Glossary of Terms
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AXIS 206 - Glossary

ActiveX - A control (or set of rules) used by a browser.
ActiveX controls are often downloaded and installed
automatically as required.
AMC - AXIS Media Control. The control required for
viewing images in Internet Explorer. Installs automatically
on first use. AMC is an ActiveX control.
API - Application Programming Interface. The Axis API can
be used for integrating Axis products into other
applications.
ARP - Address Resolution Protocol. Used to associate an IP
address to a hardware MAC address. A request is broadcast
on the local network to discover the MAC address for the IP
address.
A protocol for assigning an IP address to a physical device
address that is recognized in the local network.
CGI - Common Gateway Interface. A set of rules (or a
program) that allows a Web Server to communicate with
other programs.
Client/Server - Describes the network relationship between
two computer programs in which one, the client, makes a
service request from another - the server.
DNS - The Domain Name System (DNS) locates and
translates Internet domain names into IP (Internet Protocol)
addresses.
Ethernet - A widely used networking standard.
ETRAX - Axis' own microprocessor.
HTML - Hypertext Mark-up Language. Used widely for
authoring documents viewed in web browsers.
HTTP - Hypertext Transfer Protocol. The set of rules for
exchanging files (text, images, sound, video, and other files)
on the World Wide Web.
Intranet - A private network limited to an organization or
corporation. Usually closed to external traffic.
IP - Internet Protocol. See TCP/IP.
IP address - A unique number used by a network device, to
allow it to be identified and found on the network. The
32-bit IP address is made up of four groups (or quads) of
decimal digits separated by periods. An example of an IP
address is: 192.168.0.1
JPEG - A standard image format, used widely for
photographs. Also known as JPG.
LAN - A local area network (LAN) is a group of computers
and associated devices that typically share common
resources within a limited geographical area.
Linux - A popular operating system, which is “open source”
and practically free of charge.
Lux - A standard unit for the measurement of light, where 1
Lux equals the light emitted from a single candle at a
distance of one meter.
Mbit/s - Megabits per second. A unit for measuring speeds
in networks. A LAN might run at 10 or 100 Mbit/s.
Ping - A small utility for verifying that IP addresses are
valid and are available. Used diagnostically to check that a
host/server/device is operational and reachable.
Protocol - A special set of rules governing how two entities
will communicate. Protocols are found at many levels of
communication, and there are hardware protocols and
software protocols.
Router - A device that determines the next network point to
which a packet should be forwarded on its way to its final
destination. A router is often included as part of a network
switch.
SMTP - A common e-mail protocol.
SSID - A Service Set Identifier (SSID) is a sequence of
characters that uniquely names a wireless local area
network (WLAN). This name allows stations to connect to
the network when multiple networks operate in the same
physical area.
Subnet Mask - An IP address consists of two components:
the network address and the host address. “Subnetting’
enables a network administrator to further divide the host
part of the address into two or more subnets. The subnet
mask identifies the subnet to which an IP address belongs.
Switch - Whilst a simple hub transmits all data to all
devices connected to it, a switch only transmits the data to
the device it is specifically intended for.
TCP/IP - Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. A
suite of network protocols that determine how data is
transmitted. TCP/IP is used on many networks, including
the Internet. TCP keeps track of the individual packets of
information and IP contains the rules for how the packets
are actually sent and received.
URL - Uniform Resource Locator. An "address" on the
network.
WAN - Wide-Area-Network. Similar to a LAN, but on a
larger geographical scale.
WLAN - Wireless LAN. Computers/devices connect to the
network via wireless access points.
Web server - A program on a computer (server) providing
the resources (e.g. web pages) requested by the user (client).
WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) - A security protocol,
specified in the IEEE 802.11 standard, which is designed to
provide a wireless local area network (WLAN) with a level of
security and privacy comparable to that usually expected of