Call
Assist Terminal System
Router
Terms You Need To Know
Access point - Sometimes called a transceiver, an
access point both receives and transmits information from a remote
location. Access points serve those with a wireless connection (WLAN) and
can serve many users at once usually
DNS -
Domain Name Service. The dns server basically translates a URL into the ip
address of the server hosting the URL. If you type PortForward.com in your web
browser, your computer needs to know what ip address corresponds to
portforward.com. Your computer contacts the dns server, and "tells"
it PortForward.com. The dns server then "tells" your computer
216.104.71.5. If you ping PortForward.com, the first line should be something
that includes PortForward.com [216.104.71.5]. This basically tells you if the
dns server was able to find the ip address for the domain name you submitted.
DHCP - Short for Dynamic
Host Configuration Protocol, a protocol for
assigning dynamic LP addresses to devices on a network.
With dynamic addressing, a device can have a different IP address every time it
connects to the network. DHCP also supports a mix of static and dynamic IP
addresses.
Domain Name - A domain name
is what you usually type into the web browser when you want to view a page
without the www part. This site's domain name is PortForward.com. Others you
may be familiar with are Google. COM, yahoo.com...
Dynamic IP Address - The dynamic ip
address is not really a type of ip address. The dynamic only relates to how an
ip address is assigned. Your router hands out these ip addresses to computers
every time they are rebooted. This means that every time your computer is
rebooted, its ip address can change. You should have a static, not dynamic ip
address if you are trying to do port forwarding. In a port forwarding
configuration you must specify an ip address to forward the ports to. Let's say
you do that, and then your ip address changes. The ports are now forwarded to
the wrong ip address, so your port forwarding configuration just quit working.
File sharing - File sharing
exists on networks, both on public and private levels. File sharing
typically relates to multiple users having access to the same files, being able
to work on them, download them, or modify them at the same time. Among
file sharing networks, there are different levels of access, as well as
designated amounts of personal file storage that can be shared with the network.
Firewall - A set of programs
in a server that protect information in a private network from outside users
FTP - FTP stands for File
Transfer Protocol, and it is known to be the easiest way of exchanging files on
the Internet
Gateway - Usually this is
your router. When you talk about your gateway, generally you are talking about
the ip address your router uses. When you specify gateway in your TCP/IP
properties you are entering the ip address of your router. If you enter your
gateway into the browser bar, you get the web interface of your router. That's
assuming your router has a web interface.
IP - Stands for Internet
Protocol. This is how information is sent from one computer to
another. When a computer is online, it gets assigned an IP address for
the server to send the requested information to, Example – 196.30.31.193
ISP - Stands for Internet
Service Provider. An ISP is any company that gives access to the Internet
with either existing cable lines or their own wireless connectivity
Kbps - Stands for kilobits
per second and it is a measure of bandwidth. In other words, how fast
information will get from one point to another
LAN - LAN stands for a local area network, which means that
a group of computers can share an
Internet connection, as long as they are close
in proximity
Mbps - Stands for megabits
per second and is a measure of bandwidth.
Mbps is also short for millions of bits per second, as opposed to Kbps, which
is thousands of bits per second
Modem - A modem is a device
that transfers data and requests from a computer to its Internet server and
vice versa
NAT - Network Address
Translation. When your router is using nat, it is taking data from one Public
IP address, and breaking that data into multiple private ip addresses. Data is
sent to your network on a public ip address, from the Internet. Using nat your
router then directs that data, to multiple internal private ip addresses. Nat
basically breaks one ip into many. There is a problem with it though. When a
computer on the Internet wants to retrieve data from a computer on your
network, your router can't figure out which internal computer to get the data
from. This is where port forwarding comes in. Port forwarding tells your router
which internal computer to get the data from when it sees data on certain
ports.
NIC - Network
Interface Card. This is a card in your computer that allows you to connect to routers/hubs/modems
via Ethernet. It's the thing your network cable plugs into.
Node - A node
can be a computer or some other device, such as a printer. Every node has a
unique network address, sometimes called a Media Access Control (MAC) address
Port Forwarding - Allowing your
router to direct ports to a private ip address. The data on these ports is
always incoming data, and always originates on an external public ip address.
Port Triggering - Allowing your
router to dynamically open up ports, when it sees data on other ports. Port
triggering allows you to do port forwarding, but only have the ports open when
you are running the application. So you open up a program. That program then
sends data out on outgoing ports called trigger ports. Your router sees data
leaving your network on these ports. The router then allows incoming data on
the ports specified in your port-triggering configuration. When the router no
longer sees data going out on the trigger ports, it turns off access to the
incoming ports.
Private(internal) IP Address - If you are
using NAT, every computer on your network has one of these ip addresses. These
IP addresses are provided by your router. Your entire network can see this ip
address. Computers on the outside of your network cannot, because your router
"hides" private ip addresses.
Public (external) IP Address - Every
computer/server that has a public ip address is directly connected to the internet.
Usually DLS/cable routers are assigned a public ip address by the ISP they are
connecting to.
Router - Routers can be in
the form of a device or software. They are hooked up to a network of computers
at any point where they connect and will send requested information to
another computer in that network
Static IP Address - Static doesn't
really refer to the type of ip address. It refers to how your computer obtains
that ip address. Static ip addresses are hard coded into your computer by you,
by hand. If you assign a computer on your network a static ip address, all the
other computers on the network must have a static ip address.
Subnet Mask - The subnet mask
is part of your ip address configuration. The subnet tells your computer which
group of ip addresses you belong to.
TCP/IP - This is the
protocol your computer uses to communicate with other computers on the
Internet, and within your network. In windows this portion of your network
properties, allows you to define an ip address, subnet mask, gateway, and dns
servers.
Web browser - A browser is a
program that lets users look at and
interact with various applications and files on the Internet. An example
of a browser is Microsoft Internet Explorer