Dell TrueMobile 1300 User Manual page 47

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Glossary: Dell™ TrueMobile™ 1300 Wireless USB2.0
Adapter User's Guide
Access Point:
Sometimes referred to as a Wireless Broadband Router or Residential Gateway. An access point is a device
on an 802.11b/g wireless network that receives and retransmits data. It allows computers with wireless
network adapters to be connected, typically, to an Ethernet network.
Client:
A client is a computer on a network.
Domain Name System (or Service) (DNS):
DNS is an Internet service that translates domain names into IP addresses. A DNS server keeps a database
of host computers, their respective domain names and IP addresses. When a domain name is requested, the
DNS server uses this database to send the user to the correct IP address.
The DNS system is really its own network. If one DNS server doesn't know how to translate a particular
domain name, it asks another one, and so on, until the correct IP address is returned.
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP):
DHCP is the process of automatically configuring TCP/IP settings for every computer on a network.
Encryption:
Encryption is a common way of implementing security and protecting information. Encryption applies a set of
instructions, called an algorithm, to information. The instructions combine the plain or clear text of information
with a sequence of hexadecimal numbers, called an encryption key.
Before transmitting information over the airwaves, the wireless client or access point encrypts or scrambles
the information. The access point or wireless client receiving the information uses the same key to decrypt or
unscramble the information. The information is only readable to WLAN devices that have the correct
encryption key. The longer the key is, the stronger the encryption.
802.11b-compliant wireless networks incorporate Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) technologies. There are
two WEP encryption methods: 64(40)-bit and 128-bit. 40-bit and 64-bit identical. Some vendors use the term
40-bit; others use 64-bit. A wireless device that claims to have 40-bit encryption interoperates with a device
that claims to have 64-bit encryption, and vice versa. A 64(40)-bit key consists of 10 hexadecimal numbers in
five two-digit groups, arrayed as follows:
Key #1: 1A:2F:3A:44:23
Key #2: 23:44:56:65:78
Key #3: 01:23:3F:FF:DE
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