |
| 155 |
Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) |
A high-speed (100Mb/s) LAN standard. The underlying medium is fiber optics, and the topology is a dual-attached, counter- rotating token ring. See also: Local Area Network, token ring. [Source: RFC1208] |
| 281 |
multihomed host |
A host which has more than one connection to a network. The host may send and receive data over any of the links but will not route traffic for other nodes. See also: host, router. [Source: MALAMUD] |
| 269 |
Martian |
A humorous term applied to packets that turn up unexpectedly on the wrong network because of bogus routing entries. Also used as a name for a packet which has an altogether bogus (non-registered or ill-formed) internet address. [Source: RFC1208] |
| 445 |
World Wide Web (WWW or W3) |
A hypertext-based, distributed information system created by researchers at CERN in Switzerland. Users may create, edit or browse hypertext documents. The clients and servers are freely available. |
| 212 |
internet address |
A IP address that uniquely identifies a node on an internet. An Internet address (capital "I"), uniquely identifies a node on the Internet. See also: internet, Internet, IP address. |
| 345 |
protocol stack |
A layered set of protocols which work together to provide a set of network functions. See also: layer, protocol. |
| 319 |
Open Shortest-Path First Interior Gateway Protocol (OSPF) |
A link state, as opposed to distance vector, routing protocol. It is an Internet standard IGP defined in RFC 1247. See also: Interior Gateway Protocol, Routing Information Protocol. |
| 266 |
mailing list |
A list of email addresses, used by a mail exploder, to forward messages to groups of people. Generally, a mailing list is used to discuss certain set of topics, and different mailing lists discuss different topics. A mailing list may be moderated. This means that messages sent to the list are actually sent to a moderator who determines whether or not to send the messages on to everyone else. Requests to subscribe to, or leave, a mailing list should ALWAYS be sent to the list's "-request" address (e.g., ietf-request@cnri.reston.va.us for the IETF mailing list). See also: Electronic Mail, mail exploder. |
| 301 |
Network Operations Center (NOC) |
A location from which the operation of a network or internet is monitored. Additionally, this center usually serves as a clearinghouse for connectivity problems and efforts to resolve those problems. See also: Network Information Center. [Source: NNSC] |
| 459 |
zone |
A logical group of network devices (AppleTalk). |
| 263 |
mail gateway |
A machine that connects two or more electronic mail systems (including dissimilar mail systems) and transfers messages between them. Sometimes the mapping and translation can be quite complex, and it generally requires a store-and-forward scheme whereby the message is received from one system completely before it is transmitted to the next system, after suitable translations. See also: Electronic Mail. [Source: RFC1208] |
| 31 |
archive site |
A machine that provides access to a collection of files across the Internet. An "anonymous FTP archive site", for example, provides access to this material via the FTP protocol. See also: anonymous FTP, archie, Gopher, Prospero, Wide Area Information Servers. |
| 260 |
mail bridge |
A mail gateway that forwards electronic mail between two or more networks while ensuring that the messages it forwards meet certain administrative criteria. A mail bridge is simply a specialized form of mail gateway that enforces an administrative policy with regard to what mail it forwards. See also: Electronic Mail, mail gateway. [Source: NNSC] |
| 369 |
Round-Trip Time (RTT) |
A measure of the current delay on a network. [Source: MALAMUD] |
| 39 |
Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) |
A method for the dynamic allocation of bandwidth using a fixed- size packet (called a cell). ATM is also known as "fast packet". |
| 20 |
alias |
A name, usually short and easy to remember, that is translated into another name, usually long and difficult to remember. |
| 145 |
European Academic and Research Network (EARN) |
A network connecting European academic and research institutions with electronic mail and file transfer services using the Bitnet protocol. See also: Bitnet |
| 455 |
Xerox Network System (XNS) |
A network developed by Xerox corporation. Implementations exist for both 4.3BSD derived systems, as well as the Xerox Star computers. |
| 179 |
heterogeneous network |
A network running multiple network layer protocols. See also: DECnet, IP, IPX, XNS. |
| 435 |
virtual circuit |
A network service which provides connection-oriented service regardless of the underlying network structure. See also: connection-oriented. |
| 418 |
topology |
A network topology shows the computers and the links between them. A network layer must stay abreast of the current network topology to be able to route packets to their final destination. [Source: MALAMUD] |
| 444 |
Wide Area Network (WAN) |
A network, usually constructed with serial lines, which covers a large geographic area. See also: Local Area Network, Metropolitan Area Network. |
| 26 |
Appletalk |
A networking protocol developed by Apple Computer for communication between Apple Computer products and other computers. This protocol is independent of the network layer on which it is run. Current implementations exist for Localtalk, a 235Kb/s local area network; and Ethertalk, a 10Mb/s local area network. [Source: NNSC] |
| 297 |
Network Information Center (NIC) |
A NIC provides information, assistance and services to network users. See also: Network Operations Center. |
| 150 |
FARNET |
A non-profit corporation, established in 1987, whose mission is to advance the use of computer networks to improve research and education. |
| 95 |
Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) |
A number derived from a set of data that will be transmitted. By recalculating the CRC at the remote end and comparing it to the value originally transmitted, the receiving node can detect some types of transmission errors. [Source: MALAMUD] |
| 280 |
multicast |
A packet with a special destination address which multiple nodes on the network may be willing to receive. See also: broadcast. |
| 133 |
Ebone |
A pan-European backbone service. |
| 390 |
snail mail |
A pejorative term referring to the U.S. postal service. |
| 177 |
hacker |
A person who delights in having an intimate understanding of the internal workings of a system, computers and computer networks in particular. The term is often misused in a pejorative context, where "cracker" would be the correct term. See also: cracker. |
| 277 |
moderator |
A person, or small group of people, who manage moderated mailing lists and newsgroups. Moderators are responsible for determining which email submissions are passed on to list. See also: Electronic Mail, mailing list, Usenet. |
| 164 |
fragment |
A piece of a packet. When a router is forwarding an IP packet to a network that has a maximum packet size smaller than the packet size, it is forced to break up that packet into multiple fragments. These fragments will be reassembled by the IP layer at the destination host. |
| 18 |
Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) |
A pioneering longhaul network funded by ARPA (now DARPA). It served as the basis for early networking research, as well as a central backbone during the development of the Internet. The ARPANET consisted of individual packet switching computers interconnected by leased lines. See also: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. [Source: FYI4] |
| 248 |
Kermit |
A popular file transfer protocol developed by Columbia University. Because Kermit runs in most operating environments, it provides an easy method of file transfer. Kermit is NOT the same as FTP. See also: File Transfer Protocol [Source: MALAMUD] |
| 246 |
KA9Q |
A popular implementation of TCP/IP and associated protocols for amateur packet radio systems. See also: TCP/IP Protocol Suite. [Source: RFC1208] |
| 98 |
Data Encryption Standard (DES) |
A popular, standard encryption scheme. See also: encryption. |
| 335 |
port |
A port is a transport layer demultiplexing value. Each application has a unique port number associated with it. See also: Transmission Control Protocol, User Datagram Protocol. |
| 396 |
subnet |
A portion of a network, which may be a physically independent network segment, which shares a network address with other portions of the network and is distinguished by a subnet number. A subnet is to a network what a network is to an internet. See also: internet, network. [Source: FYI4] |
| 411 |
terminal emulator |
A program that allows a computer to emulate a terminal. The workstation thus appears as a terminal to the remote host. [Source: MALAMUD] |
| 158 |
finger |
A program that displays information about a particular user, or all users, logged on the local system or on a remote system. It typically shows full name, last login time, idle time, terminal line, and terminal location (where applicable). It may also display plan and project files left by the user. |
| 27 |
application |
A program that performs a function directly for a user. FTP, mail and Telnet clients are examples of network applications. |
| 325 |
Packet InterNet Groper (PING) |
A program used to test reachability of destinations by sending them an ICMP echo request and waiting for a reply. The term is used as a verb: "Ping host X to see if it is up!" See also: Internet Control Message Protocol. [Source: RFC1208] |
| 436 |
virus |
A program which replicates itself on computer systems by incorporating itself into other programs which are shared among computer systems. See also: Trojan Horse, worm. |
| 105 |
DECnet |
A proprietary network protocol designed by Digital Equipment Corporation. The functionality of each Phase of the implementation, such as Phase IV and Phase V, is different. |
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