DSC T-LINK TL250 Installation Manual page 35

LAN
A computer network that spans a relatively small area. Most LANs are confined to a single
building or group of buildings. However, one LAN can be connected to other LANs over any
distance via telephone lines and radio waves. A system of LANs connected in this way is called
a wide area network (WAN).
MAC
Short for Media Access Control address, a hardware address that uniquely identifies each
device of a network. The address is not programmable by the user and the manufacturer of the
device must register with IEEE before receiving an assigned group of addresses.
Mime
Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions, a specification for formatting non-ASCII messages so
that they can be sent over the internet.
Network
Two or more computer systems connected together.
Packet
A piece of a message transmitted over a packet-switching network. One of the key features of a
packet is that it contains the destination address in addition to the data.
Subnet
A portion of a network that shares a common address component. On TCP/IP networks, subnets
are defined as all devices whose IP addresses have the same prefix. Dividing a network into sub-
nets is useful for both security and performance reasons.
Subnet Mask
A mask used to determine to what subnet an IP address belongs.
TCP
Abbreviation of Transport Control Protocol, and pronounced as separate letters. TCP is one of
the main protocols in TCP/IP networks. Whereas the IP protocol deals only with packets, TCP
enables two devices to establish a connection and exchange data. TCP guarantees delivery of
data and also guarantees that packets will be delivered in the same order in which they were
sent.
TFTP
Trivial File Transfer Protocol. A version of the FTP protocol that has no directory or password
capability. Most commonly used protocol to upgrade firmware of network devices.
UDP
User Datagram Protocol. A TCP/IP protocol which allows for connectionless communications
between two network hosts. Retries are not handled and packet delivery is not guaranteed.
Packets may also arrive out of sequence.
WAN
A computer network that spans a relatively large geographical area. Typically, a WAN consists
of two or more local area networks (LANs).
Computers connected to a wide area network are often connected through public networks,
such as the telephone system. They can also be connected through leased lines or satellites.
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