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.
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 refered 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
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:
accentric.net,mail.accentric.net,ftp.accentric.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 (accentric.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
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 debators, rather than discussion of their positions.
A heated exchange. See Also: Flame
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.
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
1000 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
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.
Halpilot.com
An Intranet website for
the pilots of Hawaiian Airlines - http://www.halpilot.com
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.
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 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
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
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
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
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.
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
, 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 the InterNIC, 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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
1000 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 heirarchy 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 possiblity
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
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
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.