Linux Networking/Glossary of Terms used in this document

Glossary of Terms used in this document.

The following is a list of some of the most important terms used in this document.

  ARP
     This is an acronym for the Address Resolution Protocol and this
     is how a network machine associates an IP Address with a
     hardware address.

  ATM
     This is an acronym for Asynchronous Transfer Mode.  An ATM
     network packages data into standard size blocks which it can
     convey efficiently from point to point. ATM is a circuit
     switched packet network technology.

  client
     This is usually the piece of software at the end of a system
     where the user is. There are exceptions to this, for example, in
     the X11 window system it is actually the server with the user
     and the client runs on the remote machine. The client is the
     program or end of a system that is receiving the service
     provided by the server. In the case of peer to peer systems such
     as slip or ppp the client is taken to be the end that initiates
     the connection and the remote end, being called, is taken to be
     the server.

  datagram
     A datagram is a discrete package of data and headers which
     contain addresses, which is the basic unit of transmission
     across an IP network. You might also hear this called a
     `packet'.

  DLCI
     The DLCI is the Data Link Connection Identifier and is used to
     identify a unique virtual point to point connection via a Frame
     Relay network. The DLCI's are normally assigned by the Frame
     Relay network provider.

  Frame Relay
     Frame Relay is a network technology ideally suited to carrying
     traffic that is of bursty or sporadic nature. Network costs are
     reduced by having many Frame Relay customer sharing the same
     network capacity and relying on them wanting to make use of the
     network at slightly different times.

  Hardware address
     This is a number that uniquely identifies a host in a physical
     network at the media access layer. Examples of this are Ethernet
     Addresses and AX.25 Addresses.

  ISDN
     This is an acronym for Integrated Services Digital Network. ISDN
     provides a standardized means by which Telecommunications
     companies may deliver either voice or data information to a
     customers premises.  Technically ISDN is a circuit switched data
     network.

  ISP
     This is an acronym of Internet Service Provider. These are
     organizations or companies that provide people with network
     connectivity to the Internet.

  IP address
     This is a number that uniquely identifies a TCP/IP host on the
     network. The address is 4 bytes long and is usually represented
     in what is called the "dotted decimal notation", where each byte
     is represented in decimal from with dots `.' between them.

  MSS
     The Maximum Segment Size (MSS) is the largest quantity of data
     that can be transmitted at one time. If you want to prevent
     local fragmentation MSS would equal MTU-IP header.

  MTU
     The Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) is a parameter that
     determines the largest datagram than can be transmitted by an IP
     interface without it needing to be broken down into smaller
     units. The MTU should be larger than the largest datagram you
     wish to transmit unfragmented. Note, this only prevents
     fragmentation locally, some other link in the path may have a
     smaller MTU and the datagram will be fragmented there. Typical
     values are 1500 bytes for an ethernet interface, or 576 bytes
     for a SLIP interface.

  route
     The route is the path that your datagrams take through the
     network to reach their destination.

  server
     This is usually the piece of software or end of a system remote
     from the user. The server provides some service to one or many
     clients.  Examples of servers include ftp, Networked File
     System, or Domain Name Server. In the case of peer to peer
     systems such as slip or ppp the server is taken to be the end of
     the link that is called and the end calling is taken to be the
     client.

  window
     The window is the largest amount of data that the receiving end
     can accept at a given point in time.