Technical data

Glossary 8
Agilent Connectivity Guide 201
DHCP
Short for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, a protocol for
assigning dynamic IP addresses to devices on a network. With
dynamic addressing, a device can have a different IP address every
time it connects to the network.
In some systems, the device's IP address can even change while it is
still connected. DHCP also supports a mix of static and dynamic IP
addresses.
Dynamic addressing simplifies network administration because the
software keeps track of IP addresses rather than requiring an
administrator to manage the task. This means that a new computer
can be added to a network without manually assigning it a unique IP
address.
DNS
Short for Domain Name System (or Service), an Internet service that
translates domain names into IP addresses. Because domain names
are alphabetic, they are easier to remember. The Internet, however, is
really based on IP addresses. Every time you use a domain name,
therefore, a DNS service must translate the name into the
corresponding IP address.
For example, the domain name www.example.com might translate
to 198.105.232.4. The DNS system is a distributed system. If one
DNS server does not know how to translate a particular domain
name, it asks another one, and so on, until the correct IP address is
returned.
driver
See instrument driver and device driver.
Ethernet (MAC) address
The Media Access Control Address, also known as the link-level
address, the Ethernet (station) address, the LANIC ID, and the
hardware address. This is a unique 48-bit address assigned by the
manufacturer for each Ethernet device. It is usually displayed as 12