Glossary
Network Address
The network portion of an IP address. For a class A network, the network address is the first byte of the IP address. For a class B network, the network address is the first two bytes of the IP address. For a class C network, the network address is the first three bytes of the IP address. In each case, the remainder is the host address. In the Internet, assigned network addresses are globally unique.
P
Packet
A packet is a piece of a message transmitted over a
PING
A program that tests whether a particular network destination on the Internet is online (that is, working) by bouncing a “signal” off a specified IP destination address.
Port Number
The term port can mean the connector on your computer or it can be thought of as a server number. Every service that travels over phone lines and modems has a standard port number. For example, the World Wide Web service uses the standard port number, 80 and the standard Telnet port is 23.
Port numbers are controlled and assigned by the IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority). Most computers have a table in their systems containing a list of ports that have been assigned to specific services. You can also find lists of standard port numbers on the World Wide Web.
PPPoE
PPTP
Private Key
Key used in public key crypto that belongs to an individual entity and must be kept secret.
Protocol
A formal description of message formats and the rules two computers must follow to exchange those messages. You can think of protocols like languages. If two computers or devices aren’t speaking the same language to each other, they won’t be able to communicate.
PPP (Point -to- Point Protocol)
PPPenables
R
Router
A device which forwards traffic between networks. If you request information from a location on your network or the Internet, the router will route the request to the appropriate destination. The router’s job is to listen for requests for IP addresses that are not part of your LAN and then route them to the appropriate network which may either be the Internet or another
S
Server
A provider of resources (e.g., file servers and name servers). For example, your RouteFinder provides Internet access and is, therefore, an Internet Access Server.
SSID
An SSID is the name of a wireless local area network (WLAN). All wireless devices on a WLAN must employ the same SSID in order to communicate with each other. SSIDs are case sensitive, consist of a sequence of alphanumeric characters (letters and numbers), and have a maximum length of 32 characters. Example:
89 |