error-checking fields.
host number
The part of an internet address that designates which
node on the (sub)network is being addressed.
HP Hewlett-Packard
HYPERchannel
High-speed communications link.
I/O Input/Output
IAB Internet Activities Board
The IAB is the coordinating committee for Internet
design, engineering and management.
IBM International Business Machines Corporation
ICMP Internet Control Message Protocol
ICMP is an extension to the Internet Protocol. It
allows for the generation of error messages,
test packets and informational messages related to IP.
IEEE Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers
IETF Internet Engineering Task Force
The IETF is a large open community of network designers,
operators, vendors, and researchers whose purpose is to
coordinate the operation, management and evolution of
the Internet, and to resolve short- and mid-range
protocol and architectural issues. It is a major source
of proposed protocol standards which are submitted to the
Internet Activities Board for final approval. The IETF
meets three times a year and extensive minutes of the
plenary proceedings are issued.
internet
internetwork
Any connection of two or more local or wide-area networks.
Internet
The global collection of interconnected local, mid-level and
wide-area networks which use IP as the network layer
protocol.
internet address
An assigned number which identifies a host in an internet.
It has two or three parts: network number, optional subnet
number, and host number.
IP Internet Protocol
The network layer protocol for the Internet. It is a packet
switching, datagram protocol defined in RFC791.
IRTF Internet Research Task Force
The IRTF is a community of network researchers,
generally with an Internet focus. The work of the IRTF
is governed by its Internet Research Steering Group (IRSG).
ISO International Organization for Standardization
KB Kilobyte
A unit of data storage size which represents 2^10
(1024) characters of information.
Kb Kilobit
2^10 bits of information (usually used to express a
data transfer rate; as in, 1 kilobit/second = 1Kbps = 1Kb).
LAN Local Area Network
A network that takes advantage of the proximity of computers
to offer relatively efficient, higher speed communications
than long-haul or wide-area networks.
LISP List Processing Language
A high-level computer language invented by Professor John
McCarthy in 1961 to support research into computer based
logic, logical reasoning, and artificial intelligence. It
was the first symbolic (as opposed to numeric) computer
processing language.
MAC Medium Access Control
For broadcast networks, it is the method which devices use
to determine which device has line access at any given
time.
Mac Apple Macintosh computer.
MAN Metropolitan Area Network
MB Megabyte
A unit of data storage size which represents over
2^20 (one million) characters of information.
Mb Megabit
2^20 bits of information (usually used to express a
data transfer rate; as in, 1 megabit/second = 1Mbps).
MILNET Military Network
A network used for unclassified military production
applications. It is part of the DDN and the Internet.
MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MTTF Mean Time to Failure
The average time between hardware breakdown or loss of
service. This may be an empirical measurement or a
calculation based on the MTTF of component parts.
MTTR Mean Time to Recovery (or Repair)
The average time it takes to restore service after a
breakdown or loss. This is usually an empirical measurement.
MVS Multiple Virtual Storage
An IBM operating system based on OS/1.
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NBS National Bureau of Standards
Now called NIST.
network number
The part of an internet address which designates the
network to which the addressed node belongs.
NFS Network File System
A network service that lets a program running on one
computer to use data stored on a different computer on
the same internet as if it were on its own disk.
NIC Network Information Center
An organization which provides network users with
information about services provided by the network.
NOC Network Operations Center
An organization that is responsible for maintaining
a network.
NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology
Formerly NBS.
NSF National Science Foundation
NSFNET National Science Foundation Network
The NSFNET is a highspeed "network of networks" which is
hierarchical in nature. At the highest level is a network
that spans the continental United States. Attached to that
are mid-level networks and attached to the mid-levels are
campus and local networks. NSFNET also has connections out
of the U.S. to Canada, Mexico, Europe, and the Pacific Rim.
The NSFNET is part of the Internet.
NSFNET Mid-level Level Network
A network connected to the highest level of the NSFNET that
covers a region of the United States. It is to mid-level
networks that local sites connect. The mid-level networks
were once called "regionals".
OSI Open Systems Interconnection
A set of protocols designed to be an international standard
method for connecting unlike computers and networks. Europe
has done most of the work developing OSI and will probably
use it as soon as possible.
OSI Reference Model
An "outline" of OSI which defines its seven layers and
their functions. Sometimes used to help describe other
networks.
OSPF Open Shortest-Path First Interior Gateway Protocol
A proposed replacement for RIP. It addresses some
problems of RIP and is based upon principles that have
been well-tested in non-internet protocols. Originally
acronymed as OSPFIGP.
packet The unit of data sent across a packet switching network.
The term is used loosely. While some Internet
literature uses it to refer specifically to data sent
across a physical network, other literature views
the Internet as a packet switching network
and describes IP datagrams as packets.
PC Personal Computer
PCNFS Personal Computer Network File System
POSIX Portable Operating System Interface
Operating system based on UNIX.
PPP Point-to-Point Protocol
The Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) provides a method for
transmitting datagrams over serial point-to-point links.
protocol
A formal description of message formats and the rules
two computers must follow to exchange those messages.
Protocols can describe low-level details of
machine-to-machine interfaces (e.g., the order in
which bits and bytes are sent across a wire)
or high-level exchanges between allocation
programs (e.g., the way in which two programs
transfer a file across the Internet).
RFCThe Internet's Request for Comments documents series
The RFCs are working notes of the Internet research and
development community. A document in this series may be on
essentially any topic related to computer communication, and
may be anything from a meeting report to the specification of
a standard.
RIP Routing Interchange Protocol
One protocol which may be used on internets simply to pass
routing information between gateways. It is used on may
LANs and on some of the NSFNET intermediate level networks.
RJE Remote Job Entry
The general protocol for submitting batch jobs and
retrieving the results.
RLOGIN Remote Login
A service on internets very similar to TELNET. RLOGIN was
invented for use between Berkeley Unix systems on the same
LAN at a time when TELNET programs didn't provide all the
services users wanted. Berkeley plans to phase it out.
router A special-purpose dedicated computer that attaches to
two or more networks and routes packets from one
network to the other. In particular, an Internet
gateway routes IP datagrams among the networks it
connects. Gateways route packets to other
gateways until they can be delivered to the final
destination directly across one physical network.
RPC Remote Procedure Call
An easy and popular paradigm for implementing the
client-server model of distributed computing.
server A computer that shares its resources, such as printers
and files, with other computers on the network. An
example of this is a Network Files System (NFS)
Server which shares its disk space with one or more
workstations that may not have local disk drives of
their own.
SLIP Serial Line Internet Protocol
SLIP is currently a defacto standard, commonly used for
point-to-point serial connections running TCP/IP. It is
not an Internet standard but is defined in RFC1055.
SMTP Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
The Internet standard protocol for transferring
electronic mail messages from one computer to another.
SMTP specifies how two mail systems interact and the
format of control messages they exchange to transfer mail.
SNA System Network Architecture
IBM's data communications protocol.
SNMP Simple Network Management Protocol
The Simple Network Management Protocol (RFC1157) is the
Internet's standard for remote monitoring and management
of hosts, routers and other nodes and devices on a network.
subnet A portion of a network, which may be a physically independent
network, which shares a network address with other portions
of the network and is distinguished by a subnet number. A
subnet is to a network what a network is to an internet.
subnet number
A part of the internet address which designates a subnet.
It is ignored for the purposes internet routing, but is
used for intranet routing.
T1 A term for a digital carrier facility used to transmit a
DS-1 formatted digital signal at 1.544 megabits per second.
T3 A term for a digital carrier facility used to transmit a DS-3
formatted digital signal at 44.746 megabits per second.
TCP Transmission Control Protocol
A transport layer protocol for the Internet. It is a
connection oriented, stream protocol defined by RFC793.
TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
This is a common shorthand which refers to the suite
of application and transport protocols which run over IP.
These include FTP, TELNET, SMTP, and UDP (a transport
layer protocol).
Telenet A public packet-switching network operated by US Sprint.
Also known as "SprintNet".
TELNET The Internet standard protocol for remote terminal
connection service. TELNET allows a user at one site
to interact with a remote timesharing system at
another site as if the user's terminal was connected
directly to the remote computer.
THEnet The Texas Higher Education Network, a multiprotocol
network connecting most major academic and research
institutions in the State of Texas, as well as several
institutions in Mexico.
Token Ring
A type of LAN. Examples are IEEE 802.5, ProNET-10/80 and
FDDI. The term "token ring" is often used to denote 802.5
Tymnet A public character-switching/packet-switching network
operated by British Telecom.
UDP User Datagram Protocol
A transport layer protocol for the Internet. It is a
datagram protocol which adds a level of reliability and
multiplexing to IP datagrams. It is defined in RFC768.
ULTRIX UNIX-based operating system for Digital Equipment Corporation
computers.
UNIX An operating system developed by Bell Laboratories that
supports multiuser and multitasking operations.
UUCP UNIX-to-UNIX Copy Program
A protocol used for communication between consenting
UNIX systems.
VMS Virtual Memory System
A Digital Equipment Corporation operating system.
WAN Wide Area Network
WHOIS An Internet program which allows users to query a database of
people and other Internet entities, such as domains,
networks, and hosts, kept at the NIC. The information for
people shows a person's company name, address, phone number
and email address.
XNS Xerox Network System
A data communications protocol suite developed by Xerox. It
uses Ethernet to move the data between computers.
X.25 A data communications interface specification developed to
describe how data passes into and out of public data
communications networks. The public networks such as
Sprintnet and Tymnet use X.25 to interface to customer
computers.
14. Security Considerations
Security issues are not discussed in this memo.
15. Authors' Addresses
Gary Scott Malkin
FTP Software, Inc.
26 Princess Street
Wakefield, MA 01880
Phone: (617) 246-0900
EMail: gmalkin@ftp.com
April N. Marine
SRI International
Network Information Systems Center
333 Ravenswood Avenue, EJ294
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Phone: (415) 859-5318
EMail: APRIL@nic.ddn.mil