| Boradcast Domain |
A group of computers that receives the signal by a sender without copying/re-sending the signal. [ref] |
| Data Frame |
A sequence of bytes containing the data to be sent along with meta data necessary for the network transfer and delivery. [ref] |
| Data Packet |
Data Frame. |
| DHCP Client |
A service running on each computer that can communicate with a DHCP server, get an IP, and configure a network interface with that IP. [ref] |
| DHCP Server |
A service running on one computer in the network and keeps an inventory of available IPs. It can allocate IPs to other machines that request one. [ref] |
| IP |
Software network identity scheme consisting of a series of bytes. [ref] |
| IP Mask |
The number of fixed bits in an IP addressing scheme and is used to indicate the range of the network that the address belongs to. [ref] |
| IPv4 |
Software network identity scheme consisting of 4 bytes where each byte is written in decimal and is separated by a dot from the next. [ref] |
| IPv6 |
Software network identity scheme consisting of 16 bytes where each 2 bytes are written in hexadecimal and are separated by a colon from the next pair. [ref] |
| LAN (Local Area Network) |
The group of computers that are on the same network segment. [ref] |
| Layer 2 Communication |
Any communication that uses the MAC address of the network adapters to communicate with them. [ref] |
| Layer 3 Communication |
Any communication that uses the IP address assigned to a network adapter to communicate with it. [ref] |
| Network Adapter |
Converts streams of bytes to analog signals on the network transfer medium. [ref] |
| Network Interface |
A physical port on a network card. |
| Network Card |
Network Adapter. |
| Network Hub |
A device with multiple ports and is capable of replicating the signal received from one port unto all the other ports. [ref] |
| Network Physical Layer (Layer 1) |
The physical wire connections of the varios computers on the network. [ref] |
| Network Segment |
A group of computers that share the same physical networking media/wire. [ref] |
| Network Switch |
A device that can replicate network signals unto other wire branches selectively. |
| Subnet Mask |
The bitwise mask for an IP addressing scheme where 1 indicates a fixed value for the network at hand, and 0 indicates a variable one. [ref] |
| vLAN |
A group of machines connected to a switch and isolated by software (running on the switch) from communicating with other physically connected machines to the same switch. [ref] |
| vLAN ID |
A software identifier for the vLAN configuration. [ref] |