Network Chico Computer
terms glossary
Some definitions from the Sharpened Glossary
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=I=
IBM cabling system: Numeric
cable designations (Type 1 through Type 9) representing the grades
of cabling recognized by IBM's Cabling System. Types 2 and 9
are the most commonly used networking cables; Type 3 is voicegrade
only and is unsuitable for network use.
ICMP: "Internet Control
Message Protocol" A TCP/IP protocol
used to send information and error messages.
Icon: Ever since the Macintosh
was introduced in 1984 icons have been the way we view files
on computers. An icon on your computer screen represents an object
or a program on your hard drive. For example, the folders you
see on your desktop or in open windows are icons. The files that
you see in those folders are also icons. The trash can on the
Macintosh and the recycle bin on Windows are both icons as well.
Icons are a visual representation of something on your computer.
For example, a blue "e" on your screen most likely
represents the Internet Explorer program. An icon that looks
like a sheet of paper is probably a text document. By clicking
and dragging icons, you can move the actual files they represent
to various locations on your computer's hard drive. By double-clicking
an application icon, you can open the program. Icons are one
of the fundamental features of the graphical user interface (GUI).
They make computing much more user-friendly than having to enter
text commands to accomplish anything.
IDE: "Integrated
Device Electronics" It is the most widely-used hard drive
interface on the market. The fancy name refers to how the IDE
technology "integrates" the electronics controller
into the drive itself. The original IDE standard could only support
hard drives containing up to 540 MB of data. The new standard
EIDE (Enhanced-IDE) supports hard drives with over 50 GB of data
and allows for data transfer rates that are over twice as fast
as the original IDE. Another common hard drive interface is SCSI,
which is faster than EIDE, but usually costs more per megabyte.
IEEE: "Institute
of Electrical and Electronics Engineers" This is a non-profit
organization that develops, defines, and reviews electronics
and computer science standards. Though it is a U.S. based organization,
standards developed by the IEEE often become International standards.
Some examples of commonly-used products standardized by the organization
are the IEEE 1284 interface (a.k.a. Parallel Port), which many
printers use, and the IEEE 1394 interface (a.k.a. Firewire),
which is a super-fast connection for digital video cameras, hard
drives, and other peripherals. The IEEE describes itself as "the
world's largest technical professional society; promoting the
development and application of electrotechnology and allied sciences
for the benefit of humanity, the advancement of the profession,
and the well-being of our members."
IIS: "Internet Information
Server" or "Internet Information Services" The
Server definition refers to a Microsoft BackOffice component
that acts as a web server in the Windows NT Server environment.
The Windows 2000 version is called Internet Information Services.
IM: "Instant Message,"
"Instant messaging" or "IMing," as frequent
users call it, has become a popular way to communicate over the
Internet. Two people with the same IM client software can type
messages back in forth in a private "chat room." The
IM software can also keep a list of friends, or "buddies,"
and let the user know who else is online. After seeing who is
online the user can open up chat rooms with as many other people
as he or she wants. Instant messaging can be a much more efficient
way to communicate with others than sending multiple e-mails
back and forth. For this reason instant messaging has become
a useful tool for both friends and co-workers.
IMAP: "Internet Message
Access Protocol" An Internet e-mail
standard that may some day replace POP3 because of its advanced
message controls and fault-tolerance features.
Impedance: the resistance
of a cable to the transmission of signals. Impedance accounts
for attenuation in a cable.
Incremental backup: Copies
of all files modified since the last full or incremental backup.
Infrared: That portion
of the electromagnetic spectrum immediately below visible light.
Infrared frequencies are popular for shot- to medium- range (10s
of meters to 40 km) point-to-point network connections.
Insertion loss: The weakening
of signals that occurs on a cable segment each time a network
device is attached. Necessary restrictions on the maximum number
of devices keep the signals that traverse the network clean and
strong enough to remain intelligible to all devices.
Internet: The Internet
was created way back in 1969, during the Cold War, by the United
States Department of Defense. It was meant to be a "nuke-proof"
communications network. Today the Internet spreads across the
globe and consists of countless networks and computers allowing
millions of people to share information. Data that travels long
distances on the Internet is transferred on huge lines known
collectively as the Internet backbone. The Internet is now maintained
by the major Internet service providers such as MCI Worldcom,
Sprint, GTE, ANS, and UUNET, but technically belongs to no one.
Because these providers make huge amounts of revenue off the
Internet they are motivated to maintain consistent and fast connections
which benefits everyday Internet users like you and me. Many
people think the Internet and the World Wide Web are the same
thing. They are not. The World Wide Web is what you are browsing
right now. It is one of the many features of the Internet. E-mail,
FTP, and Instant Messaging are also features of the Internet.
Internet is always capitalized.
Internet browser: A graphical
tool designed to read HTML documents and
access the WWW. Examples are Microsoft's
Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator or Mozilla Firefox.
Intranet: This is not
simply a misspelling of "Internet." "Intra"
means "internal" or "within," so an Intranet
is an internal or private Internet used strictly within the confines
of a company, university or organization. "Inter" means
"between or among," hence the difference between the
Internet and an intranet. Up until the last few years most corporations
used local networks composed of expensive proprietary hardware
and software for their internal communications. Now, using simple
Internet technology, intranets have made internal communication
much easier and less expensive. Intranets use a TCP/IP
connection and support web browsing just like a typical Internet
connection does. The difference is that web sites served within
the intranet can only be accessed by computers connected through
the local network.
Intellimirror: A Windows
2000 client/server application that creates a "smart back-up
copy" of a Windows 2000 system on a Windows 2000 Server.
Users have access to all the files, applications and customization
resident on their home desktops on any other Windows 2000 machine
that can establish a working connection to the Intellimirror
server where their home desktopn images reside.
Internetwork: A network
of networks which consists of two or more physical networks connected
by routers. Unlike a WAN and internetwork
may reside in only a single location. Because it contains too
many computers or spans too much distance an internetwork cannot
fit within the scope of a single LAN.
IP: "Internet Protocol"
It provides a standard set of rules for sending and receiving
data through the Internet. People often use the term "IP"
when referring to an IP address, which is OK. The two terms are
not necessarily synonymous, but when you ask what somebody's
IP is, most people will know you are referring to their IP address.
TCP/IP's primary network protocol which provides
addressing and routing information.
IP address: Also known
as an "IP number" or simply an "IP," this
is a code made up of numbers separated by three dots that identifies
a particular computer on the Internet. Every computer, whether
it be a Web server or the computer you're using right now, requires
an IP address to connect to the Internet. Your Internet Service
Provider (ISP) will assign you either a static IP address (which
is always the same) or a dynamic IP address (which changes every
time you log on). ISPs typically assign users a dynamic IP address
each time they sign on because it reduces the number of IP addresses
they must register. However, if you connect to the Internet through
a network, it is more likely that you have a static IP address.
ISPs and organizations usually apply to the InterNIC for a range
of IP addresses so that all their clients have similar addresses.
There are three classes of IP address sets that can be registered:
Class C, which consists of 255 IP addresses, class B, which contains
65,000 IP addresses, and class A, which includes hundreds of
thousands of IP addresses. Because there are so many computers
now connected to the Internet, the InterNIC is actually running
out of IP addresses. Therefore, Class A and Class B address blocks
are very hard, if not impossible, to get. Most large companies
have to register multiple Class C addresses instead. To resolve
this problem, the Internet Engineering Task Force, which created
the original IP address standard, is working on a new protocol
called "IP Version 6" or "IPv6."
IPSec: "IP Security"
An Internet security protocol that is gaining acceptance as a
way to protect network traffic from unwanted snooping.
IPX: "Internetwork
Packet Exchange" (I didn't know "exchange" started
with an "x" either.) It is a networking and transport-layer
protocol used to connect networks based on Novell's NetWare.
IPX is "connectionless" meaning it does not require
connections to be maintained during an exchange of packets like
a phone call does. It can just pick up where it left off when
a connection is temporarily dropped. Another nice thing about
IPX is that it usually only loads when you log on to a network
so it doesn't take up unnecessary resources. As some video game
players may know IPX used to be the standard protocol for network
games. Most video games now use the more robust TCP/IP
protocol which allows for long distance network gaming as well
as game play over the Internet.
IPX/SPX: "Internetwork
Packet Exchange/Sequenced Packet Exchange" The set of protocols
developed by Novell. Most comonly associated with NetWare networks.
IRC: "Internet Relay
Chat" IRC makes it possible for people using the Internet
to converse with each other in real time by typing messages back
and forth. In order to talk to someone through IRC, you need
to connect to the same IRC server. When you and others connect
to the server, you can join a channel (a.k.a. chat room), and
talk with the other people who have joined that channel. Usually,
channels have specific topics like "teenchat," "macusers,"
or "folksingingmotorcyclists." To connect to an IRC
server, you'll need a software program like Ircle (Mac) or mIRC
(Windows). Most IRC programs also let you transfer files with
other users, which is a cool feature, but has also led to a lot
of software piracy.
IRQ: "Interrupt Request
Line" IBM clone PCs use interrupt requests to manage various
hardware operations. Devices such as sound cards, modems and
keyboards can all send interrupt requests to the processor. For
example when the modem needs to run a process it sends an interrupt
request to the CPU saying "Hey, hold
up, let me do my thing." The CPU then interrupts its current
job to let the modem run its process. It is important to assign
different IRQ addresses to different hardware devices is because
the interrupt request signals run along single IRQ lines to a
controller. This interrupt controller assigns priorities to incoming
IRQs and sends them to the CPU. It's kind of like taking a number
at the local deli, except the hardware usually only has to wait
a couple of nanoseconds instead of twenty minutes. Since the
interrupt controller can control only one device per IRQ line,
if you assign the same IRQ address to multiple devices, you are
likely to get an IRQ conflict. This can cause a range of errors
from not allowing network connections to crashing your computer.
So make sure you assign unique IRQs to new hardware you install
and avoid the frustration and keyboard throwing that conflicts
can cause.
ISA: "Industry Standard
Architecture" Originally an 8-bit PC bus architecture but
upgraded to 16-bit with the introduction of the IBM PC/AT in
1984. Essentially no longer in use except in legacy products.
ISDN: "Integrated
Services Digital Network" ISDN is a data transfer technology
created in 1984 that can transfer data significantly faster than
a dial-up modem across a WAN. ISDN enables
wide-bandwidth digital transmission over the public telephone
network which means more data can be sent at one time. A typical
ISDN connection can support transfer rates of 64K or 128K of
data per second. While these speeds are faster than what you
can get with a dial-up modem, the newer DSL technology can support
even faster transfer rates and is less costly to set up and maintain.
ISO: "International
Standardization Organization" The international standards-setting
body based in Geneva, Switzerland that sets worldwide technology
standards. Also called International Standards Organization.
or International Organization for Standardization. You can visit
their site at www.iso.org.
ISP: "Internet Service
Provider" In order to connect to the Internet you need an
ISP. It is the company that you pay a monthly fee to in order
to use the Internet. If you use a dial-up modem to connect to
your ISP a point-to-point protocol (PPP) connection is established
with another modem on the ISP's end. That modem connects to one
of the ISP's routers which routes you to the Internet "backbone."
From there you can access information from anywhere around the
world. DSL and cable modems work the same way except after you
connect the first time you are always connected.
IT: "Information
Technology" and is pronounced "I.T." It refers
to anything related to computing technology, such as networking,
hardware, software, the Internet, or the people that work with
these technologies. Many companies now have IT departments for
managing the computers, networks, and other technical areas of
their businesses. IT jobs include computer programming, network
administration, computer engineering, Web development, technical
support, and many other related occupations. Since we live in
the "information age," information technology has become
a part of our everyday lives. That means the term "IT,"
already highly overused, is here to stay.
ITU: "International
Telecommunications Union" The standards body that developed
the V-series modem standards.
Network Chico Computer
terms glossary
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