Instruction Manual
121
Glossary of Terms Used
TERM MEANING
Authentication
Authentication is the technique by which a process
verifies that its communication partner is who it is
supposed to be and not an imposter. Authentication
confirms that data is sent to the intended recipient
and assures the recipient that the data originated
from the expected sender and has not been altered
on route
BIOS
Basic Input/Output System is the builtin software
in a computer that are executed on start up (boot)
and that determine what the computer can do
without accessing programs from a disk. On PCs,
the BIOS contains all the code required to control
the keyboard, display screen, disk drives, serial
communications, and a number of miscellaneous
functions
Bonding
Ethernet Bonding or Failover is the ability to detect
communication failure transparently, and switch
from one LAN connection to another.
BOOTP
Bootstrap Protocol. A protocol that allows a
network user to automatically receive an IP
address and have an operating system boot
without user interaction. BOOTP is the basis for the
more advanced DHCP
Certificates
A digitally signed statement that contains
information about an entity and the entity's public
key, thus binding these two pieces of information
together. A certificate is issued by a trusted
organization (or entity) called a Certification
Authority (CA) after the CA has verified that the
entity is who it says it is.