User's Manual

hwc_glossary.fm
Glossary
Networking terms and abbreviations
A31003-W1050-U100-2-7619,
March 2008
HiPath Wireless Controller, Access Points and Convergence Software V5 R1 , C20/C2400 User Guide 359
HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol is the set of rules for transferring files (text, graphic images,
sound, video, and other multimedia files) on the World Wide Web. A Web browser makes use
of HTTP. HTTP is an application protocol that runs on top of the TCP/IP suite of protocols.
(RFC2616: Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1)
HTTPS Hypertext Transfer Protocol over Secure Socket Layer, or HTTP over SSL, is a Web protocol
that encrypts and decrypts user page requests as well as the pages that are returned by the
Web server. HTTPS uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) as a sublayer under its regular HTTP
application layering. (HTTPS uses port 443 instead of HTTP port 80 in its interactions with the
lower layer, TCP/IP.) SSL uses a 40-bit key size for the RC4 stream encryption algorithm,
which is considered an adequate degree of encryption for commercial exchange.
IBSS Independent Basic Service Set. See BSS. An IBSS is the 802.11 term for an adhoc network.
See adhoc network.
ICMP Internet Control Message Protocol, an extension to the Internet Protocol (IP) defined by
RFC792. ICMP supports packets containing error, control, and informational messages. The
PING command, for example, uses ICMP to test an Internet connection.
ICV ICV (Integrity Check Value) is a 4-byte code appended in standard WEP to the 802.11
message. Enhanced WPA inserts an 8-byte MIC just before the ICV. (See WPA and MIC)
IE Internet Explorer.
IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, a technical professional association, involved
in standards activities.
IETF Internet Engineering Task Force, the main standards organization for the Internet.
Infrastructure Mode An 802.11 networking framework in which devices communicate with each other by first going
through an Access Point (AP). In infrastructure mode, wireless devices can communicate with
each other or can communicate with a wired network. (See ad-hoc mode and BSS.)
Internet or IP telephony IP or Internet telephony are communications, such as voice, facsimile, voice-messaging
applications, that are transported over the Internet, rather than the public switched telephone
network (PSTN). IP telephony is the two-way transmission of audio over a packet-switched IP
network (TCP/IP network).
An Internet telephone call has two steps: (1) converting the analog voice signal to digital
format, (2) translating the signal into Internet protocol (IP) packets for transmission over the
Internet. At the receiving end, the steps are reversed. Over the public Internet, voice quality
varies considerably. Protocols that support Quality of Service (QoS) are being implemented
to improve this.
IP Internet Protocol is the method or protocol by which data is sent from one computer to another
on the Internet. Each computer (host) on the Internet has at least one IP address that uniquely
identifies it. Internet Protocol specifies the format of packets, also called datagrams, and the
addressing scheme. Most networks combine IP with a higher-level protocol called
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), which establishes a virtual connection between a
destination and a source.
IPC Interprocess Communication. A capability supported by some operating systems that allows
one process to communicate with another process. The processes can be running on the
same computer or on different computers connected through a network.
Term Explanation
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