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Wild Packets - Networking terms Category: Agriculture and Industry > Networking terms Date & country: 24/02/2017, USA Words: 1152

AUI
Attachment unit interface. IEEE 802.3 interface between an MAU and a NIC (network interface card). Also called transceiver cable.

AURP
AppleTalk Update-Based Routing Protocol. Apple's WAN protocol.

AURP Tunnel
Connection created in an AURP WAN that functions as a single, virtual data link between AppleTalk internetworks physically separated by a foreign network (a TCP/IP network, for example).

Authority Zone
Associated with DNS, an authority zone is a section of the domain-name tree for which one name server is the authority.

Automatic Call Reconnect
Feature permitting automatic call rerouting away from a failedtrunk line.

Autonomous Confederation
Group of autonomous systems that rely on their own networkreachability and routing information more than they rely on that received from other autonomous systems or confederations.

Autonomous System
Collection of networks under a common administration sharing a common routing strategy. Autonomous systems are subdivided by areas. An autonomous system must be assigned a unique 16-bit number by the IANA. Sometimes abbreviated AS.

Autoreconfiguration
Process performed by nodes within the failure domain of a Token Ring network. Nodes automatically perform diagnostics in an attempt to reconfigure the network around the failed areas.

Average Rate
The average rate, in kilobits per second (kbps), at which a given virtual circuit will transmit.

Back End
Node or software program that provides services to a front end. See also client, front end, and server.

Back End Processor
A computer running an application that supplies data to other computers on demand, but has no user interface.

Back Pressure
Propagation of network congestion information upstream through an internetwork.

Backbone
Referring to the internet, a central network that provides a pathway for other networks to communicate.

Background Task
A computing task that is executing while another task or application is displaying its user interface.

Backoff
The (usually random) retransmission delay enforced by contentious MAC protocols after a network node with data to transmit determines that the physical medium is already in use.

Backplane
The communication channels of a single device's architecture, such as in a hub or concentrator.

Backup
A copy of a set of files made for replacement purposes in case the original set is damaged or lost.

Backward Compatible
An upgraded component of a computing system that can be usedinterchangeably with its previous version.

Backward Learning
Algorithmic process used for routing traffic that surmises information by assuming symmetrical network conditions. For example, if node A receives a packet from node B through intermediate node C, the backward-learning routing algorithm will assume that A can optimally reach B through C.

Balanced Configuration
In HDLC, a point-to-point network configuration with two

Balun
Balanced/Unbalanced. A device that links together dissimilar

Band
In analog communications, the range of frequencies over which a communication system operates.

Bandwidth
In analog communications, the difference between the highest

Bandwidth Reservation
Process of assigning bandwidth to users and applications served by a network. Involves assigning priority to different flows of traffic based on how critical and delay-sensitive they are. This makes the best use of available bandwidth, and if the network becomes congested, lower-priority traffic can be dropped. Sometimes called bandwidth allocation. See also call priority.

BARRNet
Bay Area Regional Research Network. Regional network serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The BARRNet backbone is composed of four University of California campuses (Berkeley, Davis, Santa Cruz, and San Francisco), Stanford University, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and NASA Ames Research Center. BARRNET is now part of BBN Planet.

Base address
The lowest address available in an address range.

Baseband
A communication system in which only one signal is carried at any one time.

Baud
Unit of signaling speed equal to the number of discrete signal elements transmitted per second. Baud is synonymous with bits per second (bps), if each signal element represents exactly 1 bit.

Baud Rate
The number of voltage or frequency transitions per second.

BBN Planet
Subsidiary company of BBN that operates a nationwide Internet access network composed in part of the former regional networks BARRNET, NEARNET, and SURAnet.

Bc
Committed Burst. Negotiated tariff metric in Frame Relay internetworks. The maximum amount of data (in bits) that a Frame Relay internetwork is committed to accept and transmit at the CIR.

Be
Excess Burst. Negotiated tariff metric in Frame Relay internetworks. The number of bits that a Frame Relay internetwork will attempt to transmit after Bc is accommodated. Be data is, in general, delivered with a lower probability than Bc data because Be data can be marked as DE by the network.

Beacon
Frame from a Token Ring or FDDI device indicating a serious problem with the ring, such as a broken cable. A beacon frame contains the address of the station assumed to be down.

BECN
Backward explicit congestion notification. Bit set by a Frame Relay network in frames traveling in the opposite direction of frames encountering a congested path. DTE receiving frames with the BECN bit set can request that higher-level protocols take flow control action as appropriate. Compare with FECN.

Bellcore
Bell Communications Research. Organization that performs research and development on behalf of the RBOCs.

Benchmark
A test performed t compare a computer process in one set of circumstances to another.

BER
1. Bit error rate. The ratio of received bits that contain errors.

BGP
Border Gateway Protocol. Interdomain routing protocol that replaces EGP. BGP exchanges reachability information with other BGP systems. It is defined by RFC 1163.

BGP4
BGP Version 4. Version 4 of the predominant interdomain routing protocol used on the Internet. BGP4 supports CIDR and uses route aggregation mechanisms to reduce the size of routing tables.

BIGA
Bus Interface Gate Array. Technology that allows the Catalyst 5000 to receive and transmit frames from its packet-switching memory to its MAC local buffer memory without the intervention of the host processor.

Big-endian
Method of storing or transmitting data in which the most significant bit or byte is presented first. Compare with little-endian.

BIND
Berkeley Internet Name Domain. The standard TCP/IP naming

Biphase Coding
Bipolar coding scheme originally developed for use in Ethernet. Clocking information is embedded into and recovered from the synchronous data stream without the need for separate clocking leads. The biphase signal contains no direct current energy.

Bipolar
Electrical characteristic denoting a circuit with both negative and positive polarity. Contrast with unipolar.

BISDN
Broadband ISDN. ITU-T communication standards designed to handle high-bandwidth applications such as video. BISDN currently uses ATM technology over SONET-based transmission circuits to provide data rates from 155 to 622 Mbps and beyond.

Bit
The basic unit of data representation in digital computers.

Bit pattern
A sequence of bits that has a specific purpose or meaning.

Bit rate
The rate at which bits are transmitted or received during communication, expressed as the number bits in a given amount of time, usually one second.

Bitmap
A data structure that uses bits to represent the attributes of an object that is not character-based.

BITNET
Because It's Time Networking Services. Low-cost, low-speed academic network consisting primarily of IBM mainframes and 9600-bps leased lines. BITNET is now a part of CREN. See also CREN.

BITNET III
Dial-up service providing connectivity for members of CREN.

Bit-oriented Protocol
Class of data link layer communication protocols that can transmit frames regardless of frame content. Compared with byte-oriented protocols, bit-oriented protocols provide full-duplex operation and are more efficient and reliable. Compare with byte-oriented protocol.

Black Box
A device that performs a function using mechanisms that are

Black Hole
Routing term for an area of the internetwork where packets enter, but do not emerge, due to adverse conditions or poor system configuration within a portion of the network.

Block
The basic unit of storage on a computer disk.

Block Multiplexer I Channel
BM-style channel that implements the FIPS-60 channel, AUS. Channel standard. This channel is also referred to as OEMI channel and 370 block mux channel.

Blocking
In a switching system, a condition in which no paths are available to complete a circuit. The term is also used to describe a situation in which one activity cannot begin until another has been completed.

BNN
Boundary network node. In SNA terminology, a subarea node that provides boundary function support for adjacent peripheral nodes. This support includes sequencing, pacing, and address translation.

Board
A printed circuit and the substrate on which it lies.

BOC
Bell operating company. See RBOC.

Boot
A computer's startup operation.

Boot Drive
The disk that contains a computers' startup instructions.

Boot PROM
Boot programmable read-only memory. Chip mounted on a printed circuit board used to provide executable boot instruction to a computer device.

BOOTP
Bootstrap Protocol. An IP protocol used by diskless

Border Gateway
Router that communicates with routers in other autonomous systems.

Boundary Function
Capability of SNA subarea nodes to provide protocol support for attached peripheral nodes. Typically found in IBM 3745 devices.

BPDU
Bridge protocol data unit. Spanning-Tree Protocol hello packet that is sent out at configurable intervals to exchange information among bridges in the network.

BPS
Bits Per Second. A commonly-used measure of the rate of data transmission that specifies the number of bits that are transmitted in one second. May be prefixed with multipliers such as K, M, and G which indicate rates of thousands, millions and billions of bits per second.

Brouter
A device that incorporates the functionality of a bridge and

BRI
Basic Rate Interface. an ISDN service with two bearer channels

Bridge
A Data Link Layer device that limits traffic between two network

Bridge Forwarding
Process that uses entries in a filtering database to determine whether frames with a given MAC destination address can be forwarded to a given port or ports. Described in the IEEE 802.1 standard. See also IEEE 802.1.

Bridge Number
Number that identifies each bridge in an SRB LAN. Parallel bridges must have different bridge numbers.

Bridge Static Filtering
Process in which a bridge maintains a filtering database consisting of static entries. Each static entry equates a MAC destination address with a port that can receive frames with this MAC destination address and a set of ports on which the frames can be transmitted. Defined in the IEEE802.1 standard.

Broadband
A transmission system capable of carrying many channels of

Broadcast
An information transmission that is intended to be interpreted

Broadcast Address
Special address reserved for sending a message to all stations. Generally, a broadcast address is a MAC destination address of all ones. Compare with multicast address and unicast address.

Broadcast Domain
The set of all devices that will receive broadcast frames originating from any device within the set. Broadcast domains are typically bounded by routers because routers do not forward broadcast frames.

Broadcast Search
Propagation of a search request to all network nodes if the location of a resource is unknown to the requester.

Broadcast Storm
Undesirable network event in which many broadcasts are sent simultaneously across all network segments. A broadcast storm uses substantial network bandwidth and, typically, causes network time-outs.

BSC
Binary synchronous communication. Character-oriented data link layer protocol for half-duplex applications. Often referred to simply as bisync.

BSD
Berkeley Software Distribution. UC Berkeley's distribution

BT
Burst tolerance. Parameter defined by the ATM Forum for ATM traffic management. For VBR connections, BT determines the size of the maximum burst of contiguous cells that can be transmitted.

Buffer
A temporary memory storage area for information.

Bug
A flaw in a software program.

Bundled
Refers to the practice of automatically including an additional

Bus
A type of network topology in which nodes are connected alonga continuous path that is not a closed circuit. Also refers to acommunications channel used by a single computer such asNubus, SCSI, etc.

BUS
Broadcast and unknown server. Multicast server used in ELANs that is used to flood traffic addressed to an unknown destination, and to forward multicast and broadcast traffic to the appropriate clients.

Bus and Tag Channel
IBM channel, developed in the 1960s, incorporating copper multiwire technology. Replaced by the EXCON channel. See also ESCON channel and parallel channel.

Bus Topology
Linear LAN architecture in which transmissions from network stations propagate the length of the medium and are received by all other stations. Compare with ring topology, star topology, and tree topology.

Bypass Mode
Operating mode on FDDI and Token Ring networks in which an interface has been removed from the ring.

Bypass Relay
Allows a particular Token Ring interface to be shut down and thus effectively removed from the ring.

Byte
A group of 8 bits.

Byte Reversal
Process of storing numeric data with the least-significant byte first. Used for integers and addresses on devices with Intel microprocessors.

Byte-oriented Protocol
Class of data-link communications protocols that use a specific character from the user character set to delimit frames. These protocols have largely been replaced by bit-oriented protocols. Compare with bit-oriented protocol.

Cable Range
Range of network numbers that is valid for use by nodes on an extended AppleTalk network. The cable range value can be a single network number or a contiguous sequence of several network numbers. Node addresses are assigned based on the cable range value.

Cache
A group of memory locations set aside for temporary storage ofdata, especially frequently-used data or data needing high speedretrieval by the CPU.

Call Admission Control
Traffic management mechanism used in ATM networks thatdetermines whether the network can offer a path with sufficient bandwidth for a requested VCC.

Call Priority
Priority assigned to each origination port in circuit-switched systems. This priority defines the order in which calls are reconnected. Call priority also defines which calls can or cannot be placed during a bandwidth reservation.

Call Setup Time
The time required to establish a switched call between DTE devices.