GLOSSAR

Internet - WWW - TCP/IP

IP-address

In the most widely installed level of the Internet Protocol (IP) today, an IP address is a 32-bit number that identifies each sender or receiver of information that is sent in packets across the Internet.

The domain name system (DNS) is the way that Internet domain names are located and translated into IP-addresses. A domain name is a meaningful and easy-to-remember "handle" for an Internet address.

URL

A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is the address of a file (resource) accessible on the Internet.

HTTP

The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is the set of rules for exchanging files (text, graphic images, sound, video, and other multimedia files) on the World Wide Web.

HTML

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the set of "markup" symbols or codes inserted in a file intended for display on a World Wide Web browser. The markup tells the Web browser how to display a Web page's words and images for the user.

Telnet

Telnet is the way you can access someone else's computer, assuming they have given you permission. (Such a computer is frequently called a host computer.) More technically, Telnet is a user command and an underlying TCP/IP protocol for accessing remote computers.

FTP

File Transfer Protocol (FTP), a standard protocol, is the simplest way to exchange files between computers on the Internet. FTP is commonly used to transfer Web page files from their creator to the computer that acts as their server for everyone on the Internet. It's also commonly used to download programs and other files to your computer from other servers.

NNTP

Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) is the predominant protocol used by computers (servers and clients) for managing the notes posted on Usenet newsgroups.

e-mail

e-mail (electronic mail) is the exchange of computer-stored messages by telecommunication. E-mail messages are usually encoded in ASCII text. However, you can also send non-text files, such as graphic images and sound files, as attachments sent in binary streams. E-mail was one of the first uses of the Internet and is still the most popular use.

SMTP

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is a TCP/IP protocol used in sending and receiving e-mail.

MX-Record

A hosting account's MX(Mail eXchange)-record specifies how mail addressed to a certain domain is to be handled.

ISO/OSI 7-layer-model

International Standards Organization/Open Systems Interconnection (ISO/OSI)
ISO/OSI divides telecommunication into seven layers. The layers are in two groups. The upper four layers are used whenever a message passes from or to a user. The lower three layers (up to the network layer) are used when any message passes through the host computer. Messages intended for this computer pass to the upper layers. Messages destined for some other host are not passed up to the upper layers but are forwarded to another host. The seven layers are:
Layer 7: The application layer
Layer 6: The presentation layer
Layer 5: The session layer
Layer 4: The transport layer
Layer 3: The network layer
Layer 2: The data link layer
Layer 1: The physical layer

Bridge

In telecommunications networks, a bridge is a product that connects a local area network (LAN) to another local area network that uses the same protocol (for example, Ethernet or Token Ring). You can envision a bridge as being a device that decides whether a message from you to someone else is going to the local area network in your building or to someone on the local area network in the building across the street. A bridge examines each message on a LAN, "passing" those known to be within the same LAN, and forwarding those known to be on the other interconnected LAN (or LANs).

Router

On the Internet, a router is a device or, in some cases, software in a computer, that determines the next network point to which a packet should be forwarded toward its destination. The router is connected to at least two networks and decides which way to send each information packet based on its current understanding of the state of the networks it is connected to.

RFC

An RFC (Request for Comments) is an Internet formal document or standard that is the result of committee drafting and subsequent review by interested parties. Some RFCs are informational in nature. Of those that are intended to become Internet standards, the final version of the RFC becomes the standard and no further comments or changes are permitted. Change can occur, however, through subsequent RFCs that supercede or elaborate on all or parts of previous RFCs.

FAQ

The FAQ (pronounced Fak) or list of "frequently-asked questions" (and answers) has become a feature of the Internet. The FAQ seems to have originated in many of the Usenet groups as a way to acquaint new users with the rules. Today, there are thousands of FAQs on the World Wide Web.

this page was created by Wolfgang Ziegler