Filter
Top Products
GS748T Smart Switch Hardware Installation Guide
C-2 Glossary
v1.0, January 2007
Ethernet A LAN specification developed jointly by Xerox, Intel and Digital Equipment
Corporation. Ethernet networks transmit packets at a rate of 10 Mbps.
Fast Ethernet An Ethernet system that is designed to operate at 100 Mbps.
Gigabit Ethernet An Ethernet system that is designed to operate at 1000 Mbps (1 Gbps).
Fault isolation A technique for identifying and alerting administrators about connections
(such as those associated with switch ports) that are experiencing
congestion or failure, or exceeding an administrator-defined threshold.
Forwarding The process of sending a packet toward its destination using a networking
device.
Filtering The process of screening a packet for certain characteristics, such as
source address, destination address, or protocol. Filtering is used to
determine whether traffic is to be forwarded, and can also prevent
unauthorized access to a network or network devices.
Flow control A congestion- control mechanism. Congestion is caused by devices
sending traffic to already overloaded port on a switch. Flow control prevents
packet loss and temporarily inhibits devices from generating more traffic
until the period of congestion ends.
Full-duplex A system that allows packets to be transmitted and received at the same
time and, in effect, doubles the potential throughput of a link.
Half-duplex A system that allows packets to transmitted and received, but not at the
same time. Contrast with full duplex.
IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. This American organization
was founded in 1963 and sets standards for computers and
communications.
IETF Internet Engineering Task Force. An organization responsible for providing
engineering solutions for TCP/IP networks. In the network management
area, this group is responsible for the development of the SNMP protocol.
IP Internet Protocol. IP is a layer 3 network protocol that is the standard for
sending data through a network. IP is part of the TCP/IP set of protocols
that describe the routing of packets to addressed devices.
IP address Internet Protocol address. A unique identifier for a device attached to a
network using TCP/IP. The address is written as four octets separated with
periods (full-stops), and is made up of a network section, an optional subnet
section and a host section.
LAN Local Area Network. A network of endstations (such as PCs, printers,
servers) and network devices (hubs and switches) that cover a relatively
small geographic area (usually not larger than a floor or building).
Table C-1. Glossary