P314 Broadband Sharing Gateway with 4-Port Switch

PPP

Promiscuous Packet Capture

Protocol

Proxy Server

PSTN

PVC

RFC

RIP

wires connect homes and businesses to a neighborhood central office. This is called the local loop. The central office is connected to other central offices and long-distance facilities.

Point to Point Protocol. PPP encapsulates and transmits IP (Internet Protocol) datagrams over serial point-to-point links. PPP works with other protocols such as IPX (Internetwork Packet Exchange). The protocol is defined in IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) RFC 1661 through 1663. PPP provides router-to-router, host-to-router, and host-to-host connections.

Actively capturing packet information from a network. Most computers only collect packets specifically addressed to them. Promiscuous packet capture acquires all network traffic it can regardless of where the packets are addressed.

A “language” for communicating on a network. Protocols are sets of standards or rules used to define, format, and transmit data across a network. There are many different protocols used on networks. For example, most web pages are transmitted using the HTTP protocol.

A server that performs network operations in lieu of other systems on the network. Proxy Servers are most often used as part of a firewall to mask the identity of users inside a corporate network yet still provide access to the Internet. When a user connects to a proxy server, via a web browser or other networked application, he submits commands to the proxy server. The server then submits those same commands to the Internet, yet without revealing any information about the system that originally requested the information. Proxy servers are an ideal way to also have all users on a corporate network channel through one point for all external communications. Proxy servers can be configured to block certain kinds of connections and stop some hacks.

Public Switched Telephone Network was put into place many years ago as a voice telephone call-switching system. The system transmits voice calls as analog signals across copper twisted cables from homes and businesses to neighborhood COs (central offices); this is often called the local loop. The PSTN is a circuit-switched system, meaning that an end-to-end private circuit is established between caller and callee.

Permanent Virtual Circuit. A PVC is a logical point-to-point circuit between customer sites. PVCs are low-delay circuits because routing decisions do not need to be made along the way. Permanent means that the circuit is preprogrammed by the carrier as a path through the network. It does not need to be set up or torn down for each session.

An RFC (Request for Comments) is an Internet formal document or standard that is the result of committee drafting and subsequent review by interested parties. Some RFCs are informational in nature. Of those that are intended to become Internet standards, the final version of the RFC becomes the standard and no further comments or changes are permitted. Change can occur, however, through subsequent RFCs.

Routing Information Protocol is an interior or intra-domain routing protocol that uses the distance-vector routing algorithms. RIP is used on the Internet and is common in the NetWare environment as a method for exchanging routing information between routers.

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Glossary of Terms