| 802.1p |
IEEE standard for providing Quality of Service
(QoS) / Class of Service (CoS) in local area
networks (LANs). |
| 802.1Q
| IEEE standard defining the architecture of Virtual LANs (VLANS), and establishing the basis for QoS. |
| 802.3
| IEEE standard for 10-Megabit Ethernet. |
| 802.3ab
| IEEE standard for Gigabit Ethernet over copper (twisted pair). |
| 802.3ae
| IEEE standard for 10-Gigabit Ethernet. |
| 802.3af
| IEEE standard for Power over Ethernet. See PoE. |
| 802.3z
| IEEE standard for Gigabit Ethernet over fiber. |
| CHAP
| Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol. An authentication algorithm in which the sender transmits a random value that is linked together in a predefined way, and sent back. If the value is authenticated through use of the same predefined scheme, the transmission is “approved”. More secure than PAP because it does not send passwords in text format. |
| Cross-bar fabric design
| A switch fabric that uses a high-speed matrix with point-to-point full-duplex serial connections. |
| DoS
| Denial of Service. A network attack that floods a network with traffic until the network fails. |
| GBIC
| GigaBit Interface Converter. A form of transceiver. See Transceiver. |
| GRE
| Generic Routing Encapsulation. An unencrypted virtual connection with a static IP address. |
| IPSec
| The IPv6 protocol for Layer 3 tunneling. |
| L2 Tunnel
| Layer 2 tunnel. A VPN connection between two hardware endpoints such as network adapters, using PPTP (the Point to Point Tunneling Protocol). Often proprietary. |
| L3 Tunnel
| Layer 3 tunnel. A non-proprietary VPN that operates only through the IP Protocol. |
| LACP
| Link Aggregation Control Protocol. |
| PKI
| Public key infrastructure. A non-standard system of data authentication for network transmission; uses a variety of techniques including digital certificates. |
| LOM
| LAN on motherboard. A set of chips integrating a network connection directly onto the motherboard, thereby replacing a network interface card (NIC). |
| MAN
| Metropolitan Area Network. A network that is larger than a LAN, but smaller than a WAN, and often uses very high-speed transmission media. |
| MPLS
| Multiprotocol Label Switching. An IETF standard that lets core devices switch packets by using tags (labels) attached within a data stream header by the ingress edge router. MPLS tags can be used to switch and route packets faster than possible using routing tables based on the full IP address. MPLS integrates L2 and L3, and allows IP-based applications such as VPNs and VoIP to run more efficiently in ATM or Ethernet networks. |
| PAP
| Password Authentication Protocol. A simple authentication scheme that transmits an unencrypted username and password, and checks it against a table of name and password pairs. |
| PoE
| Power over Ethernet. An Ethernet network powered over Category 5 or 5e wiring, consolidating supply and management of power and data transmission. See 802.af. |
| PSTN
| Public Switched Telephone Network. The official name for the fixed line telephone network |
| RADIUS
| Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service. A distributed security approach that allows a number of servers to authenticate a user's identity through a single, central database, or Authentication Server, which stores all information about users, including passwords and access privileges. Often used in conjunction with IEEE 802.1X. |
| SAN
| Storage Area Network. A system of high-speed storage devices, such as disks, that are available to all servers on a network |
| SFP
| Small Form-Factor Pluggable. A form of transceiver. See Transceiver. |
| SSH
| Secure Shell. A protocol for secure remote access. Uses digital certificates, passwords, RSA public key cryptography, and DES or other encryption algorithms. |
| SSL
| Secure Sockets Layer. A key-based security technology for authentication and encryption between a web server and a web browser. SSL negotiates point-to-point security, sending data over a “socket”, a secure channel existing in most TCP/IP applications. |
| Switch fabric
| Routes and manages all traffic in a high-speed switch, connecting all input and output ports. Can be either centralized (on a card) or distributed (over a backplane). |
| Terabit
| One trillion bits. Terabits per second (Tbps) is a measure of data transmission speed. Terabit routers are often found at the core of a network. |
| Transceiver
| A removable device which translates data from one medium to another. Most often used to convert fiber optic light into electrical signals. |
| VLAN
| Virtual Local Area Network, where computers are linked through software rather than hardware, allowing them to be physically moved around without any reconfiguring. |
| VoIP
| Voice over IP. Allows voice and data solutions to be converged over a wide environment such as the Internet. Also commonly used to refer to any use of the Internet Protocol for voice communications over a dedicated WAN. |
| VRRP
| Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol. Allows several routers to use the same virtual IP address, so that if one router fails, the others can act as backup. |
| WLAN
| Wireless Local Area Network. |
| X.509
| A part of the ITU-T X.500 directory services standard that defines public key digital certificates. |
| XENPAK
| A form of 10-Gigabit transceiver. See Transceiver. May also refer to a proposed standard for 10-Gigabit Ethernet. |
| XFP
| A form of 10-Gigabit transceiver. See Transceiver. |
