HP-UX LAN Administrator's Guide (Feburary 2007)

DRAFT COPY Network Addressing
Networking Terminology
Chapter 7 93
Networking Terminology
Following are descriptions of important networking terms.
Nodes
A node is a computer on the network. Local node (or host) refers to the computer or host to
which your terminal is physically attached. A remote node is a computer on the network
with which your local node can communicate. A remote node does not have to be directly
attached to your terminal.
Routes and Protocols
A route is the sequence of network nodes through which messages travel when sent from a
source node to a destination node.
A protocol is a set of rules for a particular communication task. A protocol handler or
protocol module is a piece of software that implements a particular protocol.
Network Interface Name
A network interface is a communication path through which messages can be sent and
received. A hardware network interface has a hardware device associated with it, such as an
Ethernet, Fibre Channel, ATM, Token Ring, or FDDI card. A software network interface does
not include a hardware device, (for example, the loopback interface). An IP address is
associated with an interface name. The interface name(s) for a hardware network interface
can be found by running the lanscan command and looking at the “Net-Interface Name PPA”
field. Alternatively, you can execute the nwmgr command and look at the Name/Class
Instance.
For Ethernet cards, you can choose either Ethernet encapsulation by specifying lan when
configuring the interface, or IEEE 802.3 encapsulation by specifying snap when configuring
the interface.
The interface name may include a colon (:), followed by a number that denotes the logical
interface number. The number 0 is the first logical interface number for a card/encapsulation
type and is known as the initial interface. The interface name lan0 is equivalent to lan0:0,
lan1 is equivalent to lan1:0, and so on.
You must configure the initial interface for a card/encapsulation type before you can configure
subsequent interfaces for the same card/encapsulation type. For example, you must configure
lan0:0 (or lan0) before you configure lan0:1 and lan0:2. Once you have configured the initial