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Terminology "glossary
of hosting technical terms"
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| 1 | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
- 10BaseT
- 10 Megabit per second baseband Ethernet specification
using two pairs of twisted-pair cabling (Category 3, 4 or 5):
one pair for transmitting data and the other for receiving data.
10BaseT has a distinct limit of approximately 100 meters per
segment.
- 100BaseT
- 100 Mebabit per second baseband Fast Ethernet
specification using UTP wiring. Like the 10BaseT technology
on which it is based, 100BaseT sends link pulses over the network
segment when no traffic is present. However, these link pulses
contain more information than those used in 10BaseT.
- A Record
- An A record is part of the zone file. It is
used to point Internet traffic to an IP address. For example,
you can use an "A record" to designate abc.yourdomain.com to
send traffic to your web site at IP address 209.15.32.135. You
can also designate xyz.yourdomain.com to go to a separate IP
address.
- ADN
- (Advanced Digital Network) -- Usually refers
to a 56 Kilobit per second leased-line
- ADSL
- (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) -- A
method for moving data over regular phone lines. An ADSL circuit
is much faster than a regular phone connection, and the wires
coming into the subscriber's premises are the same (copper)
wires used for regular phone service. An ADSL circuit must be
configured to connect two specific locations, similar to a leased
line.
A commonly discussed configuration of ADSL
would allow a subscriber to receive data (download) at speeds
of up to 1.544 Megabits per second, and to send (upload) data
at speeds of 128 kilobits per second. Thus the 'Asymmetric'
part of the acronym.
Another commonly discussed configuration
would be symmetrical: 384 kilobits per second in both directions.
In theory ADSL allows download speeds of up to 9 megabits
per second and upload speeds of up to 640 kilobits per second.
ADSL is often discussed as an alternative
to ISDN, allowing higher speeds
in cases where the connection is always to the same place.
See Also: bit , bps , ISDN
- Anonymous FTP
- Anonymous File Transfer Protocol allows the
public to log into an FTP server with a common login (usually
"ftp" or "anonymous" and any password (usually the person's
e-mail address is used as the password). Anonymous FTP is beneficial
for the distribution of large files to the public, avoiding
the need to assign large numbers of login and password combinations
for FTP access. See Also: FTP
- Applet
- A small Java program that can be embedded
in an HTML page. Applets differ from
full-fledged Java applications in that they are not allowed
to access certain resources on the local computer, such as files
and serial devices (modems, printers, etc.), and are prohibited
from communicating with most other computers across a network.
The current rule is that an applet can only make an Internet
connection to the computer from which the applet was sent. See
Also: HTML , Java
- Archie
- A tool (software) for finding files stored
on anonymous FTP sites. You need to know the exact file name or a substring of
it.
- ARPANet
- (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network)
-- The precursor to the Internet. Landmark packet-switching
network established in 1969 by the US Department of Defense
as an experiment in wide-area-networking that would survive
a nuclear war. See Also: Internet
- ATM
- ATM -- Asynchronous Transfer Mode. International
standard for cell relay in which multiple service types (such
as voice, video, or data) are conveyed in fixed-length (53-byte)
cells. Fixed-length cells allow cell processing to occur in
hardware, thereby reducing transit delays. ATM is designed to
take advantage of high-speed transmission media such as E3,
SONET, and T3.
- ASCII
- (American Standard Code for Information Interchange)
-- This is the de facto world-wide standard for the code numbers
used by computers to represent all the upper and lower-case
Latin letters, numbers, punctuation, etc. There are 128 standard
ASCII codes each of which can be represented by a 7 digit binary
number: 0000000 through 1111111, plus parity.
- Backbone
- A high-speed line or series of connections
that forms a major pathway within a network. The term is relative,
as a backbone in a small network will likely be much smaller than many non-backbone lines
in a large network. See Also: Network
- Bandwidth
- The difference between the highest and lowest
frequencies available for network signals. The term is also
used to describe the rated throughput capacity of a given network
medium or protocol. In short, bandwidth is a loose term used
to describe the throughput capacity (measured in Kilobits or
Megabits per second) of a specific circuit.
See Also:
Bps , Bit , T-1, OC-3.
- Baud
- Unit of signaling speed equal to the number
of discrete signal elements transmitted per second. Baud is
synonymous with bits per second (bps). In common usage the baud
rate of a modem is how many bits it can send or receive per second. Technically, baud is the
number of times per second that the carrier signal shifts value
- for example a 1200 bit-per-second modem actually runs at 300
baud, but it moves 4 bits per baud (4 x 300 = 1200 bits per
second). See Also: Bit , Modem.
- BBS (Bulletin Board System)
- A computerized meeting and announcement system
that allows people to carry on discussions, upload and download
files, and make announcements without the people being connected
to the computer at the same time. There are many thousands (millions?)
of BBS's around the world, most are very small, running on a
single IBM clone PC with 1 or 2 phone lines. Some are very large
and the line between a BBS and a system like CompuServe gets
crossed at some point, but it is not clearly drawn.
- Binhex
- (BINary HEXadecimal) -- A method for converting
non-text files (non-ASCII) into ASCII. This is needed because Internet e-mail can only handle
ASCII. See Also: ASCII , MIME , UUENCODE
- Bit
- (Binary DigIT) -- A single digit number in
base-2, in other words, either a 1 or a zero. The smallest unit
of computerized data. Bandwidth is usually measured
in bits-per-second. See Also: Bandwidth , Bps , Byte , Kilobyte , Megabyte
- BITNET
- (Because It's Time NETwork (or Because It's
Their NETwork) -- A network of educational sites
separate from the Internet, but e-mail is freely exchanged between BITNET and the Internet. Listservs, the most popular form
of e-mail discussion groups, originated on BITNET. BITNET machines
are usually mainframes running the VMS operating system, and
the network is probably the only international network that
is shrinking.
- Bps
- (Bits-Per-Second) -- A measurement of how
fast data is moved from one place to another. A 28.8 modem can move 28,800 bits per second. See Also: Bandwidth , Bit
- Browser
- Client software that is used to look at various
kinds of Internet resources. Examples include Microsoft's Internet
Explorer and Netscape's Navigator.
See Also: Client , URL , WWW , Netscape , Mosaic , Home Page (or Homepage)
- BTW
- (By The Way) -- A shorthand appended to a
comment written in an online forum. See Also: IMHO , TTFN
- Byte
- A set of Bits that represent a single character.
Usually there are 8 Bits in a Byte, sometimes more, depending
on how the measurement is being made. See Also: Bit
- Certificate Authority
- An issuer of Security Certificates used in SSL connections. See Also: Security Certificate , SSL
- CGI
- (Common Gateway Interface) -- A set of rules
that describe how a Web Server communicates with another
piece of software on the same machine, and how the other piece
of software (the 'CGI program') talks to the web server. Any
piece of software can be a CGI program if it handles input and
output according to the CGI standard.
Usually a CGI program is a small program
that takes data from a web server and does something with
it, like putting the content of a form into an e-mail message,
or turning the data into a database query.
CGI "scripts" are just scripts which use
CGI. CGI is often confused with Perl, which is a programming
language, while CGI is an interface to the server from a particular
program. Perl is an application of CGI, as well as MIVA, Python,
PHP3, and other scripting languages. See Also: cgi-bin , Web
- cgi-bin
- The most common name of a directory on a web
server in which CGI programs are stored. The
'bin' part of 'cgi-bin' is a shorthand version of 'binary',
because once upon a time, most programs were referred to as
'binaries'. In real life, most programs found in cgi-bin directories
are text files -- scripts that are executed by binaries located
elsewhere on the server. While most programs using CGI are stored
in this directory, it is not a requirement for using CGI.
See Also: CGI
- Client
- A software program that is used to contact
and obtain data from a server software program on another computer,
often across a great distance. Each client program is designed
to work with one or more specific kinds of server programs,
and each server requires a specific kind of client. A web browser
and an FTP program are specific kinds of clients.
See Also: Browser, Server
- Co-Location
- Network Operations Centers offer the ability
for customers to place their webservers and other network equipment
in their NOC which are connected via high speed fiber data lines
to the backbone of the Internet. Administration is done remotely
so that a customer far away can configure and control their
network equipment.
- Contact Record
- In the case of many registries, contact information
for technical, billing and administrative purposes are maintained
in their database. It is important to keep your contact records
updated to ensure that billing and renewal can proceed without
problems.
- Cookie
- The most common meaning of 'Cookie' on the
Internet refers to a piece of information sent by a Web Server to a Web Browser. The Browser software
is expected to save and to send back to the Server whenever
the browser makes additional requests from the Server.
Depending on the type of Cookie used, and
the Browser's settings, the Browser may accept or not accept
the Cookie, and may save the Cookie for either a short time
or a long time.
Cookies might contain information such as
login or registration information, online 'shopping cart'
information, user preferences, etc.
When a Server receives a request from a Browser
that includes a Cookie, the Server is able to use the information
stored in the Cookie. For example, the Server might customize
what is sent back to the user, or keep a log of particular
user's requests.
Cookies are usually set to expire after a
predetermined amount of time and are usually saved in memory
until the Browser software is closed down, at which time they
may be saved to disk if their 'expire time' has not been reached.
Cookies do not read your hard drive
and send your life story to the CIA, but they can be used
to gather more information about a user than would be possible
without them. See Also: Browser , Server
- Cyberpunk
- Cyberpunk was originally a cultural sub-genre
of science fiction taking place in a not-so-distant, dystopian,
over-industrialized society. The term grew out of the work of
William Gibson and Bruce Sterling and has evolved into a cultural
label encompassing many different kinds of human, machine, and
punk attitudes. It includes clothing and lifestyle choices as
well. See Also: Cyberspace
- Cyberspace
- Term originated by author William Gibson in
his novel Neuromancer the word Cyberspace
is currently used to describe the whole range of information
resources available through computer networks.
- DNS: Domain Naming System
- DNS stands for Domain Name System and is a
distributed, replicated system which allows nameservers to map
domain names to an IP number. DNS is integral to the Internet
in that it allows people to use hostnames (yahoo.com) rather
than IP addresses (138.23.234.12) in web, e-mail, and other
Internet protocols.
- Dedicated Server
- For those customers that want the advantages
of co-location without the hassles of purchasing their own server.
See co-location.
- Digerati
- The digital version of literati, it is a reference
to a vague cloud of people seen to be knowledgeable, hip, or
otherwise in-the-know in regards to the digital revolution.
- Domain Name
- The unique name that identifies an Internet
site. Domain Names always have 2 or more parts, separated by
dots. The part on the left is the most specific, and the part
on the right is the most general. A given machine may have more
than one Domain Name but a given Domain Name points to only
one machine. For example, the domain names: 1001resources.com,
ftp.1001resources.com, whatever.1001resources.com can all refer
to the same machine, but each domain name can refer to no more
than one machine.
Usually, all of the machines on a given Network
will have the same thing as the right-hand portion of their
Domain Names in the examples above. It is also possible for
a Domain Name to exist but not be connected to an actual machine.
This is often done so that a group or business can have an
Internet e-mail address without having to establish a real
Internet site. In these cases, some real Internet machine
must handle the mail on behalf of the listed Domain Name.
See Also: IP Number
- E-Commerce
- Electronic Commerce. Refers to the general
exchange of goods and services via the Internet.
- E-mail
- (Electronic Mail) -- Messages, usually text,
sent from one person to another via computer. E-mail can also
be sent automatically to a large number of addresses (Mailing List). See Also: Listserv , Maillist
- Ethernet
- A very common method of networking computers
in a LAN. Ethernet will handle about
10,000,000 bits-per-second and can be used with almost any kind
of computer. See Also: Bandwidth , LAN
- FAQ
- (Frequently Asked Questions) -- FAQs are documents
that list and answer the most common questions on a particular
subject. There are hundreds of FAQs on subjects as diverse as
Pet Grooming and Cryptography. FAQs are usually written by people
who have tired of answering the same question over and over.
- FDDI
- (Fiber Distributed Data Interface) -- A standard
for transmitting data on optical fiber cables at a rate of around
100,000,000 bits-per-second (10 times as fast as Ethernet, about twice as fast
as T-3). See Also: Bandwidth , Ethernet , T-1 , T-3
- Finger
- An Internet software tool for locating people
on other Internet sites. Finger is also sometimes used to give
access to non-personal information, but the most common use
is to see if a person has an account at a particular Internet
site. Many sites do not allow incoming Finger requests, but
many do.
- Fire Wall
- A combination of hardware and software that
separates a LAN into two or more parts for
security purposes. See Also: Network , LAN
- Flame
- Originally, flame meant to carry forth in
a passionate manner in the spirit of honorable debate. Flames
most often involved the use of flowery language and flaming
well was an art form. More recently flame has come to refer
to any kind of derogatory comment no matter how witless or crude.
See Also: Flame War
- Flame War When an online discussion
degenerates into a series of personal attacks against the debaters,
rather than discussion of their positions. A heated exchange.
See Also: Flame
- FTP
- (File Transfer Protocol) -- A very common
method of moving files between two Internet sites. FTP is a
special way to login to another Internet site
for the purposes of retrieving and/or sending files. There are
many Internet sites that have established publicly accessible
repositories of material that can be obtained using FTP, by
logging in using the account name anonymous, thus these sites
are called anonymous ftp servers.
- Gateway
- The technical meaning is a hardware or software
set-up that translates between two dissimilar protocols, for
example Prodigy has a gateway that translates between its internal,
proprietary e-mail format and Internet e-mail format. Another,
sloppier meaning of gateway is to describe any mechanism for
providing access to another system, e.g. AOL might be called
a gateway to the Internet.
- Gigabyte
- 1024 Megabytes See Also: Byte , Megabyte
- Gopher
- A widely successful method of making menus
of material available over the Internet. Gopher is a Client and Server style program, which requires
that the user have a Gopher Client program. Although Gopher spread rapidly across the globe
in only a couple of years, it has been largely supplanted by
Hypertext, also known as WWW (World Wide Web). There are still thousands of Gopher Servers on the Internet and we can expect they will remain for
a while. See Also: Client , Server , WWW , Hypertext
- hit
- As used in reference to the World Wide Web,
'hit' means a single request from a web browser for a single item from a web server; thus in order for a web
browser to display a page that contains 3 graphics, 4 'hits'
would occur at the server: 1 for the HTML page, and one for each of the 3 graphics.
'hits' are often used as a very rough measure
of load on a server, e.g. 'Our server has been getting 300,000
hits per month.' Because each 'hit' can represent anything
from a request for a tiny document (or even a request for
a missing document) all the way to a request that requires
some significant extra processing (such as a complex search
request), the actual load on a machine from 1 hit is almost
impossible to define.
- Home Page (or Homepage)
- Several meanings. Originally, the web page that your browser is set to use when it
starts up. The more common meaning refers to the main web page
for a business, organization, person or simply the main page
out of a collection of web pages, e.g. 'Check out so-and-so's
new Home Page.'
Another sloppier use of the term refers to
practically any web page as a 'homepage,' e.g. 'That web site
has 65 homepages and none of them are interesting.' See Also: Browser , Web
- Host
- Any computer on a network that is a repository
for services available to other computers on the network. It is quite common to have one host machine provide several
services, such as WWW and USENET. See Also: Node , Network
- Hosting
- This term can be used to refer to the housing
of a web site, email or a domain. See Email hosting and Web
Site hosting for more details.
- HTML
- (HyperText Markup Language) -- The coding
language used to create Hypertext documents for use on
the World Wide Web.
HTML looks a lot like old-fashioned typesetting code, where
you surround a block of text with codes that indicate how it
should appear, additionally, in HTML you can specify that a
block of text, or a word, is linked to another file on the Internet.
HTML files are meant to be viewed using a World
Wide Web Client Program, such as Netscape or Mosaic. See Also: Client , Server , WWW
- HTTP
- (HyperText Transport Protocol) -- The protocol
for moving hypertext files across the Internet. Requires a HTTP client program on one end, and an HTTP server program on the other end. HTTP is the most important protocol
used in the World Wide Web (WWW). See Also: Client , Server , WWW
- Hypertext
- Generally, any text that contains links to
other documents - words or phrases in the document that can
be chosen by a reader and which cause another document to be
retrieved and displayed.
- IMHO
- (In My Humble Opinion) -- A shorthand appended
to a comment written in an online forum, IMHO indicates that
the writer is aware that they are expressing a debatable view,
probably on a subject already under discussion. One of many
shorthands in common use online, especially in discussion forums.
See Also: TTFN , BTW
- Internet
- (Upper case I) The vast collection of inter-connected networks that all
use the TCP/IP protocols and that evolved from the ARPANET of the late 60's and
early 70's. The Internet now (July 1995) connects roughly 60,000
independent networks into a vast global internet. See Also: internet
- internet
- (Lower case i) Any time you connect 2 or more networks together, you have an
internet - as in inter-national or inter-state. See Also: Internet , Network
- InterNIC
- InterNIC (now known as Network Solutions)
once held an exclusive contract with the U.S. government to
assign domain names ending with a .com, net, and .org. Since
their contract expired, the U.S. government has opened the monopoly
once held by Network Solutions and now there are many different
registrars who can register these domain names.
- Intranet
- A private network inside a company or organization
that uses the same kinds of software that you would find on
the public Internet, but that is only for internal use.
As the Internet has become more popular many
of the tools used on the Internet are being used in private
networks, for example, many companies have web servers that
are available only to employees.
Note that an Intranet may not actually be
an internet -- it may simply be a network. See Also: internet , Internet , Network
- IP Number
- (Internet Protocol Number) -- Sometimes called
a dotted quad. A unique number consisting of 4 parts separated
by dots, e.g.165.113.245.2
Every machine that is on the Internet has
a unique IP number - if a machine does not have an IP number,
it is not really on the Internet. Most machines also have
one or more Domain Names that are easier for people to remember. See Also: Domain Name , Internet , TCP/IP
- IRC
- (Internet Relay Chat) -- Basically a huge
multi-user live chat facility. There are a number of major IRC servers around the world which
are linked to each other. Anyone can create a channel and anything
that anyone types in a given channel is seen by all others in
the channel. Private channels can (and are) created for multi-person
conference calls.
- ISDN
- (Integrated Services Digital Network) -- Basically
a way to move more data over existing regular phone lines. ISDN
is rapidly becoming available to much of the USA and in most
markets it is priced very comparably to standard analog phone
circuits. It can provide speeds of roughly 128,000 bits-per-second
over regular phone lines. In practice, most people will be limited
to 56,000 or 64,000 bits-per-second.
- ISP
- (Internet Service Provider) -- An institution
that provides access to the Internet in some form, usually for
money. See Also: Internet
- Java
- Java is a network-oriented programming language
invented by Sun Microsystems that is specifically designed for
writing programs that can be safely downloaded to your computer
through the Internet and immediately run without fear of viruses
or other harm to your computer or files. Using small Java programs
(called "Applets"), Web pages can include
functions such as animations, calculators, and other fancy tricks.
We can expect to see a huge variety of features
added to the Web using Java, since you can write a Java program
to do almost anything a regular computer program can do, and
then include that Java program in a Web page. See Also: Applet
- JDK
- (Java Development Kit) -- A software development
package from Sun Microsystems that implements the basic set
of tools needed to write, test and debug Java applications and applets See Also: Applet , Java
- Kilobyte
- A thousand bytes. Actually, usually 1024 (210)
bytes. See Also: Byte , Bit
- LAN
- (Local Area Network) -- A computer network
limited to the immediate area, usually the same building or
floor of a building. See Also: Ethernet
- Leased-line
- Refers to a phone line that is rented for
exclusive 24-hour, 7 -days-a-week use from your location to
another location. The highest speed data connections require
a leased line. See Also:
T-1 , T-3
- Listserv
- The most common kind of maillist, Listservs originated on BITNET but they are now common
on the Internet. See Also: BITNET , E-mail , Maillist
- Local Registry Fees
- Most TLDs require initial registration fees
as well as annual or bi-annual renewal fees. Prices vary from
cost-free to thousands of dollars per domain depending on the
TLD chosen as well as the registration organization choosen.
Typical registration fees for TLDs are from $15 to $35 for 2
years of service.
- Login
- Noun or a verb. Noun: The account name used
to gain access to a computer system. Not a secret (contrast
with Password). Verb: The act of entering
into a computer system, e.g. Login
to the WELL and then go to the GBN conference. See Also: Password
- Maillist
- (or Mailing List) A (usually automated) system that allows people to send e-mail to one address, whereupon
their message is copied and sent to all of the other subscribers
to the maillist. In this way, people who have many different
kinds of e-mail access can participate in discussions together.
- Megabyte
- A million bytes. A thousand kilobytes. See Also: Byte , Bit , Kilobyte
- MIDI
- Musical Instrument Digital Interface -- A
network and accompanying protocol developed in the 1970's for
transmitting various information between musical and other devices
including keyboards, samplers, lights, controllers, etc.
- MIME
- (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) --
The standard for attaching non-text files to standard Internet
mail messages. Non-text files include graphics, spreadsheets,
formatted word-processor documents, sound files, etc.
An email program is said to be MIME Compliant
if it can both send and receive files using the MIME standard.
When non-text files are sent using the MIME
standard they are converted (encoded) into text - although
the resulting text is not really readable.
Generally speaking the MIME standard is a
way of specifying both the type of file being sent (e.g. a
QuicktimeÅ video file), and the method that should be
used to turn it back into its original form.
Besides email software, the MIME standard
is also universally used by Web Servers to identify the files
they are sending to Web Clients, in this way new file
formats can be accommodated simply by updating the Browsers'
list of pairs of MIME-Types and appropriate software for handling
each type. See Also: Browser , Client , Server , Binhex , UUENCODE
- Mirror
- Generally speaking, 'to mirror' is to maintain
an exact copy of something. Probably the most common use of
the term on the Internet refers to 'mirror sites' which are web sites, or FTP sites that maintain exact copies of material originated at another
location, usually in order to provide more widespread access
to the resource.
Another common use of the term 'mirror' refers
to an arrangement where information is written to more than
one hard disk simultaneously, so that if one disk fails, the
computer keeps on working without losing anything. See Also: FTP , Web
- Modem
- (MOdulator, DEModulator) -- A device that
you connect to your computer and to a phone line, that allows
the computer to talk to other computers through the phone system.
Basically, modems do for computers what a telephone does for
humans.
- Modify (Domain Name)
- The database that the TLD registries maintain
need to be accurate in order for name resolution, billing, renewal
notices and public records to be processed correctly. Typically
modifications are required when nameservers need to change or
the contacts change email or postal address or phone number.
The procedures for modifying records will depend on the registry.
- MOO
- (Mud, Object Oriented) -- One of several kinds
of multi-user role-playing environments, so far only text-based.
See Also: MUD , MUSE
- Mosaic
- The first WWW browser that was available
for the Macintosh, Windows, and UNIX all with the same interface.
Mosaic really started the popularity of the Web. The source-code
to Mosaic has been licensed by several companies and there are
several other pieces of software as good or better than Mosaic,
most notably, Netscape. See Also: Browser , Client , WWW
- MUD
- (Multi-User Dungeon or Dimension) -- A (usually
text-based) multi-user simulation environment. Some are purely
for fun and flirting, others are used for serious software development,
or education purposes and all that lies in between. A significant
feature of most MUDs is that users can create things that stay
after they leave and which other users can interact with in
their absence, thus allowing a world to be built gradually and
collectively. See Also: MOO , MUSE
- MUSE
- (Multi-User Simulated Environment) -- One
kind of MUD - usually with little or no violence. See Also: MOO , MUD
- MX Record: Mail Exchange
- Mail Exchange record is part of the zone file
and is used to designate which mail server machine should process
email for a specific domain.
- Name Servers
- A computer that performs the mapping of easily
remembered domain names to IP addresses. Sometimes referred
to as a host server.
- Netiquette
- The etiquette on the Internet. See Also: Internet
- Netizen
- Derived from the term citizen, referring to
a citizen of the Internet, or someone who uses
networked resources. The term connotes civic responsibility
and participation. See Also: Internet
- Netscape
- A WWW Browser and the name of a company. The Netscape (tm) browser was originally
based on the Mosaic program developed at the National Center for Supercomputing
Applications (NCSA).
Netscape has grown in features rapidly and
is widely recognized as the best and most popular web browser.
Netscape corporation also produces web server software.
Netscape provided major improvements in speed
and interface over other browsers, and has also engendered
debate by creating new elements for the HTML language used by Web pages -- but the Netscape extensions
to HTML are not universally supported.
The main author of Netscape, Mark Andreessen,
was hired away from the NCSA by Jim Clark, and they founded
a company called Mosaic Communications and soon changed the
name to Netscape Communications Corporation. See Also: Browser , Mosaic , Server , WWW
- Network
- Any time you connect 2 or more computers together
so that they can share resources, you have a computer network.
Connect 2 or more networks together and you have an internet. See Also: internet , Internet , Intranet
- Newsgroup
- The name for discussion groups on USENET. See Also: USENET
- NIC
- (Networked Information Center) -- Generally,
any office that handles information for a network. The most
famous of these on the Internet is Network Solutions, which
is where new domain names are registered. Another definition:
NIC also refers to Network Interface Card which plugs into a
computer and adapts the network interface to the appropriate
standard. ISA, PCI, and PCMCIA cards are all examples of NICs.
- NNTP
- (Network News Transport Protocol) -- The protocol
used by client and server software to carry USENET postings back and forth
over a TCP/IP network. If you are using any of the more common software such
as Netscape, Nuntius, Internet Explorer,
etc. to participate in newsgroups then you are benefiting
from an NNTP connection. See Also: Newsgroup , TCP/IP , USENET
- Node
- Any single computer connected to a network. See Also: Network , Internet , internet
- OC-3
- Refers to a circuit that transmits 155,000,000
bits per second.
- Packet Switching
- The method used to move data around on the Internet. In packet switching, all the data coming out of a machine
is broken up into chunks, each chunk has the address of where
it came from and where it is going. This enables chunks of data
from many different sources to co-mingle on the same lines,
and be sorted and directed to different routes by special machines
along the way. This way many people can use the same lines at
the same time.
- Parking (Domain Name)
- Registries require the use of name servers
or hosts for every domain registered. Parking is the process
by which someone selects a domain name, and "parks" it by registering
the domain name under someone's name servers. Parking can be
done by anyone, to anyone else who has active name servers.
However, parking a domain name alone will result in no service
(webhosting, e-mail) for that particular domain name.
- Password
- A code used to gain access to a locked system.
Good passwords contain letters and non-letters and are not simple
combinations such as virtue7. A good password might be: Hot-6 See Also: Login
- Plug-in
- A (usually small) piece of software that adds
features to a larger piece of software. Common examples are
plug-ins for the Netscape® browser and web server. Adobe Photoshop®
also uses plug-ins.
The idea behind plug-in's is that a small
piece of software is loaded into memory by the larger program,
adding a new feature, and that users need only install the
few plug-ins that they need, out of a much larger pool of
possibilities. Plug-ins are usually developed by a third party.
- POP
- (Point of Presence, also Post Office Protocol)
-- A Point of Presence usually means a city or location where
a network can be connected to, often with dial up phone lines.
So if an Internet company says they will soon have a POP in
Belgrade, it means that they will soon have a local phone number
in Belgrade and/or a place where leased lines can connect to
their network. A second meaning, Post Office Protocol refers
to the way e-mail software such as Eudora gets mail from a mail
server. When you obtain a SLIP, PPP, or shell account you almost
always get a POP account with it, and it is this POP account
that you tell your e-mail software to use to get your mail.
See Also: SLIP , PPP
- Port
- 3 meanings. First and most generally, a place
where information goes into or out of a computer, or both. E.g.
the serial port on a personal computer is where a modem would be connected.
On the Internet port often refers to a number
that is part of a URL, appearing after a colon
(:) right after the domain name. Every service on
an Internet server listens on a particular
port number on that server. Most services have standard port
numbers, e.g. Web servers normally listen on port 80. Services
can also listen on non-standard ports, in which case the port
number must be specified in a URL when accessing the server,
so you might see a URL of the form:
gopher://peg.cwis.uci.edu:7000/
shows a gopher server running on a non-standard
port (the standard gopher port is 70). Finally, port also
refers to translating a piece of software to bring it from
one type of computer system to another, e.g. to translate
a Windows program so that it will run on a Macintosh. See
Also: Domain Name , Server , URL
- Posting
- A single message entered into a network communications
system. E.g. A single message posted to a newsgroup or message board. See
Also: Newsgroup
- PPP
- (Point to Point Protocol) -- Most well known
as a protocol that allows a computer to use a regular telephone
line and a modem to make TCP/IP connections and thus be really and truly on the Internet. See Also: IP Number , Internet , SLIP , TCP/IP
- Propagation
- The process whereby the nameservers throughout
the world have updated their records for a specific domain.
For example, if you move your domain from one host to another,
it will take around 24 hours or so for the new address to broadcast
everywhere. During that 24 hour period, the traffic is decreasing
at the old location and increasing at the new location.
- PSTN
- (Public Switched Telephone Network) -- The
regular old-fashioned telephone system.
- Register (Domain Name)
- Since every domain is unique, registries have
been set up to assign domains to individuals and organziations.
When a domain is registered with the appropriate registry, that
domain is assigned and becomes no longer available for anyone
else to use. Typically, there are registration and renewal fees
(local registry fees) associated with the right to use a domain.
However, there are some TLDs that are provided at no charge.
- Registrant (Domain Name)
- The entity, organization or individual that
will be using the domain name.
- Registrar (Domain Name)
- Some registries don't provide the ability
for end users to register domains with them directly. They might
require end users to purchase the domain through an internet
provider that is acting as the registrar.
- Registry (Domain Name)
- An organization responsible for assigning
domain names for the TLD that they manage. Furthermore, it is
their responsibility to update the global DNS tables that all
nameservers use to resolve domain names. For example, InterNIC
is the registry for .COM, .NET and .ORG domain names.
- Renewal (Domain Name)
- Most TLDs need to be renewed at some scheduled
yearly interval. This is an opportunity for both the registrant
and the registry to update their records as well as collect
any applicable renewal fees.
- Resolution (domain Name)
- The conversion of an internet address or domain
name into the corresponding physical location.
- RFC
- (Request For Comments) -- The name of the
result and the process for creating a standard on the Internet. New standards are proposed and published on line, as a
Request For Comments. The Internet Engineering Task Force is
a consensus-building body that facilitates discussion, and eventually
a new standard is established, but the reference number/name
for the standard retains the acronym RFC, e.g. the official
standard for e-mail is RFC 822.
- Router
- A special-purpose computer (or software package)
that handles the connection between 2 or more networks. Routers spend all their
time looking at the destination addresses of the packets passing through them and deciding which route to send them
on. See Also: Network , Packet Switching
- Security Certificate
- A chunk of information (often stored as a
text file) that is used by the SSL protocol to establish a secure
connection.
Security Certificates contain information
about who it belongs to, who it was issued by, a unique serial
number or other unique identification, valid dates, and an
encrypted 'fingerprint' that can be used to verify the contents
of the certificate.
In order for an SSL connection to be created,
both sides must have a valid Security Certificate. See Also: Certificate Authority , SSL
- Server
- A computer, or a software package, that provides
a specific kind of service to client software running on other computers. The term can refer
to a particular piece of software, such as a WWW server, or to the machine on which the software is running,
e.g.Our mail server is down today, that's why e-mail isn't getting
out. A single server machine could have several different server
software packages running on it, thus providing many different
servers to clients on the network. See Also: Client , Network
- SLIP
- (Serial Line Internet Protocol) -- A standard
for using a regular telephone line (a serial line) and a modem to connect a computer as
a real Internet site. SLIP is gradually
being replaced by PPP. See Also: Internet , PPP
- SMDS
- (Switched Multimegabit Data Service) -- A
new standard for very high-speed data transfer.
- SMTP
- (Simple Mail Transport Protocol) -- The main
protocol used to send electronic mail on the Internet.
SMTP consists of a set of rules for how a
program sending mail and a program receiving mail should interact.
Almost all Internet email is sent and received
by clients and servers using SMTP, thus if one wanted to set up an email server
on the Internet one would look for email server software that
supports SMTP. See Also: Client , Server
- SNMP
- (Simple Network Management Protocol) -- A
set of standards for communication with devices connected to
a TCP/IP network. Examples of these devices
include routers, hubs, and switches.
A device is said to be 'SNMP compatible'
if it can be monitored and/or controlled using SNMP messages.
SNMP messages are known as 'PDU's' - Protocol Data Units.
Devices that are SNMP compatible contain
SNMP 'agent' software to receive, send, and act upon SNMP
messages.
Software for managing devices via SNMP are
available for every kind of commonly used computer and are
often bundled along with the device they are designed to manage.
Some SNMP software is designed to handle a wide variety of
devices. See Also: Network , Router
- Spam (or Spamming)
- An inappropriate attempt to use a mailing
list, or USENET or other networked communications
facility as if it was a broadcast medium (which it is not) by
sending the same message to a large number of people who didn't
ask for it. The term probably comes from a famous Monty Python
skit which featured the word spam repeated over and over. The
term may also have come from someone's low opinion of the food
product with the same name, which is generally perceived as
a generic content-free waste of resources. (Spam is a registered
trademark of Hormel Corporation, for its processed meat product.)
E.g. Mary spammed 50 USENET groups by posting
the same message to each. See Also: Maillist , USENET
- SQL
- (Structured Query Language) -- A specialized
programming language for sending queries to databases. Most
industrial-strength and many smaller database applications can
be addressed using SQL. Each specific application will have
its own version of SQL implementing features unique to that
application, but all SQL-capable databases support a common
subset of SQL.
- SSL
- (Secure Sockets Layer) -- A protocol designed
by Netscape Communications to enable encrypted, authenticated
communications across the Internet.
SSL used mostly (but not exclusively) in
communications between web browsers and web servers. URL's that begin with 'https' indicate that an SSL connection
will be used.
SSL provides 3 important things: Privacy,
Authentication, and Message Integrity.
In an SSL connection each side of the connection
must have a Security Certificate,
which each side's software sends to the other. Each side then
encrypts what it sends using information from both its own
and the other side's Certificate, ensuring that only the intended
recipient can de-crypt it, and that the other side can be
sure the data came from the place it claims to have come from,
and that the message has not been tampered with. See Also: Browser , Server , Security Certificate , URL
- Sysop
- (System Operator) -- Anyone responsible for
the physical operations of a computer system or network resource.
A System Administrator decides how often backups and maintenance
should be performed and the System Operator performs those tasks.
- T-1
- A leased-line connection capable
of carrying data at 1,544,000 bits-per-second. At maximum theoretical capacity, a T-1 line
could move a megabyte in less than 10 seconds.
That is still not fast enough for full-screen, full-motion video,
for which you need at least 10,000,000 bits-per-second. T-1
is the fastest speed commonly used to connect networks to the Internet. See Also:
Bandwidth , Bit , Byte , Ethernet , T-3
- T-3
- A leased-line connection capable
of carrying data at 44,736,000 bits-per-second. This is more
than enough to do full-screen, full-motion video. See Also:
Bandwidth , Bit , Byte , Ethernet , T-1
- TCP/IP
- (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)
-- This is the suite of protocols that defines the Internet. Originally designed
for the UNIX operating system, TCP/IP
software is now available for every major kind of computer operating
system. To be truly on the Internet, your computer must have TCP/IP software. See Also: IP
Number , Internet , UNIX
- Telnet
- The command and program used to login from one Internet site to another. The
telnet command/program gets you to the login: prompt of another host.
- Terabyte
- 1024 gigabytes. See Also: Byte , Kilobyte
- Terminal
- A device that allows you to send commands
to a computer somewhere else. At a minimum, this usually means
a keyboard and a display screen and some simple circuitry. Usually
you will use terminal software in a personal computer - the
software pretends to be (emulates) a physical terminal and allows
you to type commands to a computer somewhere else.
- Terminal Server
- A special purpose computer that has places
to plug in many modems on one side, and a connection
to a LAN or host machine on the other side. Thus the terminal server does the
work of answering the calls and passes the connections on to
the appropriate node. Most terminal servers can
provide PPP or SLIP services if connected to the Internet. See Also: LAN , Modem , Host , Node , PPP , SLIP
- Top Level Domain: (TLD)
- A Top Level Domain (TLD) is the uppermost
in the hierarchy of domain names. For example, 1001resources.com
is our domain name. The "net" is considered the TLD and the
"1001resources.com" is considered the second level domain. Together
they form a domain name which is unique. There are two types
of TLDs. The most common type is the Generic or Global TLDs
which include .COM, .NET, .ORG, .MIL, .INT and .EDU. There is
a possibility that new gTLDs will be introduced in the near
future. National or ccTLDs are two letter country code domains
that are managed by a registry designated and controlled by
each specific country. Each registry might have differing prices,
residency requirements and structure.
- Trademark
- As it relates to domain names... a word, phrase
or slogan used to identify and distinguish the source of the
goods or services. Trademark law may be different worldwide.
If someone registers a domain name such as microsoft.to then
Microsoft would need to go to the courts in Tonga to fight to
get the name back. Expensive international litigation is one
reason why it is important to protect your trademarks before
someone else registers the names.
- Transfer (Domain Name)
- On occasion, domains are sold to another organization
or sometimes the name of a company might change. Most registries
require a letter of permission from the old owner to hand over
control to the new owner. The procedures for Transfer of ownership
will depend on the registry.
- TTFN
- (Ta Ta For Now) -- A shorthand appended to
a comment written in an online forum. See Also: IMHO , BTW
- UNIX
- A computer operating system (the basic software
running on a computer, underneath things like word processors
and spreadsheets). UNIX is designed to be used by many people
at the same time (it is multi-user) and has TCP/IP built-in. It is the most
common operating system for servers on the Internet.
- URL
- (Uniform Resource Locator) -- The standard
way to give the address of any resource on the Internet that
is part of the World Wide Web (WWW). A URL looks like this:
http://www.1001resources.com or telnet://anywhere.you.want or
news:new.newusers.questions etc.
The most common way to use a URL is to enter
into a WWW browser program, such as Netscape, or Lynx. See
Also: Browser , WWW
- USENET
- A world-wide system of discussion groups,
with comments passed among hundreds of thousands of machines.
Not all USENET machines are on the Internet, maybe half. USENET is completely decentralized, with over
10,000 discussion areas, called newsgroups. See Also: Newsgroup
- UUENCODE
- (Unix to Unix Encoding) -- A method for converting
files from Binary to ASCII (text) so that they can be sent across the Internet via e-mail. See Also: Binhex , MIME
- Veronica
- (Very Easy Rodent Oriented Net-wide Index
to Computerized Archives) -- Developed at the University of
Nevada, Veronica is a constantly updated database of the names
of almost every menu item on thousands of gopher servers. The Veronica
database can be searched from most major gopher menus. See Also: Gopher
- WAIS
- (Wide Area Information Servers) -- A commercial
software package that allows the indexing of huge quantities
of information, and then making those indices searchable across networks such as the Internet. A prominent feature of WAIS is that the search results
are ranked (scored) according to how relevant the hits are,
and that subsequent searches can find more stuff like that last
batch and thus refine the search process.
- WAN
- (Wide Area Network) -- Any internet or network that covers an area larger
than a single building or campus. See Also: Internet , internet , LAN , Network
- Web
- See: WWW
- Whois
- Most registries maintain a database of domain
names and their associated contact information. Users can query
these databases through a program called Whois.
- WWW
- (World Wide Web) -- Two meanings - First,
loosely used: the whole constellation of resources that can
be accessed using Gopher, FTP, HTTP, telnet, USENET, WAIS and some other tools. Second, the universe of hypertext servers (HTTP servers) which are the
servers that allow text, graphics, sound files, etc. to be mixed
together. See Also: Browser , FTP , Gopher , HTTP , Telnet , URL , WAIS
- Zone file
- The group of files that reside on the domain
host or nameserver. The zone file designates a domain, its subdomains
and mail server.
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