User's Manual

Glossary
hwc_glossary.fm
Networking terms and abbreviations
A31003-W1050-U100-2-7619
, March 2008
364 HiPath Wireless Controller, Access Points and Convergence Software V5 R1 , C20/C2400 User Guide
SLP Service Location Protocol. A method of organizing and locating the resources (such as
printers, disk drives, databases, e-mail directories, and schedulers) in a network. Using SLP,
networking applications can discover the existence, location and configuration of networked
devices.
With Service Location Protocol, client applications are 'User Agents' and services are
advertised by 'Service Agents'. The User Agent issues a multicast 'Service Request' (SrvRqst)
on behalf of the client application, specifying the services required. The User Agent will
receive a Service Reply (SrvRply) specifying the location of all services in the network which
satisfy the request.
For larger networks, a third entity, called a 'Directory Agent', receives registrations from all
available Service Agents. A User Agent sends a unicast request for services to a Directory
Agent (if there is one) rather than to a Service Agent.
(SLP version 2, RFC2608, updating RFC2165)
SMI Structure of Management Information. A hierarchical tree structure for information that
underlies Management Information Bases (MIBs), and is used by the SNMP protocol. Defined
in RFC1155 and RFC1442 (SNMPv2).
SMT (802.11) Station ManagemenT. The object class in the 802.11 MIB that provides the necessary support
at the station to manage the processes in the station such that the station may work
cooperatively as a part of an IEEE 802.11 network. The four branches of the 802.11 MIB are:
• dot11smt - objects related to station management and local configuration
• dot11mac - objects that report/configure on the status of various MAC parameters
• dot11res - Objects that describe available resources
• dot11phy - Objects that report on various physical items.
SNMP Simple Network Management Protocol. A set of protocols for managing complex networks.
SNMP works by sending messages, called protocol data units (PDUs), to different parts of a
network. SNMP-compliant devices, called agents, store data about themselves in
Management Information Bases (MIBs) and return this data to the SNMP requesters.
SNMP includes a limited set of management commands and responses. The management
system issues Get, GetNext and Set messages to retrieve single or multiple object variables
or to establish the value of a single variable. The managed agent sends a Response message
to complete the Get, GetNext or Set.
SNMP trap An event notification sent by the SNMP managed agent to the management system to identify
the occurrence of conditions (such as a threshold that exceeds a predetermined value).
SSH Secure Shell, sometimes known as Secure Socket Shell, is a Unix-based command interface
and protocol for securely getting access to a remote computer. SSH is a suite of three utilities
- slogin, ssh, and scp - secure versions of the earlier UNIX utilities, rlogin, rsh, and rcp. With
SSH commands, both ends of the client/server connection are authenticated using a digital
certificate, and passwords are protected by being encrypted.
SSID Service Set Identifier. A 32-character unique identifier attached to the header of packets sent
over a Wireless LAN that acts as a password when a wireless device tries to connect to the
Basic Service Set (BSS). Several BSSs can be joined together to form one logical WLAN
segment, referred to as an extended service set (ESS). The SSID is used to identify the ESS.
In 802.11 networks, each Access Point advertises its presence several times per second by
broadcasting beacon frames that carry the ESS name (SSID). Stations discover APs by
listening for beacons, or by sending probe frames to search for an AP with a desired SSID.
When the station locates an appropriately-named Access Point, it sends an associate request
frame containing the desired SSID. The AP replies with an associate response frame, also
containing the SSID.
Some APs can be configured to send a zero-length broadcast SSID in beacon frames instead
of sending their actual SSID. The AP must return its actual SSID in the probe response.
Term Explanation
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