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Master CIW Designers develop and maintain Web sites using authoring and scripting languages, create content and digital media, and employ standards and technologies for both business-to-business and business-to-consumer e-commerce Web sites. |
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Z
- A
Record
- An A record is part of
the zone file and is used to point Internet traffic to an IP address.
For example, you can use an "A record" to designate
abc.yourdomain.com to send traffic to your web site at IP address
209.132.X.XX. You can also designate xyz.yourdomain.com to go
to a separate IP address.
- ADN
- (Advanced Digital Network)
-- Usually refers to a 56Kbps leased-line.
- ADSL
- (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber
Line) -- A method for moving data over regular phone lines. An
ADSL circuit is much faster than a regular phone connection, and
the wires coming into the subscriber's premises are the same (copper)
wires used for regular phone service. An ADSL circuit must be
configured to connect two specific locations, similar to a leased
line.
A commonly discussed
configuration of ADSL would allow a subscriber to receive data
(download) at speeds of up to 1.544 megabits (not megabytes)
per second, and to send (upload) data at speeds of 128 kilobits
per second. Thus the 'Asymmetric' part of the acronym. Another commonly discussed
configuration would be symmetrical: 384 kilobits per second
in both directions. In theory ADSL allows download speeds of
up to 9 megabits per second and upload speeds of up to 640 kilobits
per second.
ADSL is often discussed
as an alternative to ISDN, allowing higher speeds in
cases where the connection is always to the same place. See
Also: bit , bps , ISDN
- Anonymous
FTP
- See: FTP
- Applet
- A small Java program
that can be embedded in an HTML page. Applets differ from
full-fledged Java applications in that they are not allowed to
access certain resources on the local computer, such as files
and serial devices (modems, printers, etc.), and are prohibited
from communicating with most other computers across a network.
The current rule is that an applet can only make an Internet connection
to the computer from which the applet was sent. See Also: HTML
, Java
- Archie
- A tool (software) for
finding files stored on anonymous FTP sites. You need to
know the exact file name or a substring of it.
- ARPANet
- (Advanced Research Projects
Agency Network) -- The precursor to the Internet. Developed
in the late 60's and early 70's by the US Department of Defense
as an experiment in wide-area-networking that would survive a
nuclear war. See Also: Internet
- ASCII
- (American Standard Code
for Information Interchange) -- This is the de facto world-wide
standard for the code numbers used by computers to represent all
the upper and lower-case Latin letters, numbers, punctuation,
etc. There are 128 standard ASCII codes each of which can be represented
by a 7 digit binary number: 0000000 through 1111111.
Back
to the Top - Backbone
- A high-speed line or
series of connections that forms a major pathway within a network.
The term is relative as a backbone in a small network will
likely be much smaller than many non-backbone lines in a large
network. See Also: Network
- Bandwidth
- How much stuff you can
send through a connection. Usually measured in bits-per-second.
A full page of English text is about 16,000 bits. A fast modem
can move about 15,000 bits in one second. Full-motion full-screen
video would require roughly 10,000,000 bits-per-second, depending
on compression. See Also: 56k Line , Bps , Bit , T-1, OC-3.
- Baud
- In common usage the baud
rate of a modem is how many bits it can send or
receive per second. Technically, baud is the number of times per
second that the carrier signal shifts value - for example a 1200
bit-per-second modem actually runs at 300 baud, but it moves 4
bits per baud (4 x 300 = 1200 bits per second). See Also: Bit
, Modem.
- BBS
(Bulletin Board System)
- A computerized meeting
and announcement system that allows people to carry on discussions,
upload and download files, and make announcements without the
people being connected to the computer at the same time. There
are many thousands (millions?) of BBS's around the world, most
are very small, running on a single IBM clone PC with 1 or 2 phone
lines. Some are very large and the line between a BBS and a system
like CompuServe gets crossed at some point, but it is not clearly
drawn.
- Binhex
- (BINary HEXadecimal)
-- A method for converting non-text files (non-ASCII) into ASCII.
This is needed because Internet e-mail can only handle ASCII.
See Also: ASCII , MIME , UUENCODE
- Bit
- (Binary DigIT) -- A single
digit number in base-2, in other words, either a 1 or a zero.
The smallest unit of computerized data. Bandwidth is usually
measured in bits-per-second. See Also: Bandwidth , Bps , Byte
, Kilobyte , Megabyte
- BITNET
- (Because It's Time NETwork
(or Because It's There NETwork)) -- A network of educational
sites separate from the Internet, but e-mail is freely exchanged
between BITNET and the Internet. Listservs, the
most popular form of e-mail discussion groups, originated on BITNET.
BITNET machines are usually mainframes running the VMS operating
system, and the network is probably the only international network
that is shrinking.
- Bps
- (Bits-Per-Second) --
A measurement of how fast data is moved from one place to another.
A 28.8 modem can move 28,800 bits per second. See Also:
Bandwidth , Bit
- Browser
- A Client program
(software) that is used to look at various kinds of Internet resources.
See Also: Client , URL , WWW , Netscape , Mosaic , Home Page (or
Homepage)
- BTW
- (By The Way) -- A shorthand
appended to a comment written in an online forum. See Also: IMHO
, TTFN
- Byte
- A set of Bits that represent
a single character. Usually there are 8 Bits in a Byte, sometimes
more, depending on how the measurement is being made. See Also:
Bit
- Certificate
Authority
- An issuer of Security
Certificates used in SSL connections. See Also: Security
Certificate , SSL
- CGI
- (Common Gateway Interface)
-- A set of rules that describe how a Web Server
communicates with another piece of software on the same machine,
and how the other piece of software (the 'CGI program') talks
to the web server. Any piece of software can be a CGI program
if it handles input and output according to the CGI standard.
Usually a CGI program
is a small program that takes data from a web server and does
something with it, like putting the content of a form into an
e-mail message, or turning the data into a database query. You can often see that
a CGI program is being used by seeing 'cgi-bin' in a URL, but
not always. See Also: cgi-bin , Web
- cgi-bin
- The most common name
of a directory on a web server in which CGI programs are
stored. The 'bin' part of 'cgi-bin' is a shorthand version of
'binary', because once upon a time, most programs were referred
to as 'binaries'. In real life, most programs found in cgi-bin
directories are text files -- scripts that are executed by binaries
located elsewhere on the same machine. See Also: CGI
Back to the Top
- Client
- A software program that
is used to contact and obtain data from a Server software
program on another computer, often across a great distance. Each
Client program is designed to work with one or more specific
kinds of Server programs, and each Server requires
a specific kind of Client. A Web Browser is a specific
kind of Client. See Also: Browser , Server
- Co-location
- Network operation centers
such as Accentric offer the ability for customers to place their
machine in an access center which are connected via high speed
fiber data lines to the backbone of the Internet. Administration
is done remotely so that a customer in Europe can configure and
control a dedicated server located in San Diego.
- Contact
Record
- In the case of many registries,
contact information for technical, billing and administrative
purposes are maintained in their database. It is important to
keep your contact records updated to ensure that billing and renewal
can proceed without problems.
- Cookie
- The most common meaning
of 'Cookie' on the Internet refers to a piece of information sent
by a Web Server to a Web Browser that the Browser
software is expected to save and to send back to the Server whenever
the browser makes additional requests from the Server.
Depending on the type
of Cookie used, and the Browser's settings, the Browser may
accept or not accept the Cookie, and may save the Cookie for
either a short time or a long time. Cookies might contain
information such as login or registration information, online
'shopping cart' information, user preferences, etc.
When a Server receives
a request from a Browser that includes a Cookie, the Server
is able to use the information stored in the Cookie. For example,
the Server might customize what is sent back to the user, or
keep a log of particular user's requests.
Cookies are usually
set to expire after a predetermined amount of time and are usually
saved in memory until the Browser software is closed down, at
which time they may be saved to disk if their 'expire time'
has not been reached.
Cookies do
not read your hard drive and send your life story to
the CIA, but they can be used to gather more information about
a user than would be possible without them. See Also: Browser
, Server
- Cyberpunk
- Cyberpunk was originally
a cultural sub-genre of science fiction taking place in a not-so-distant,
dystopian, over-industrialized society. The term grew out of the
work of William Gibson and Bruce Sterling and has evolved into
a cultural label encompassing many different kinds of human, machine,
and punk attitudes. It includes clothing and lifestyle choices
as well. See Also: Cyberspace
- Cyberspace
- Term originated by author
William Gibson in his novel Neuromancer the word Cyberspace
is currently used to describe the whole range of information resources
available through computer networks.
- DNS:
Domain Naming System
- The DNS is a distributed,
replicated that allows nameservers to map easily remembered domain
names to an IP number.
- Dedicated
Server
- For those customers that
want the advantages of colocation without the hassles of purchasing
their own server. See colocation.
- Digerati
- The digital version of
literati, it is a reference to a vague cloud of people seen to
be knowledgeable, hip, or otherwise in-the-know in regards to
the digital revolution.
- Domain
Name
- The unique name that
identifies an Internet site. Domain Names always have 2 or more
parts, separated by dots. The part on the left is the most specific,
and the part on the right is the most general. A given machine
may have more than one Domain Name but a given Domain Name points
to only one machine. For example, the domain names: simplenet.net,mail.simplenet.net,ftp.simplenet.net
can all refer to the same machine, but each domain name can refer
to no more than one machine.
Usually, all of the
machines on a given Network will have the same thing
as the right-hand portion of their Domain Names (simplenet.net
in the examples above). It is also possible for a Domain Name
to exist but not be connected to an actual machine. This is
often done so that a group or business can have an Internet
e-mail address without having to establish a real Internet site.
In these cases, some real Internet machine must handle the mail
on behalf of the listed Domain Name. See Also: IP Number Back
to the Top
- E-Commerce
- Electronic Commerce.
Refers to the general exchange of goods and services via the Internet.
- E-mail
- (Electronic Mail) --
Messages, usually text, sent from one person to another via computer.
E-mail can also be sent automatically to a large number of addresses
(Mailing List). See Also: Listserv , Maillist
- Ethernet
- A very common method
of networking computers in a LAN. Ethernet will handle
about 10,000,000 bits-per-second and can be used with almost any
kind of computer. See Also: Bandwidth , LAN
- FAQ
- (Frequently Asked Questions)
-- FAQs are documents that list and answer the most common questions
on a particular subject. There are hundreds of FAQs on subjects
as diverse as Pet Grooming and Cryptography. FAQs are usually
written by people who have tired of answering the same question
over and over.
- FDDI
- (Fiber Distributed Data
Interface) -- A standard for transmitting data on optical fiber
cables at a rate of around 100,000,000 bits-per-second (10 times
as fast as Ethernet, about twice as fast as T-3).
See Also: Bandwidth , Ethernet , T-1 , T-3
- Finger
- An Internet software
tool for locating people on other Internet sites. Finger is also
sometimes used to give access to non-personal information, but
the most common use is to see if a person has an account at a
particular Internet site. Many sites do not allow incoming Finger
requests, but many do.
- Fire
Wall
- A combination of hardware
and software that separates a LAN into two or more parts
for security purposes. See Also: Network , LAN
- Flame
- Originally, flame meant
to carry forth in a passionate manner in the spirit of honorable
debate. Flames most often involved the use of flowery language
and flaming well was an art form. More recently flame has come
to refer to any kind of derogatory comment no matter how witless
or crude. See Also: Flame War
- Flame
War When an online discussion degenerates into a series of
personal attacks against the debaters, rather than discussion
of their positions. A heated exchange. See Also: Flae
- FTP
- (File Transfer Protocol)
-- A very common method of moving files between two Internet sites.
FTP is a special way to login to another Internet site
for the purposes of retrieving and/or sending files. There are
many Internet sites that have established publicly accessible
repositories of material that can be obtained using FTP, by logging
in using the account name anonymous, thus these sites are called
anonymous ftp servers.
Back
to the Top - Gateway
- The technical meaning
is a hardware or software set-up that translates between two dissimilar
protocols, for example Prodigy has a gateway that translates between
its internal, proprietary e-mail format and Internet e-mail format.
Another, sloppier meaning of gateway is to describe any mechanism
for providing access to another system, e.g. AOL might be called
a gateway to the Internet.
- Gigabyte
- 1024 Megabytes
See Also: Byte , Megabyte
- Gopher
- A widely successful method
of making menus of material available over the Internet. Gopher
is a Client and Server style program, which requires
that the user have a Gopher Client program. Although Gopher
spread rapidly across the globe in only a couple of years, it
has been largely supplanted by Hypertext, also known as WWW
(World Wide Web). There are still thousands of Gopher Servers
on the Internet and we can expect they will remain for a while.
See Also: Client , Server , WWW , Hypertext
Back
to the Top - hit
- As used in reference
to the World Wide Web, 'hit' means a single request from a web
browser for a single item from a web server; thus
in order for a web browser to display a page that contains 3 graphics,
4 'hits' would occur at the server: 1 for the HTML page,
and one for each of the 3 graphics.
'hits' are often used
as a very rough measure of load on a server, e.g. 'Our server
has been getting 300,000 hits per month.' Because each 'hit'
can represent anything from a request for a tiny document (or
even a request for a missing document) all the way to a request
that requires some significant extra processing (such as a complex
search request), the actual load on a machine from 1 hit is
almost impossible to define.
- Home
Page (or Homepage)
- Several meanings. Originally,
the web page that your browser is set to use when
it starts up. The more common meaning refers to the main web page
for a business, organization, person or simply the main page out
of a collection of web pages, e.g. 'Check out so-and-so's new
Home Page.'
Another sloppier use
of the term refers to practically any web page as a 'homepage,'
e.g. 'That web site has 65 homepages and none of them are interesting.'
See Also: Browser , Web
- Host
- Any computer on a network
that is a repository for services available to other computers
on the network. It is quite common to have one host machine
provide several services, such as WWW and USENET.
See Also: Node , Network
- Hosting
- This term can be used
to refer to the housing of a web site, email or a domain. See
Email hosting and Web Site hosting for more details.
- HTML
- (HyperText Markup Language)
-- The coding language used to create Hypertext documents
for use on the World Wide Web. HTML looks a lot like old-fashioned
typesetting code, where you surround a block of text with codes
that indicate how it should appear, additionally, in HTML you
can specify that a block of text, or a word, is linked to another
file on the Internet. HTML files are meant to be viewed using
a World Wide Web Client Program, such as Netscape
or Mosaic. See Also: Client , Server , WWW
- HTTP
- (HyperText Transport
Protocol) -- The protocol for moving hypertext files across
the Internet. Requires a HTTP client program on
one end, and an HTTP server program on the other end. HTTP
is the most important protocol used in the World Wide Web (WWW).
See Also: Client , Server , WWW
- Hypertext
- Generally, any text that
contains links to other documents - words or phrases in the document
that can be chosen by a reader and which cause another document
to be retrieved and displayed.
Back
to the Top - IMHO
- (In My Humble Opinion)
-- A shorthand appended to a comment written in an online forum,
IMHO indicates that the writer is aware that they are expressing
a debatable view, probably on a subject already under discussion.
One of may such shorthands in common use online, especially in
discussion forums. See Also: TTFN , BTW
- Internet
- (Upper case I)
The vast collection of inter-connected networks that all use the
TCP/IP protocols and that evolved from the ARPANET of the
late 60's and early 70's. The Internet now (July 1995) connects
roughly 60,000 independent networks into a vast global internet.
See Also: internet
- internet
- (Lower case i)
Any time you connect 2 or more networks together, you have
an internet - as in inter-national or inter-state. See Also: Internet
, Network
- InterNIC
- InterNIC (now known as
Network Solutions) currently holds an exclusive contract with
the U.S. government to assign domain names for .COM, .NET and
.ORG. The contract is scheduled to expire September 30, 1998.
Network Solutions is the company that runs the InterNIC registry.
- Intranet
- A private network
inside a company or organization that uses the same kinds of software
that you would find on the public Internet, but that is
only for internal use.
As the Internet has
become more popular many of the tools used on the Internet are
being used in private networks, for example, many companies
have web servers that are available only to employees. Note that an Intranet
may not actually be an internet -- it may simply be a network.
See Also: internet , Internet , Network
- IP
Number
- (Internet Protocol Number)
-- Sometimes called a dotted quad. A unique number consisting
of 4 parts separated by dots, e.g.165.113.245.2
Every machine that
is on the Internet has a unique IP number - if a machine does
not have an IP number, it is not really on the Internet. Most
machines also have one or more Domain Names that are
easier for people to remember. See Also: Domain Name , Internet
, TCP/IP
- IRC
- (Internet Relay Chat)
-- Basically a huge multi-user live chat facility. There are a
number of major IRC servers around the world which are
linked to each other. Anyone can create a channel and anything
that anyone types in a given channel is seen by all others in
the channel. Private channels can (and are) created for multi-person
conference calls.
- ISDN
- (Integrated Services
Digital Network) -- Basically a way to move more data over existing
regular phone lines. ISDN is rapidly becoming available to much
of the USA and in most markets it is priced very comparably to
standard analog phone circuits. It can provide speeds of roughly
128,000 bits-per-second over regular phone lines. In practice,
most people will be limited to 56,000 or 64,000 bits-per-second.
- ISP
- (Internet Service Provider)
-- An institution that provides access to the Internet in some
form, usually for money. See Also: Internet
Back
to the Top - Java
- Java is a network-oriented
programming language invented by Sun Microsystems that is specifically
designed for writing programs that can be safely downloaded to
your computer through the Internet and immediately run without
fear of viruses or other harm to your computer or files. Using
small Java programs (called "Applets"), Web pages
can include functions such as animations, calculators, and other
fancy tricks.
We can expect to see
a huge variety of features added to the Web using Java, since
you can write a Java program to do almost anything a regular
computer program can do, and then include that Java program
in a Web page. See Also: Applet
- JDK
- (Java Development Kit)
-- A software development package from Sun Microsystems that implements
the basic set of tools needed to write, test and debug Java
applications and applets See Also: Applet , Java
Back
to the Top - Kilobyte
- A thousand bytes. Actually,
usually 1024 (210) bytes. See Also: Byte , Bit
- LAN
- (Local Area Network)
-- A computer network limited to the immediate area, usually the
same building or floor of a building. See Also: Ethernet
- Leased-line
- Refers to a phone line
that is rented for exclusive 24-hour, 7 -days-a-week use from
your location to another location. The highest speed data connections
require a leased line. See Also: 56k Line , T-1 , T-3
- Listserv
- The most common kind
of maillist, Listservs originated on BITNET but
they are now common on the Internet. See Also: BITNET ,
E-mail , Maillist
- Local
Registry Fees
- Most TLDs require initial
registration fees as well as annual or bi-annual renewal fees.
Prices vary from cost-free to thousands of dollars per domain
depending on the TLD chosen. For example, .COM domains cost $70
which covers the first two years. Renewal fees for .COM are $35
annually after the first two years expire.
- Login
- Noun or a verb. Noun:
The account name used to gain access to a computer system. Not
a secret (contrast with Password). Verb: The act of entering
into a computer system, e.g. Login to the WELL and then go
to the GBN conference. See Also: Password
Back
to the Top - Maillist
- (or Mailing List)
A (usually automated) system that allows people to send e-mail
to one address, whereupon their message is copied and sent to
all of the other subscribers to the maillist. In this way, people
who have many different kinds of e-mail access can participate
in discussions together.
- Megabyte
- A million bytes.
A thousand kilobytes. See Also: Byte , Bit , Kilobyte
- MIDI
- Musical Instrument Digital
Interface -- A network and accompanying protocol developed in
the 1970's for tranmitting various information between musical
and other devices including keyboards, samplers, lights, controllers,
etc.
- MIME
- (Multipurpose Internet
Mail Extensions) -- The standard for attaching non-text files
to standard Internet mail messages. Non-text files include graphics,
spreadsheets, formatted word-processor documents, sound files,
etc.
An email program is
said to be MIME Compliant if it can both send and receive files
using the MIME standard. When non-text files
are sent using the MIME standard they are converted (encoded)
into text - although the resulting text is not really readable.
Generally speaking
the MIME standard is a way of specifying both the type of file
being sent (e.g. a QuicktimeÅ video file), and the method
that should be used to turn it back into its original form.
Besides email software,
the MIME standard is also universally used by Web Servers
to identify the files they are sending to Web Clients,
in this way new file formats can be accommodated simply by updating
the Browsers' list of pairs of MIME-Types and appropriate software
for handling each type. See Also: Browser , Client , Server
, Binhex , UUENCODE
- Mirror
- Generally speaking, 'to
mirror' is to maintain an exact copy of something. Probably the
most common use of the term on the Internet refers to 'mirror
sites' which are web sites, or FTP sites that maintain
exact copies of material originated at another location, usually
in order to provide more widespread access to the resource.
Another common use
of the term 'mirror' refers to an arrangement where information
is written to more than one hard disk simultaneously, so that
if one disk fails, the computer keeps on working without losing
anything. See Also: FTP , Web
- Modem
- (MOdulator, DEModulator)
-- A device that you connect to your computer and to a phone line,
that allows the computer to talk to other computers through the
phone system. Basically, modems do for computers what a telephone
does for humans.
- Modify
(Domain Name)
- The database that the
TLD registries maintain need to be accurate in order for name
resolution, billing, renewal notices and public records to be
processed correctly. Typically modifications are required when
nameservers need to change or the contacts change email or postal
address or phone number. The procedures for modifying records
will depend on the registry.
- MOO
- (Mud, Object Oriented)
-- One of several kinds of multi-user role-playing environments,
so far only text-based. See Also: MUD , MUSE
- Mosaic
- The first WWW browser
that was available for the Macintosh, Windows, and UNIX all with
the same interface. Mosaic really started the popularity of the
Web. The source-code to Mosaic has been licensed by several companies
and there are several other pieces of software as good or better
than Mosaic, most notably, Netscape. See Also: Browser , Client
, WWW
- MUD
- (Multi-User Dungeon or
Dimension) -- A (usually text-based) multi-user simulation environment.
Some are purely for fun and flirting, others are used for serious
software development, or education purposes and all that lies
in between. A significant feature of most MUDs is that users can
create things that stay after they leave and which other users
can interact with in their absence, thus allowing a world to be
built gradually and collectively. See Also: MOO , MUSE
- MUSE
- (Multi-User Simulated
Environment) -- One kind of MUD - usually with little or no violence.
See Also: MOO , MUD
- MX
Record: Mail Exchange
- Mail Exchange record
is part of the zone file and is used to designate which mail server
machine should process email for a specific domain.
Back
to the Top - Name
Servers
- A computer that performs
the mapping of easily remembered domain names to IP addresses.
Sometimes referred to as a host server.
- Netiquette
- The etiquette on the
Internet. See Also:Internet
- Netizen
- Derived from the term
citizen, referring to a citizen of the Internet, or someone
who uses networked resources. The term connotes civic responsibility
and participation. See Also: Internet
- Netscape
- A WWW Browser
and the name of a company. The Netscape (tm) browser was originally
based on the Mosaic program developed at the National Center
for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA).
Netscape has grown
in features rapidly and is widely recognized as the best and
most popular web browser. Netscape corporation also produces
web server software. Netscape provided major
improvements in speed and interface over other browsers, and
has also engendered debate by creating new elements for the
HTML language used by Web pages -- but the Netscape extensions
to HTML are not universally supported.
The main author of
Netscape, Mark Andreessen, was hired away from the NCSA by Jim
Clark, and they founded a company called Mosaic Communications
and soon changed the name to Netscape Communications Corporation.
See Also: Browser , Mosaic , Server , WWW
- Network
- Any time you connect
2 or more computers together so that they can share resources,
you have a computer network. Connect 2 or more networks together
and you have an internet. See Also: Internet , Intranet
- Newsgroup
- The name for discussion
groups on USENET. See Also: USENET
- NIC
- (Networked Information
Center) -- Generally, any office that handles information for
a network. The most famous of these on the Internet is Network
Solutions, which is where new domain names are registered. Another
definition: NIC also refers to Network Interface Card which plugs
into a computer and adapts the network interface to the appropriate
standard. ISA, PCI, and PCMCIA cards are all examples of NICs.
- NNTP
- (Network News Transport
Protocol) -- The protocol used by client and server
software to carry USENET postings back and forth over a
TCP/IP network. If you are using any of the more
common software such as Netscape, Nuntius, Internet Explorer,
etc. to participate in newsgroups then you are benefiting
from an NNTP connection. See Also: Newsgroup , TCP/IP , USENET
- Node
- Any single computer connected
to a network. See Also: Network , Internet , internet
- OC-3
- Refers to a circuit that
transmits 155,000,000 bits per second. This is the size of the
largest Internet backbone providers networks.
Back
to the Top
-
- Packet
Switching
- The method used to move
data around on the Internet. In packet switching, all the
data coming out of a machine is broken up into chunks, each chunk
has the address of where it came from and where it is going. This
enables chunks of data from many different sources to co-mingle
on the same lines, and be sorted and directed to different routes
by special machines along the way. This way many people can use
the same lines at the same time.
- Parking
(Domain Name)
- Registries require the
use of name servers or hosts for every domain registered. Since
most people and organizations don't have their own name servers,
SimpleNIC offers the use of its name servers. In other words,
SimpleNIC can "park" or host domains on our nameservers
regardless of whether the domain is ready to be used for a web
site or email.
- Password
- A code used to gain access
to a locked system. Good passwords contain letters and non-letters
and are not simple combinations such as virtue7. A good
password might be: Hot$1-6 See Also: Login
- Plug-in
- A (usually small) piece
of software that adds features to a larger piece of software.
Common examples are plug-ins for the Netscape® browser
and web server. Adobe Photoshop® also uses plug-ins.
The idea behind plug-in's
is that a small piece of software is loaded into memory by the
larger program, adding a new feature, and that users need only
install the few plug-ins that they need, out of a much larger
pool of possibilities. Plug-ins are usually developed by a third
party.
- POP
- (Point of Presence, also
Post Office Protocol) -- Two commonly used meanings: Point of
Presence and Post Office Protocol. A Point of Presence usually
means a city or location where a network can be connected to,
often with dial up phone lines. So if an Internet company says
they will soon have a POP in Belgrade, it means that they will
soon have a local phone number in Belgrade and/or a place where
leased lines can connect to their network. A second meaning, Post
Office Protocol refers to the way e-mail software such as Eudora
gets mail from a mail server. When you obtain a SLIP, PPP, or
shell account you almost always get a POP account with it, and
it is this POP account that you tell your e-mail software to use
to get your mail. See Also: SLIP , PPP
- Port
- 3 meanings. First and
most generally, a place where information goes into or out of
a computer, or both. E.g. the serial port on a personal computer
is where a modem would be connected.
On the Internet port
often refers to a number that is part of a URL, appearing
after a colon (:) right after the domain name. Every
service on an Internet server listens on a particular
port number on that server. Most services have standard port
numbers, e.g. Web servers normally listen on port 80. Services
can also listen on non-standard ports, in which case the port
number must be specified in a URL when accessing the server,
so you might see a URL of the form: gopher://peg.cwis.uci.edu:7000/
shows a gopher server
running on a non-standard port (the standard gopher port is
70). Finally, port also refers to translating a piece of software
to bring it from one type of computer system to another, e.g.
to translate a Windows program so that is will run on a Macintosh.
See Also: Domain Name , Server , URL
- Posting
- A single message entered
into a network communications system. E.g. A single message posted
to a newsgroup or message board. See Also: Newsgroup
- PPP
-
(Point to Point Protocol)
-- Most well known as a protocol that allows a computer to use
a regular telephone line and a modem to make TCP/IP
connections and thus be really and truly on the Internet.
See Also: IP Number , Internet , SLIP , TCP/IP
- Propagation
- The process whereby the
nameservers throughout the world have updated their records for
a specific domain. For example, if you move your domain from one
host to another, it will take around 24 hours or so for the new
address to broadcast everywhere. During that 24 hour period, the
traffic is decreasing at the old location and increasing at the
new location.
- PSTN
- (Public Switched Telephone
Network) -- The regular old-fashioned telephone system.
Back to the Top - Register
(Domain Name)
- Since every domain is
unique, registries have been set up to assign domains to individuals
and organziations. When a domain is registered with the appropriate
registry, that domain is assigned and becomes no longer available
for anyone else to use. Typically, there are registration and
renewal fees (local registry fees) associated with the right to
use a domain. However, there are some TLDs that are provided at
no charge.
- Registrant
(Domain Name)
- The entity, organization
or individual that will be using the domain name.
- Registrar
(Domain Name)
- Some registries don't
provide the ability for end users to register domains with them
directly. They might require end users to purchase the domain
through an internet provider that is acting as the registrar.
- Registry
(Domain Name)
- An organization responsible
for assigning domain names for the TLD that they manage. Furthermore,
it is their responsibility to update the global DNS tables that
all nameservers use to resolve domain names. For example, InterNIC
is the registry for .COM, .NET and .ORG domain names.
- Renewal
(Domain Name)
- Most TLDs need to be
renewed at some scheduled yearly interval. This is an opportunity
for both the registrant and the registry to update their records
as well as collect any applicable renewal fees.
- Resolution
(domain Name)
- The conversion of an
internet address or domain name into the corresponding physical
location.
- RFC
- (Request For Comments)
-- The name of the result and the process for creating a standard
on the Internet. New standards are proposed and published
on line, as a Request For Comments. The Internet Engineering Task
Force is a consensus-building body that facilitates discussion,
and eventually a new standard is established, but the reference
number/name for the standard retains the acronym RFC, e.g. the
official standard for e-mail is RFC 822.
- Router
- A special-purpose computer
(or software package) that handles the connection between 2 or
more networks. Routers spend all their time looking at
the destination addresses of the packets passing through
them and deciding which route to send them on. See Also: Network
, Packet Switching
Back
to the Top - Security
Certificate
- A chunk of information
(often stored as a text file) that is used by the SSL protocol
to establish a secure connection.
Security Certificates
contain information about who it belongs to, who it was issued
by, a unique serial number or other unique identification, valid
dates, and an encrypted 'fingerprint' that can be used to verify
the contents of the certificate. In order for an SSL
connection to be created both sides must have a valid Security
Certificate. See Also: Certificate Authority , SSL
- Server
- A computer, or a software
package, that provides a specific kind of service to client
software running on other computers. The term can refer to a particular
piece of software, such as a WWW server, or to the machine
on which the software is running, e.g.Our mail server is down
today, that's why e-mail isn't getting out. A single server machine
could have several different server software packages running
on it, thus providing many different servers to clients
on the network. See Also: Client , Network
- SLIP
- (Serial Line Internet
Protocol) -- A standard for using a regular telephone line (a
serial line) and a modem to connect a computer as a real
Internet site. SLIP is gradually being replaced by PPP.
See Also: Internet , PPP
- SMDS
- (Switched Multimegabit
Data Service) -- A new standard for very high-speed data transfer.
Back to the Top
- SMTP
- (Simple Mail Transport
Protocol) -- The main protocol used to send electronic mail on
the Internet.
SMTP consists of a
set of rules for how a program sending mail and a program receiving
mail should interact. Almost all Internet
email is sent and received by clients and servers
using SMTP, thus if one wanted to set up an email server on
the Internet one would look for email server software that supports
SMTP. See Also: Client , Server
- SNMP
- (Simple Network Management
Protocol) -- A set of standards for communication with devices
connected to a TCP/IP network. Examples of these devices
include routers, hubs, and switches.
A device is said to
be 'SNMP compatible' if it can be monitored and/or controlled
using SNMP messages. SNMP messages are known as 'PDU's' - Protocol
Data Units. Devices that are SNMP
compatible contain SNMP 'agent' software to receive, send, and
act upon SNMP messages.
Software for managing
devices via SNMP are available for every kind of commonly used
computer and are often bundled along with the device they are
designed to manage. Some SNMP software is designed to handle
a wide variety of devices. See Also: Network , Router
- Spam
(or Spamming)
- An inappropriate attempt
to use a mailing list, or USENET or other networked
communications facility as if it was a broadcast medium (which
it is not) by sending the same message to a large number of people
who didn't ask for it. The term probably comes from a famous Monty
Python skit which featured the word spam repeated over and over.
The term may also have come from someone's low opinion of the
food product with the same name, which is generally perceived
as a generic content-free waste of resources. (Spam is a registered
trademark of Hormel Corporation, for its processed meat product.)
E.g. Mary spammed 50
USENET groups by posting the same message to each. See Also:
Maillist , USENET
- SQL
- (Structured Query Language)
-- A specialized programming language for sending queries to databases.
Most industrial-strength and many smaller database applications
can be addressed using SQL. Each specific application will have
its own version of SQL implementing features unique to that application,
but all SQL-capable databases support a common subset of SQL.
- SSL
- (Secure Sockets Layer)
-- A protocol designed by Netscape Communications to enable encrypted,
authenticated communications across the Internet.
SSL used mostly (but
not exclusively) in communications between web browsers
and web servers. URL's that begin with 'https'
indicate that an SSL connection will be used. SSL provides 3 important
things: Privacy, Authentication, and Message Integrity.
In an SSL connection
each side of the connection must have a Security Certificate,
which each side's software sends to the other. Each side then
encrypts what it sends using information from both its own and
the other side's Certificate, ensuring that only the intended
recipient can de-crypt it, and that the other side can be sure
the data came from the place it claims to have come from, and
that the message has not been tampered with. See Also: Browser
, Server , Security Certificate , URL
- Sysop
- (System Operator) --
Anyone responsible for the physical operations of a computer system
or network resource. A System Administrator decides how often
backups and maintenance should be performed and the System Operator
performs those tasks.
Back
to the Top - T-1
- A leased-line
connection capable of carrying data at 1,544,000 bits-per-second.
At maximum theoretical capacity, a T-1 line could move a megabyte
in less than 10 seconds. That is still not fast enough for full-screen,
full-motion video, for which you need at least 10,000,000 bits-per-second.
T-1 is the fastest speed commonly used to connect networks
to the Internet. See Also: 56k Line , Bandwidth , Bit ,
Byte , Ethernet , T-3
- T-3
- A leased-line
connection capable of carrying data at 44,736,000 bits-per-second.
This is more than enough to do full-screen, full-motion video.
See Also: 56k Line , Bandwidth , Bit , Byte , Ethernet , T-1
- TCP/IP
- (Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol) -- This is the suite of protocols
that defines the Internet. Originally designed for the
UNIX operating system, TCP/IP software is now available
for every major kind of computer operating system. To be truly
on the Internet, your computer must have TCP/IP software.
See Also: IP Number , Internet , UNIX
- Telnet
- The command and program
used to login from one Internet site to another.
The telnet command/program gets you to the login: prompt of another
host.
- Terabyte
- 1024 gigabytes.
See Also: Byte , Kilobyte
- Terminal
- A device that allows
you to send commands to a computer somewhere else. At a minimum,
this usually means a keyboard and a display screen and some simple
circuitry. Usually you will use terminal software in a personal
computer - the software pretends to be (emulates) a physical terminal
and allows you to type commands to a computer somewhere else.
- Terminal
Server
- A special purpose computer
that has places to plug in many modems on one side, and
a connection to a LAN or host machine on the other
side. Thus the terminal server does the work of answering the
calls and passes the connections on to the appropriate node.
Most terminal servers can provide PPP or SLIP services
if connected to the Internet. See Also: LAN , Modem , Host
, Node , PPP , SLIP
- Top
Level Domain: (TLD)
- A Top Level Domain (TLD)
is the uppermost in the hierarchy of domain names. For example,
SimpleNIC.net is our domain name. The "net" is considered
the TLD and the "SimpleNIC" is considered the second
level domain. Together they form a domain name which is unique.
There are two types of TLDs. The most common type is the Generic
or Global TLDs which include .COM, .NET, .ORG, .MIL, .INT and
.EDU. There is a possibility that new gTLDs will be introduced
in the near future. National or ccTLDs are two letter country
code domains that are managed by a registry designated and controlled
by each specific country. Each registry might have differing prices,
residency requirements and structure.
- Trademark
- As it relates to domain
names... a word, phrase or slogan used to identify and distinguish
the source of the goods or services. Trademark law may be different
worldwide. If someone registers a domain name such as microsoft.to
then Microsoft would need to go to the courts in Tonga to fight
to get the name back. Expensive international litigation is one
reason why it is important to protect your trademarks before someone
else registers the names.
- Transfer
(Domain Name)
- On occasion, domains
are sold to another organization or sometimes the name of a company
might change. Most registries require a letter of permission from
the old owner to hand over control to the new owner. The procedures
for Transfer of ownership will depend on the registry.
- TTFN
- (Ta Ta For Now) -- A
shorthand appended to a comment written in an online forum. See
Also: IMHO , BTW
Back
to the Top - UNIX
- A computer operating
system (the basic software running on a computer, underneath things
like word processors and spreadsheets). UNIX is designed to be
used by many people at the same time (it is multi-user) and has
TCP/IP built-in. It is the most common operating system
for servers on the Internet.
- URL
- (Uniform Resource Locator)
-- The standard way to give the address of any resource on the
Internet that is part of the World Wide Web (WWW). A URL looks
like this: http://www.simplenet.com/services.html or telnet://well.sf.ca.us
or news:new.newusers.questions etc.
The most common way
to use a URL is to enter into a WWW browser program, such as
Netscape, or Lynx. See Also: Browser , WWW
- USENET
- A world-wide system of
discussion groups, with comments passed among hundreds of thousands
of machines. Not all USENET machines are on the Internet,
maybe half. USENET is completely decentralized, with over 10,000
discussion areas, called newsgroups. See Also: Newsgroup
- UUENCODE
- (Unix to Unix Encoding)
-- A method for converting files from Binary to ASCII
(text) so that they can be sent across the Internet via e-mail.
See Also: Binhex , MIME
Back
to the Top - Veronica
- (Very Easy Rodent Oriented
Net-wide Index to Computerized Archives) -- Developed at the University
of Nevada, Veronica is a constantly updated database of the names
of almost every menu item on thousands of gopher servers.
The Veronica database can be searched from most major gopher
menus. See Also: Gopher
- WAIS
- (Wide Area Information
Servers) -- A commercial software package that allows the indexing
of huge quantities of information, and then making those indices
searchable across networks such as the Internet.
A prominent feature of WAIS is that the search results are ranked
(scored) according to how relevant the hits are, and that subsequent
searches can find more stuff like that last batch and thus refine
the search process.
- WAN
- (Wide Area Network) --
Any internet or network that covers an area larger
than a single building or campus. See Also: Internet , internet
, LAN , Network
- Web
- See: WWW
- Whois
- Most registries maintain
a database of domain names and their associated contact information.
Users can query these databases through a program called Whois.
- WWW
- (World Wide Web) -- Two
meanings - First, loosely used: the whole constellation of resources
that can be accessed using Gopher, FTP, HTTP, telnet, USENET,
WAIS and some other tools. Second, the universe of hypertext
servers (HTTP servers) which are the servers that allow
text, graphics, sound files, etc. to be mixed together. See Also:
Browser , FTP , Gopher , HTTP , Telnet , URL , WAIS
- Zone
file
- The group of files that
reside on the domain host or nameserver. The zone file designates
a domain, its subdomains and mail server.
Back to the Top
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