Client - A computer or software program that requests information or service from a server and then processes or acts on the information it receives.

Client-Server - A model of computing in which information is shared between networked systems by multiple clients
requesting information from a server.

Coaxial Cable - A network transmission media made up of a single thick copper wire encased in thick plastic and foil layers which insulates the wire from interference.

Cookie - A token, or long number, used as an identifier by a program such as a web browser or the xauth X Window
system security program.

Datagram - A network packet sent over a connectionless protocol such as UDP

Default Router - The router to which a packet is sent if a host has no idea where else to send it (gateway).

Denial-of-Service (DOS) - attack is when a person(s) uses normally multiple computers to launch an activity that ties up the attacked server or a particular program with so much bogus network traffic that it cannot respond to valid
requests.

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) - A digital telephone service that can be added to existing telephone lines in some areas (normally with in the mile radius from the NOC), used for relatively fast Internet connections.

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) - A protocol that allows a server to hand out IP addresses automatically to clients on a network.

Email Forwarding - When email sent to different email addresses is automatically sent (forwarded) to another specified email address.

Ethernet - International networking standard developed in the 70's by Xerox, Intel and Digital Equipment Corp.

Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) - A networking technology that uses fiber-optic cable in a dual ring topology.
It is highly reliable, but not widely used because of cost.

Fiber Optic - A network transmission media made of glass or plastic to transmit light signals; it is capable of extremely fast transmission speeds, also its immune from electromagnetic interference, and fairly secure.

File Transfer protocol (FTP) - A protocol used to share files between networked computer systems.

Firewall - A program or hardware that filter (blocks) IP packets based on their characteristics, according to a set of rules.  These rules are normally updated through the manufactures updates which requires a for fee subscription. Most firewalls are customizable for different applications which are required to operate in the specific environment.

Forwarding Name Server - A DNS server that forwards all queries to another name server for processing.

FrontPage Extensions - A set of programs and scripts that allow specific features of a web site created with
FrontPage to perform, adding to perform, adding dynamic functions to a web site.

Gb/s - Gigabits per second. 1 Gb/s is 1,024 mb/s or roughly a billion bits per second

GB - Gigabyte: 1024 Megabytes.

HTTPS - A code within a web page URL that indicates that the page was transmitted over an encrypted connection.

IMAP - Internet Message Access Protocol.  An email protocol that provides management of received messages on a
remote server.

Internet - A collection of many networks around the world that are linked together via high-speed networking
connections.

Internet Control message Protocol (ICMP) - A protocol used by IP to transmit control and error data about IP traffic on a network.  Most widely known as the basis of the ping utility, which uses ICMP Echo and Echo-request.

Internet Mail Access Protocol (IMAP) - A protocol used to interact with a user's email messages that are stored on a remote server, as with many popular web portals that allow email access via a web browser.

Internet protocol (IP) - The foundation protocol for transporting data across most networks as well as the Internet.
Intranet A network within an organization that uses Internet standards as the basis for sharing information throughout
the organization, using web browsers.

IP Address - Internet protocol numerical address assigned to each computer on the network so that its location and activities can be distinguished from other computers.  IP addresses consist of four numbers ranging between 0 and 255, separated by dots (e.g. 76.162.77.95).

Linux Hosting - Linux is a free open-source operating system based on UNIX that is used to run Web servers.

Maximum Transfer Unit (MTU) - The maximum size for a packet on a given type of network.

Media Access Control (MAC) Address - A unique address assigned to each Ethernet card in the world.

Microsoft Access - Microsoft Access is a relational database management system that can use data stored in Access/Jet, SQL Server, Oracle, or any ODBC-compliant data container.

MX Record - A line (record) in a DNS zone (file) that defines the mail exchanger for the named host (website).  MX records are used by mail transfer agents (MTA's) to find the correct email server when delivering email.

MySQL - An open source relational database management system that uses Structured Query Language (SQL). Linux hosting plans often include MySQL databases.

Name Resolution - The process of converting a domain name into a corresponding IP address.

Name Server - An Application-layer (OSI model) software program that lets a computer provide a name and receive back an IP address, or provide an IP address and receive back a name.

National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) - A clearinghouse for security information, reports, and analysis. This organization is run be the U.S. government and staffed by the FBI.

NetBEUI - A protocol within Windows-based computers that implements NetBIOS functionality.

NETBIOS - A protocol that provides a network name resolution service, similar in concept to DNS.

NetWare - A network operating system by Novell, designed for file and print sharing services.

Network Address Translation (NAT) - A rounting technique in which the addresses or other header information in a packet is altered during routing.

Network Information System (NIS) - A protocol that lets hosts share configuration information across a network, so that only one master configuration file is needed to support fir a number of hosts.

PHP - Hypertext Preprocessor.  A server-side, cross-platform, HTML embedded scripting language that lets you create dynamic web pages.

RAID - Redundant Array of Independent Disks is a standard for connecting multiple disks to the same server for higher security, speed and performance.

Resource Record - Information about a host that a DNS server can provide answers to queries.  The A record associates an IP address to a hostname, the MX record defines the host's mail exchanger, and the PRT record to associate a hostname with an IP address for reverse DNS lookups.

Reverse ARP (RARP) - A method of using ARP that allows a host (generally one that has no local storage, such as a diskless workstation) to retrieve its IP address by sending out its own network hardware address.

Reverse DNS - A method of using DNS in which a client sends an IP address to a DNS server and requests the corresponding domain name.

Ring Topology - A network topology design that deploys a network in a virtual circle, if one station fails all the traffic can reroute the other direction delivering the data sent.

Root Name Servers - DNS servers designate as a starting point for DNS queries.

Routing Table - A listing within a router containing network IS's, the network interface by which packets can reach that
network, at which point the IP address of the next router to which the packets should be sent.

RSA - Widely-known algorithm for public-key encryption.  Developed by Ronald Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Len
Adleman.

Secure Shell (SSH) - A protocol that provides network connectivity equivalent to an encrypted version of Telnet, plus
additional support to allow encryption of other protocols.

Secure Socket Layer (SSL) - A protocol that allows a Web server to communicate securely with a browser for
e-commerce or similar applications.

Server - A computer or software program that provides information or services of some type of client.

Shared Web Hosting - Multiple sites hosted on a single server that share the system resources.  Each web site is allotted a specific amount of resources.  Shared Web hosting is the most common (and cheapest) hosting option.

SOA Record - This record is the first line (record) in a DNS zone information file.  Defines the Start-Of-Authority for the
information in the file, describing how to use the information provided for this zone, including a serial number
for updates and refresh periods for zone transfers to slave DNS servers.

Spam - Unwanted advertisements sent to a large number of email or newsgroup recipients.

SQL - Structured Query Language is a database access language used for sending queries to databases for the purpose of retrieving information.

SSH-Agent - A part of the SSH suite that helps manage key pairs and authentication among multiple SSH-capable systems.

SSL - Secure Sockets Layer. Provides encrypted, authenticated communications over the Internet. E-commerce web
sites use SSL to process payment transactions.

Static IP Address - An IP address that is fixed and never changes.

Sub Domain - A sub domain is a subdivision of a larger domain.  For example – subdomain.example.com

TB - Terabyte: 1,024 gigabytes

Time-to-Live (TTL) - A counter within an IP packet header that determines how many hops (routers) a packet can pass through before being discarded as destination unreachable.

Touting Information Protocol (RIP) - A protocol that automatically fills routing tables with information about how to reach networks.

Trivial FTP (TPTP) - A protocol similar to FTP, but designed for downloading an operating system over a network to boot a diskless workstation.

Tunneling - The process of packaging a packet of a given Network-layer protocol within another type of packet from the same layer.

Type of Service (ToS) - A field within an IP packet used to designate how the packet should be routed.

Virtual Hosting - A feature of the Apache Web server that lets a single copy of Apache server documents for several web sites.

Windows Hosting - Web hosting on a Microsoft Windows Server platform, which allows web pages to use ASP and NET.

Zone - Part of the DNS domain tree for which a particular DNS server has authority to provide information.

Zone Information Files - These files referred to in named.conf that contain detailed information about specific zones: the information that a DNS query seeks.

Zone Transfers - Exchanging information between a master DNS server and a slave DNS server (populating through-out the "network").