User guide

HWC_Glossary.fm
A31003-W1010-A100-1-7619, July 2005
HiPath Wireless Controller, Access Points and Convergence Software V3.0: User Guide
165
Glossary
Networking terms and abbreviations
OSI Layer 3 The Network layer (OSI Layer 3) provides switching and routing
technologies, creating logical paths, known as virtual circuits, for
transmitting data from node to node. Routing and forwarding are
functions of this layer, as well as addressing, internetworking, error
handling, congestion control and packet sequencing.
OSPF Open Shortest Path First, an interior gateway routing protocol
developed for IP networks based on the shortest path first or link-state
algorithm. Routers use link-state algorithms to send routing
information to all nodes in an internetwork by calculating the shortest
path to each node based on a topography of the Internet constructed
by each node. Each router sends that portion of the routing table
(keeps track of routes to particular network destinations) that
describes the state of its own links, and it also sends the complete
routing structure (topography). Using OSPF, a host that obtains a
change to a routing table or detects a change in the network
immediately multicasts the information to all other hosts in the network
so that all will have the same routing table information. The host using
OSPF sends only the part that has changed, and only when a change
has taken place. (RFC2328)
OUI Organizationally Unique Identifier (used in MAC addressing).
Packet The unit of data that is routed between an origin and a destination on
the Internet or any other packet-switched network. When any file is
sent from one place to another on the Internet, the Transmission
Control Protocol (TCP) layer of TCP/IP divides the file into packets.
Each packet is separately numbered and includes the Internet address
of the destination. The individual packets for a given file may travel
different routes through the Internet. When they have all arrived, they
are reassembled into the original file (by the TCP layer at the receiving
end).
PAP Password Authentication Protocol is the most basic form of
authentication, in which a user's name and password are transmitted
over a network and compared to a table of name-password pairs.
Typically, the passwords stored in the table are encrypted. (See
CHAP).
PDU Protocol Data Unit. A data object exchanged by protocol machines
(such as management stations, SMUX peers, and SNMP agents) and
consisting of both protocol control information and user data. PDU is
sometimes used as a synonym for “packet''.
Term Explanation