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Glossary of Networking Terms
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Default Gateway
- A device on an internetwork that forwards
packets to another network.
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DHCP
- Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol allocates IP
addresses to computers on the network automatically without
assigning a computer a static (fixed) IP address.
•
DNS
- A Domain Name System is a hierarchical naming system
that resolves a domain name with its associated IP address. A
DNS server looks up the name of a computer and finds the
corresponding IP address. This allows users to access hosts
using friendly text-based names instead of IP addresses. These
names are called fully qualified domain names (FQDN).
•
IP Address
- An Internet Protocol Address is a thirty-two bit
number that identifies a computer or other resource on the
Internet or on any TCP/IP network. The number is usually
expressed as four numbers from 0 to 255 separated by periods,
for example, 172.16.31.254.
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LAN
- A Local Area Network is typically a group of computers
located at a single location, and is commonly based on the
Ethernet architecture.
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NAT
- Network Address Translation is an internet standard that
allows your local network to use private IP addresses, which are
not recognized on the Internet. The IP address used for the router
is the only routable IP address. The computers behind the NAT
can access the Internet through the router, but Internet users
cannot access the computers behind the router.
•
Packet
- A unit of information transmitted over the internet or
within any TCP/IP network. Packets have a header, which
contains information about the source, destination, and protocol
to be used for the data, and a body, which contains the data being
transmitted.
•
PPPoE
- The Point to Point Protocol over Ethernet supports the
transmission of network packets over an analog phone line.
•
Private IP Address
- An IP address for a resource in your
network that is not known or published outside the zone (for
example LAN) where it is located.