Appendix B: GLOSSARY
Ethernet
One of the most common Local Area Network (LAN) protocols. Ethernet uses a bus topology that supports a data transfer rate of 10Mbps.
Fast Ethernet
Much the same as Ethernet but 10 times faster; requires upgraded network cards and hubs.
Protocol
A protocol is a set of rules for communicating between computers.
A variant of Ethernet that allows computers to be networked at 10Mbps via twisted pair cable.
A variant of Ethernet that allows computers to be networked at 100Mbps via twisted pair cable.
Browser
A software application used to locate and display Web pages, such as Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer.
DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol)
DHCP is a protocol that assigns temporary IP addresses to PCs. Without DHCP the IP address must be entered manually at each computer.
Domain Name
The Domain Name identifies one or more IP addresses. For example, the domain name of sohoware.com represents about a dozen IP addresses.
URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
A Uniform Resource Locator is a standard for specifying the location of an object on the Internet, such as a file or a newsgroup. URLs are used extensively on the World Wide Web. They are used in HTML documents to specify the target of a hyperlink, which is often another HTML document (possibly stored on another computer).
DNS (Domain Name Server)
A server used to translate a Domain Name to a numerical form IP address.
PPPoE
