NETWORK TERMINOLOGY

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. This Internet protocol is used to copy files between computers, usually a client and an archive site. It is a bit slow and doesn't support compression. It allows you to download shareware or freeware applications without knowing the complexities of Unix. It is an application layer protocol that uses TCP and Telnet protocols. FTP is designed to transfer entire files only, in bulk. It does not provide the capability to transfer a portion of a file or records within a file. It can transfer binary files and ASCII text files.

Gopher is a text-based, menu-driven information retrieval system for the Internet. It allows you to search databases for keywords or subjects. Web browsers such as Netscape and Internet Explorer have been replacing Gopher for document retrieval. An advantage to searching with Gopher is that you can read directly from the servers without needing to copy or save the files to your system first. Gopher files do not use HTML format and do not provide much beyond a basic text presentation of information.

Gopher was developed at the University of Minnesota. Golden Gopher was the name of the school mascot.

A hub is a device used to network computers together, usually over an Ethernet connection. It serves as the central node of a star-topology network linking workstations, servers, networks and network equipment. In a star/ring network, it is the location of wiring concentrators. Single communications cable segments connect to the hub like a star. In Ethernet/IEEE 802.3 terminology, a hub is an Ethernet multiport repeater, which is sometimes referred to as a concentrator or an access unit.

ISP stands for Internet Service Provider. Some companies link to the Internet via dedicated communication lines. A service provider is a company that offers use of its dedicated communication lines. Most ISPs have a network of servers (mail, news, Web, etc.), routers, and modems attached to a permanent, high-speed Internet "backbone" connection. Subscribers can then dial into the local network to gain Internet access without having to maintain servers, a file for domain names, or learn Unix.

A port can be defined several ways:

a) It is a system or network access point for data entry or exit.

A router forwards packets from a local area network (LAN) to another, based on network-layer information. Routers also act as traffic cops, allowing only authorized machines to transmit data into the local network so that private information can remain secure. Routers also handle errors, keep network usage statistics, and handle security issues. It can be a computer that determines the shortest or best path for network traffic flow based on algorithms or other criteria.

A router differs from a bridge in that a bridge interconnects multiple local area networks using the same logical link control protocol but may use different medium access control protocols.

A switch is a network device that cross connects stations or LAN segments. A LAN switch is also known as a frame switch.

Similar to a router, switches split large networks into small segments. This reduces the number of users sharing the same network resources and bandwidth. Switches help prevent data collisions and reduce network congestion, thus increasing network performance.

Unlike a router, a switch allows dedicated bandwidth to be designated to each device on the network. For example, a 16-port 10BaseT hub shares the total 10 Mbps bandwidth with all 16 attached nodes. By replacing the hub with a switch, each sender/receiver pair has the full 10 Mbps capacity. Each port on the switch can give full bandwidth to a single server or client station or it can be connected to a hub with several stations. Switches also support virtual local area networks (VLANs), which allow for the formation of small user groups within an existing network.

T1 is a term coined by AT & T for a digital carrier facility used to transfer signals through the telephone hierarchy at 1.544 megabits per second. In the United States, its is a public access line available in twenty-four 64-Kbps channels. The European version (E1) transmits 2.048 megabits per second. The Japanese version (J1) transmits 1.544 Mbps.

Upstream, when used in a network, pertains to the direction from which the data flows.

In a hierarchical network structure, it indicates the location of a network entity that is higher in the heirarchy. For example, a small ISP that connects to the Internet through a larger ISP that has their own connection to the backbone is downstream from the larger ISP, and the larger ISP is upstream from the smaller ISP. A server would be upstream from a client.

Also known as the World Wide Web or the W3. It is a network of file servers using software such as Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS) and files to make HTML and other Web documents available for workstations. On the Web, everything is represented as hypertext (in HTML format) and is linked to other documents by their URLs. The Web encompasses http protocol, as well as ftp, Gopher, and Telnet. Many of the files contain hypertext links to other documents available through the network.

U of C Data Network Operations: Networking Terminology - http://www-neteng.uchicago.edu/Docs/terms.html#index
**Nicely Illustrated** Lucent Technologies Networking Basics - http://www.lucent.com/ins/library/networkingbasics/
Network Administrator NetWare 4.1, Simpson, Auer, Ciampa, Course Technology, 1997