Copy of `NACS - Networking Glossary`

The wordlist doesn't exist anymore, or, the website doesn't exist anymore. On this page you can find a copy of the original information. The information may have been taken offline because it is outdated.

NACS - Networking Glossary Category: Technical and IT > Networking Terms Date & country: 11/12/2008, USA Words: 55

Asynchronous Transfer Mode
A high speed, connection-oriented switching and multiplexing technology for transmitting information across a wide area or local area network in units called cells. ATM divides information up into fixed-length cells capable of transmitting several different types of traffic simultaneously. It is asynchronous in that information streams can be sent independently, without a common clock. ATM can be ...

ATM
See Asynchronous Transfer Mode.

Backbone
The generic term for LAN or WAN connectivity between subnetworks across the enterprise. Generally a conduit for traffic between multiple networks which must operate at an order of magnitude greater speed and capacity than the networks it connects. Backbones are generally bordered by either switches which consult routers or by routers.

Bandwidth
This is the range of signal frequencies that can be carried on a communications channel. While this indicates the channels information carrying capacity, it is more commonly expressed in bits per second (bps), or mega (million) bits per second (Mbps). When one says bandwidth increases, one means that network capacity and perhaps speed has gone up.

bps
Bits per second. To convert to bytes per second, divide by 8.

Bytes per second
Bytes per second. To convert to bits per second, multiply by eight.

Cable Plant
The physical infrastructure (wire, connectors, cables, etc) used to carry data communications signals between data communications equipment.

Category 5
A standards-based cable consisting of twisted-pair wire, with a specific number of twists per foot to reduce electrical crosstalk and provide a specific characteristic impedance (capacitive and inductive reactance) per each foot of cable. Used as an industry standard for modern cable plant, and required for Fast Ethernet. Desirable for 10BaseT as well.

Desktop
Generally considered to mean the confluence of a work location, a desk area and a computing device, distinct from a lab, which may have many computing devices. Intended to refer to one computing device, PC or workstation, which uses one network connection.

DNS
Domain Name System, or by extension, Domain Name Services.

Ethernet
Also known as CSMA/CD, it is a networking technology which relies upon collision detection to back off from simultaneous transmission. Operating at 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps (Fast Ethernet) and 1000 Mbps (Gigabit Ethernet), it is the single most commonly deployed networking technology in the LAN, and the primary one used in UCInet LANs. Ethernet is a layer-2 technology.

Ethernet Switch
A networking device which provides switched Ethernet. (see Switched Ethernet).

FDDI
A network based on a backbone of dual counter-rotating 100 Mbps fiber optic rings. One of the rings is normally designated as the primary, the other as the secondary. This even holds true if one of the point-to-point fiber optic segments becomes disabled. The counter-rotating rings are connected to single-fiber slave rings through concentrators. Bypassing inactive stations is accomplished with fib...

File Transfer Protocol
The Internet (TCP/IP) protocol and program are used to transfer files between hosts.

FTP
See File Transfer Protocol.

Gbps
A billion bits per second.

Hub
The center of a star topology network or cabling system. The term Ethernet hub typically refers to a shared-media hub. Sometimes referred to as a repeater. Supports shared Ethernet in a 'star' topology over Category 5 twisted-pair wire terminated by RJ-45 data jacks.

Internet
The Internet; successor to DARPA-NET. Worldwide internetwork based on the TCP/IP protocol.

Internet Protocol
Part of the TCP/IP protocol suite. The layer three protocol used in a set of protocols which support the Internet and many private networks. IP provides a connectionless datagram delivery service for transport-layer protocols such as TCP and UDP.

IP
See Internet Protocol.

ISP
Internet Service Provider.

Kbps
A thousand bits per second.

Local Area Network
A network, typically Token Ring or ATM, which connects together multiple computers, printers and other network devices in a departmental or workgroup setting. It may be connected to other LANs via a backbone, typically through a router or routing device, or connected to a through a router to a WAN connection to other networks, such as the Internet.

MAC Address
The hardware address of a device connected to a network. In Ethernet, the Ethernet address.

Mbps
A million bits per second.

Micro segmentation
The technique of splitting up shared network segments by deploying switching to reduce the size of the collision domain, reduce congestion and improve throughput.

MTA
Mail Transport Agent. Unlike an MTC, the MTA actually handles sending and receiving the email to and from the system it is based upon. Most MTAs support aliasing and forwarding, as well as either the POP or IMAP protocols for clients which do not have standard MTA support upon their computer. MTAs which support POP and/or IMAP are referred to as mailhosts, and often support other functions. At UCI...

MTC
Mail Transport Client. Provides a user-interface for the management of email received, or the creation of it.

Multicast
A form of broadcast where copies of a packet are delivered only to a subset of all possible destinations.

Multicasting
Directing a message or a packet to some subset of all stations on a network by the use of a special destination address.

Network Segment
A portion of a network set apart from other network sections by a bridge, router or switch. Each network segment supports a single medium access protocol and a pre-determined bandwidth. The more stations are on a network segment the more divided this bandwidth is. Crowded network segments lead to a condition known as congestion, where performance declines. An electrically continuous piece of a bus...

PH
A program used on several campuses, including UCI, as an interface to the QI database. Used as an electronic phone book.

PH/QI
Used, generally interchangeably with PH, as a reference to PH, the UCI campus electronic phone book.

QI
The database UCI uses with ph, as part of the ph/qi phone book.

QoS
See Quality of Service.

Quality of Service
This is a networking term which may be used in one of two ways. In the first way, it represents a quality of networking. In the second, referred to usually as 'QoS', it represents a guarantee or commitment to not only a particular quality of network service but also a particular rate or minimum rate of data delivery, as well as maximum times between packets of data. Used where applications are s...

ROUTING
The function of determining the route a packet should take from a subnet to get to another subnet. A component function of all internetworks, or internets. The process of delivering a message across a network or networks by the most appropriate path.

Route
The patch that network traffic takes from its source to its destination.

Router
A system responsible for making decisions about which of several paths network traffic will take, and for keeping track of routing information which is being passed along a network be one of several different possible protocols. To do this a router uses a routing protocol to gain information about the network and uses algorithms to choose the best router based on several criteria known as route me...

Shared Ethernet
A network segment which has multiple nodes connected, and where available bandwidth is divided among users in a dividing effect. May be deployed using 10Base5, 10Base2 or 10BaseT (the latter being a hub). The most widely deployed technology in UCInet.

Simple Network Management Protocol
Both a way of obtaining and storing information about network devices. A protocol designed to manage networking devices. SNMP capable devices keep statistics on their operation, if instructed to do so, which may be remotely fetched and analyzed by central management stations.

Star
A network topology where each node is connected to a central hub.

Subnet
A portion of a network, which may be physically independent, that shares a network address with other portions of the network and is distinguished by a subnet number. Subnets are created and supported by the use of routing.

Subnet Address
The subnet portion of an IP address.

Switch
A device which logically connects to network stations through a network fabric. See also Switched Ethernet.

Switched Ethernet
An Ethernet technology deployed from a central box over Category 5 twisted-pair wire or fiber optic, and which allows the full utilization of bandwidth for each network conversation by switching connections point-to-point between stations talking to each other, providing in effect a dedicated connection. Considered to be an order of magnitude faster than its shared counterpart.

TCP
See Transmission Control Protocol.

TCP/IP
Transport Control Protocol / Internet Protocol. The protocol of the Internet and most internets and many intranets.

Transmission Control Protocol
A layer-four protocol in the set of protocols which support the Internet and many private networks. TCP is the TCP portion of TCP/IP, and provides a guaranteed transport service.

UCInetId
(Also UCInet-id or Ucinet-Id) Unique string of characters representing an entry in the campus electronic phone book and in the campus authentication database. When coupled with the string '@uci.edu', it becomes a campus email address. UCInet has services (ph/qi, Kerberos authentication, MTAs, etc.) which consult these databases in order to authenticate users, forward or deliver email, and assist...

Virtual Local Area Network
Individual workstations, rather than being directly connected to a shared media, are instead connected to an intelligent device such as a switch which has the capability through software to define LAN membership. This permits a systems administrator to resegment the LAN without changing the physical arrangement. It also allows, with some switching technologies, the ability to support multiple subn...

VLAN
See Virtual Local Area Network.

WAN
See Wide Area Network.

WAN Connection
A network connection, usually through a router or an ATM switch, which connects two geographically distanced networks together.

Wide Area Network
A network which covers a larger geographical area than a LAN or a MAN and where telecommunications links are implemented, normally leased from the appropriate Private Telephone Operator(s). Examples of WANs include packet switched networks, public data networks and Value Added Networks (VANs).