This is a quick home-grown glossary of terms often used on this web site to express basic networking concepts. There are more complete technical dictionaries on the web:
If you are interested in technical jargon you may also be interested in The Jargon File
a : b : c : d : e : f : g : h : i : j : k : l : m : n : o : p : q : r : s : t : u : v : w : x : y : z
Special Characters: ~ (tilde) : _ (underscore) : @ (at) : . (dot) : / (slash)
The @ sign is used most frequently in email, for example cleo@easystreet.com
A Bridge is a piece of equipment that connects two or more different networks (often they are different types of networks). Specifications for the bridging protocol are outlined in RFC 1483.
bps (lowercase b) stands for "bits per second". This is the number of bits (or data) you can download in each second. This is often used by the phone company to represent DSL speeds.
Bps (uppercase B) stands for "bytes per second". Bps is a measure of download speed that is most often used by Internet Browsers and download utilities. You can figure out how many bps this is by multiplying the number of bytes per second by 8. There are 8 bits in 1 Byte.
Your Circuit ID lets us know which Circuit (ATM, Dedicated or Frame Relay) your connection is on.
The method that a server or router uses to dynamically assign IP addresses to computers connecting to the Internet. Each time a computer connects to the Internet, it can receive a different IP address from the server or router that uses DHCP to assign the IP to them.
A DLCI is an identifying number that tells us where your connection is on a Frame Relay Circuit.
Dots are what periods are called by people who use Internet a lot. They are
often used in web site addresses e.g. www.easystreet.com
and IP addresses e.g. 206.23.36.34
Domain names are the unique names that identify an location on the Internet. Often it is a physical location, or set of files residing on a computer that is connected to the Internet. Domain names must be registered with an Internet Registry one of the more popular of these is Network Solutions, formerly known as the Internic.
The Domain Name Servers are servers at EasyStreet that translate domain names into IP addresses (locations) on the Internet. It's through this process that you actually send mail to the right place, and get web sites to come up in your Internet browser when you type in a domain name e.g. easystreet.com.
This is the term for the speed of your connection from the Internet to your computer or router. You can measure the downstream rate when you download, or view information from the Internet. (also see upstream rate)
Digital Subscriber Line or Digital Subscriber Loop, DSL describes the technology that allows you to send a high speed digital signal over a regular copper telephone line. For more information see our support page About your DSL.
The information used by Internet mail programs to sent email to a user through the
Internet, usually expressed as: username@domainname.com
FAQ is the acronym for Frequently Asked Questions. Usually, a FAQ is a document containing a list of frequently asked questions and their answers. It is often much easier to check there for the answers than to call technical support.
A software or hardware device that can help protect your network from outside attacks or unauthorized access. It controls how users outside your network access things inside your network, and often prevents 'unathorized' users from gaining access to network services.
FTP is short for File Transfer Protocol. It is a very good method of moving files from one computer to another especially over the Internet. We recommend that you use a FTP program to move files this way, there are great shareware and some freeware applications available.
Your Gateway or Router Address tells your computer which device on it's network is responsible for sending traffic out to the Internet.
Your Gateway Address is often given to you with a Subnet Mask, IP Address and DNS Addresses. This set of information tells your computer how to find things on the Internet.
A Host is an individual computer on a network. Hosts often have names,
and those names are commonly expressed in the form host.yourdomain.com.
The Internet is just a name for the network of computers, routers and other equipment that links all of the connected folks world wide.
An Intranet is a network that uses web technology and is used Only for internal communications in an organization. It can only be accessed from a companies internal network and those given passwords and special access through the security that protects the network. Organizations use Intranet to distribute company information or sharing applications or computing tasks. It can be as simple or as complex as your business and its needs demand.
An IP address is your location on the Internet, in the same way that your postal address gives the address of your house. For all of the technical details see: Internet Address
Your IP Address is often given to you with a Subnet Mask, Gateway Address and DNS Addresses. This set of information tells your computer how to find things on the Internet.
Your ISP (Internet Service Provider) is the company that give you access to the Internet e.g. EasyStreet. They often also provide other services like email, web site hosting, colocation, and dedicated servers.
A PRI is a T1 connection that is specially configured to carry 23 64K voice channels plus a single 64k carrier channel (to monitor the PRI). Think of it as a bulk package of 23 telephone lines.
A protocol is a set of rules, basically a language, that programs and computers use to talk to each other.
RFC (Request for Comments) are a set of proposals for specifications (and other things) that govern much of the day-to-day interaction on the Internet. If you are curious about RFCs, check out an RFC library e.g. RFC Editor.
A / on the web, separates directories. When you put an address in your Internet browser that contains slashes, the / and the name tells the web server know what folder you would like to look at.
Your Subnet Mask tells your computer (or other networking device) how many computers are on it's local network. This helps your computer direct traffic locally and out to the Internet.
Your Subnet Mask is often given to you with a IP Address, Gateway Address and DNS Addresses. This set of information tells your computer how to find things on the Internet.
A ~ is a special character that is usually used in the address of your
personal web site for example:
http://www.easystreet.com/~cleo
An _ (underscore) is a special character that is frequently used in passwords and specific web site addresses. (Unix servers aren't fond of filenames with spaces in them, and _ looks like a space so that people can read the filename, but it isn't a space and it makes Unix servers happier so it is used in web addresses).
This is the term for the speed of your connection from your computer to a location on the Internet or to another computer on your network. You can measure the upstream rate when you ftp files to your personal web site, or other location on the Internet. (also see downstream rate)
Your username is the name that we (your ISP) uses to refer to you (the user) it is usually between 3 and 8 characters. You need it to get your email, and sometimes you need it to connect to the Internet.
The VPI and VCI are a set of two numbers that tell us where your connection is
on a given ATM circuit. This pair of numbers is most commonly separated by
a period e.g. 2.258.
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