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P314 Broadband Sharing Gateway with 4-Port Switch
L Glossary of Terms
wires connect homes and businesses to a neighborhood central office. This is called
the local loop. The central office is connected to other central offices and long-distance
facilities.
PPP
Point to Point Protocol. PPP encapsulates and transmits IP (Internet Protocol)
datagrams over serial point-to-point links. PPP works with other protocols such as IPX
(Internetwork Packet Exchange). The protocol is defined in IETF (Internet Engineering
Task Force) RFC 1661 through 1663. PPP provides router-to-router, host-to-router,
and host-to-host connections.
Promiscuous
Packet Capture
Actively capturing packet information from a network. Most computers only collect
packets specifically addressed to them. Promiscuous packet capture acquires all
network traffic it can regardless of where the packets are addressed.
Protocol A “language” for communicating on a network. Protocols are sets of standards or rules
used to define, format, and transmit data across a network. There are many different
protocols used on networks. For example, most web pages are transmitted using the
HTTP protocol.
Proxy Server A server that performs network operations in lieu of other systems on the network.
Proxy Servers are most often used as part of a firewall to mask the identity of users
inside a corporate network yet still provide access to the Internet. When a user
connects to a proxy server, via a web browser or other networked application, he
submits commands to the proxy server. The server then submits those same
commands to the Internet, yet without revealing any information about the system that
originally requested the information. Proxy servers are an ideal way to also have all
users on a corporate network channel through one point for all external
communications. Proxy servers can be configured to block certain kinds of
connections and stop some hacks.
PSTN
Public Switched Telephone Network was put into place many years ago as a voice
telephone call-switching system. The system transmits voice calls as analog signals
across copper twisted cables from homes and businesses to neighborhood COs
(central offices); this is often called the local loop. The PSTN is a circuit-switched
system, meaning that an end-to-end private circuit is established between caller and
callee.
PVC
Permanent Virtual Circuit. A PVC is a logical point-to-point circuit between customer
sites. PVCs are low-delay circuits because routing decisions do not need to be made
along the way. Permanent means that the circuit is preprogrammed by the carrier as a
path through the network. It does not need to be set up or torn down for each session.
RFC
An RFC (Request for Comments) is an Internet formal document or standard that is
the result of committee drafting and subsequent review by interested parties. Some
RFCs are informational in nature. Of those that are intended to become Internet
standards, the final version of the RFC becomes the standard and no further
comments or changes are permitted. Change can occur, however, through
subsequent RFCs.
RIP
Routing Information Protocol is an interior or intra-domain routing protocol that uses
the distance-vector routing algorithms. RIP is used on the Internet and is common in
the NetWare environment as a method for exchanging routing information between
routers.