Axis Communications AXIS 211W user manual SSL/TLS Secure Socket Layer/Transport Layer Security

AXIS 211W - Glossary of Terms

Quality of Service (QoS) - QoS provides the means to guarantee a certain level of a specified resource to selected traffic on a network. Quality can be defined as, e.g. a maintained level of bandwidth, low latency, no packet losses, etc.

Referrer - (or HTTP referrer) identifies the address of the resource or the URL which contains a link to the network camera’s web page.

Resolution - Image resolution is a measure of how much detail a digital image can hold: the greater the resolution, the greater the level of detail. Resolution can be specified as the number of pixel-columns (width) by the number of pixel-rows (height), e.g. 320x240.

Alternatively, the total number of pixels (usually in megapixels) in the image can be used. In analog systems it is also common to use other format designations, such as CIF, QCIF, 4CIF, etc.

RTCP (Real-Time Control Protocol) - RTCP provides support for real-time conferencing of groups of any size within an intranet. This support includes source identification and support for gateways like audio and video bridges as well as multicast-to-unicast translators.

RTCP offers quality-of-service feedback from receivers to the multicast group as well as support for the synchronization of different media streams.

RTP (Real-Time Transport Protocol) - RTP is an Internet protocol for the transport of real-time data, e.g. audio and video. It can be used for media-on-demand as well as interactive services such as Internet telephony.

RTSP (Real Time Streaming Protocol) - RTSP is a control protocol, and a starting point for negotiating transports such as RTP, multicast and Unicast, and for negotiating codecs.

RTSP can be considered a "remote control" for controlling the media stream delivered by a media server. RTSP servers typically use RTP as the protocol for the actual transport of audio/video data.

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 creates and/or maintains a special routing table that stores information on how best to reach certain destinations. A router is sometimes included as part of a network switch. See also switch.

Server - In general, a server is a computer program that provides services to other computer programs in the same or other computers. A computer running a server program is also frequently referred to as a server. In practice, the server may contain any number of server and client programs. A web server is the computer program that supplies the requested HTML pages or files to the client (browser).

Sharpness - This is the control of fine detail within a picture. This feature was originally introduced into color TV sets that used notch filter decoders. This filter took away all high frequency detail in the black and white region of the picture. The sharpness control attempted to put some of that detail back in the picture. Sharpness controls are mostly superfluous in today's high-end TVs. The only logical requirement for it nowadays is on a VHS machine.

Simplex - In Simplex operation, a network cable or communications channel can only send information in one direction.

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) - SMTP is used for sending and receiving e-mail. However, as it is "simple," it is limited in its ability to queue messages at the receiving end, and is usually used with one of two other protocols, POP3 or IMAP. These other protocols allow the user to save messages in a server mailbox and download them periodically from the server.

SMTP authentication is an extension of SMTP, whereby the client is required to log into the mail server before or during the sending of email. It can be used to allow legitimate users to send email while denying the service to unauthorized users, such as spammers.

SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) - SNMP forms part of the Internet Protocol suite, as defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force. The protocol can support monitoring of network-attached devices for any conditions that warrant administrative attention.

Sockets - Sockets are a method for communication between a client program and a server program over a network. A socket is defined as "the endpoint in a connection." Sockets are created and used with a set of programming requests or "function calls" sometimes called the sockets application programming interface (API).

SSL/TLS (Secure Socket Layer/Transport Layer Security)

These two protocols (SSL is succeeded by TLS) are cryptographic protocols that provide secure communication on a network. SSL is commonly used over HTTP to form HTTPS, as used, e.g. on the Internet for electronic financial transactions. SSL uses public key certificates to verify the identity of the server.

Subnet/subnet mask - A subnet is an identifiably separate part of an organization's network. Typically, a subnet may represent all the machines at one geographic location, in one building, or on the same local area network (LAN). Having an organization's network divided into subnets allows it to be connected to the Internet with a single shared network address.

The subnet mask is the part of the IP address that tells a network router how to find the subnet that the data packet should be delivered to. Using a subnet mask saves the router having to handle the entire 32-bit IP address; it simply looks at the bits selected by the mask.

Switch - A switch is a network device that connects network segments together, and which selects a path for sending a unit of data to its next destination. In general, a switch is a simpler and faster mechanism than a router, which requires knowledge about the network and how to determine the route. Some switches include the router function. See also Router.

TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) - TCP is used along with the Internet Protocol (IP) to transmit data as packets between computers over the network. While IP takes care of the actual packet delivery, TCP keeps track of the individual packets that the communication (e.g. requested a web page file) is divided into, and, when all packets have arrived at their destination, it reassembles them to re-form the complete file.

TCP is a connection-oriented protocol, which means that a connection is established between the two end-points and is maintained until the data has been successfully exchanged between the communicating applications.

Telnet - Telnet is a simple method with which to access another network device, e.g. a computer. The HTTP protocol and the FTP protocols allow you to request specific files from remote computers, but do not allow you logon as a user of that computer. With Telnet, you log on as a regular user with whatever privileges you may have been granted for specific applications and data residing on that computer.

TVL (TV Lines) - A method of defining resolutions in analog video.

UDP (User Datagram Protocol) - UDP is a communications protocol that offers limited service for exchanging data in a network that uses the Internet Protocol (IP). UDP is an alternative to the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). The advantage of UDP is that it is not required to deliver all data and may drop network packets when there is, e.g. network congestion. This is suitable for live video, as there is no point in re-transmitting old information that will not be displayed anyway.

Unicast - Communication between a single sender and a single receiver over a network. A new connection is established for each new user.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator) - An "address" on the network.

USB - (Universal Serial Bus) A plug-and-play interface between a computer and peripheral devices, e.g. scanners, printers, etc.

Varifocal lens - A varifocal lens provides a wide range of focal lengths, as opposed to a lens with a fixed focal length, which only provides one.

VAPIX - AXIS VAPIX is considered to be the global application programming interface (API) standard, in the rapidly growing field of Network Video based on IP.

VPN (Virtual Private Network) - This creates a secure "tunnel" between the points within the VPN. Only devices with the correct "key" will be able to work within the VPN. The VPN network can be within a

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