Networking Terms

Bandwidth: The amount of data that can be passed along a communications channel in a given period of time

Bit: Short for binary digit, the smallest unit of information on a machine

Byte: Abbreviation for binary term, a unit of storage capable of holding a single character.

Broadband: A type of data transmission in which a single medium (wire) can carry several channels at once. Cable TV, for example, uses broadband transmission

Client: The client part of a client-server architecture. Typically, a client is an application that runs on a personal computer or workstation and relies on a server to perform some operations.

crossover cable Similar to a null-modem cable, with the exception that the crossover cable is used for Ethernet connections

DNS: Short for Domain Name System (or Service or Server), Short for digital nervous system, a term coined by Bill Gates to describe a network of personal computers that make it easier to obtain and understand information.

Dongle: A device that attaches to a computer to control access to a particular application. Dongles provide the most effective means of copy protection. Typically, the dongle attaches to a PC's parallel port. On Macintoshes, the dongle sometimes attaches to the ADB port. The dongle passes through all data coming through the port so it does not prevent the port from being used for other purposes. In fact, it's possible to attach several dongles to the same port.

Download: To copy data (usually an entire file) from a main source to a peripheral device. The term is often used to describe the process of copying a file from an online service to your personal computer

Ethernet: uses a bus or star topology and supports data transfer rates of 10 Mbps. The Ethernet specification served as the basis for the IEEE 802.3 standard, which specifies the physical and lower software layers

Firewall: A system designed to prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network. Firewalls can be implemented in both hardware and software,

FTP: is most commonly used to download a file from a server using the Internet or to upload a file to a server

HTTP: Short for HyperText Transfer Protocol, the underlying protocol used by the World Wide Web. HTTP defines how messages are formatted and transmitted

Hub: A common connection point for devices in a network. Hubs are commonly used to connect segments of a LAN. A hub contains multiple ports. When a packet arrives at one port, it is copied to the other ports so that all segments of the LAN can see all packets.