ACK—Acknowledgment. Communications signal returned to the sending source, indicating a message has been received successfully.
BSD—Berkeley Software Distribution. University of California Berkeley, developed in 1975 by Ken Thompson and was based upon Unix Version 6.
CU-SeeMe—(see you, see me) Very popular protocol used in video conferencing.
DHCP—Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for assigning IP numbers to computers from a pool of IP numbers.
hub—Device used to connect several other devices together, e.g. in a hub/spoke architecture, a central connection box, or hub, is used to pass messages or data from a computer to one or more other computers connected to the hub.
ICMP—Internet Control Message Protocol.
ISP—Independent Service Provider.
LAN—Local Area Network.
MUD—Multiple user dungeon interactive computer game.
NetBios—Network Basic Input/Output System. Software interface for a controller on personal computer local area networks. Accepted as a de facto standard for Token Ring interface.
RFC—Request for Comment. Document developed by the Internet Activities Board's Internet Engineering Task Force. Defines the standards for protocols and utilities used on the Internet.
RPC—Remote Procedure Call. Network File System interface for inter-host connectivity over a network. A system network call that allows commands or programs to function on remote systems over a network as if they were being executed on a local system.
SNMP—Simple Network Management Protocol. Originally released in November 1987 by the Internet Engineering Task Force, defining reporting protocols and message formats. It is a protocol layer above the Transmission Control network manager to monitor and control the network and devices connected to it.
Spoofing—Attempting to gain or gaining access to a system by gaining a user's account name and password.
SYN—Synchronous. Jargon term for synchronous communication. Internal and external means of data transfer in which there is a pre-established and constant interval between the release of data characters. This allows data to be sent and received at the same time.
syslog—Software package written by Eric Allman to record Network-generated errors.
TCP—Transmission Control Protocol. Used in packet network communications systems to manage the movement of the information. Guarantees delivery of uncorrupted data in the correct sequence.
TCP/IP—Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. The two fundamental protocols used to establish a connection for data transmission (TCP) and to define the composition of the packet of information being transmitted (IP). As a result of the fundamental nature of the two protocols, the Internet suite is normally referred to as TCP/IP.
UDP—User Datagram Protocol. Protocol added above the Internet Protocol Suite used for packet transmission. Developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Sends packets, called datagrams, from an application program on a local host to an application program on a remote host, but does not guarantee delivery.
All definitions can be found in Unix: An Open Systems Dictionary, William H. Holt and Rockie J. Morgan, Resolution Business Press Inc., Copyright 1994 by William H. Holt, except DHCP and CU-SeeMe, which are defined by the author.
