Network+ Thomson Course Technology Chapter Five - Networking Hardware

Front 1

application switch

Back 1

Another term for a Layer 3 or Layer 4 switch.

Front 2

base I/O port

Back 2

A setting that specifies, in hexadecimal notation, which area of memory will act as a channel for data traveling between the NIC and the CPU. Like its IRQ, it cannot be used by another device.

Front 3

best path

Back 3

The most efficient route from one node on a network to another. Under optimal network conditions, it is the most direct path between two points. However, when traffic congestion, segment failures, and other factors create obstacles, the most direct path path may not be it.

Front 4

BGP (Border Gateway Protocol)

Back 4

A complex routing protocol used on border and exterior routers. It is the routing protocol used on Internet backbones.

Front 5

BIOS (Basic Input/Output System)

Back 5

The firmware attached to a computer's motherboard that controls the computer's communications with its devices, among other things.

Front 6

border router

Back 6

A router that connects and autonomous LAN with an exterior network- For Example, the router that connects a business to its ISP.

Front 7

bridge

Back 7

A connectivity device that operates at the Data Link layer (Layer 2) of the OSI Model and reads header information to forward packets according to their MAC address. They use a filtering database to determine which packets to discard and which to forward. They contain one input and one output port and seperate network segments.

Front 8

bridge router (brouter)

Back 8

A router capable of providing Layer 2 bridging functions.

Front 9

broadcast domain

Back 9

A combination of ports on a switch (or multiple switches that make up a Layer 2 segment. To be able to exchange data with each other, they must be connected by a Layer 3 device, such as a router or Layer 3 switch. A VLAN is one type.

Front 10

bus

Back 10

The type of circuit used by a computer's motherboard to transmit data to components. Most new pentium computers use one capable of exchanging 32 or 64 bits of data. As the number of bits of data a bus hanles increases, so too does the speed of the device attached to it.

Front 11

CardBus

Back 11

A PCMCIA standard that specifies a 32-bit interface running at 33 MHz, similar to the PCI expansion board standard. Most modern laptops are equipped with CardBus slots for connecting external modems and NICs, among other things.

Front 12

CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor)

Back 12

A type of microchip that requires very little energy to operate. In a pc, it stores settintgs pertaining to a computer's devices among other things.

Front 13

collision domain

Back 13

A portion of a LAN encompassing devices that may cause and detect collisions among their group. Bridges and swtiches can logically seperate them.

Front 14

Compact Flash

Back 14

The standard for an ultrasmall removable data and input/output device capable of connecting many kinds of external peripherals to workstations, PDAs, and other computerized devices. It was designed by the CFA, a consortium of computer manufacturers.

Front 15

convergence time

Back 15

The time it takes for a router to recognize a best path in the even of a change or network outage.

Front 16

cut-through mode

Back 16

A switching mode in which a switch reads a frame's header and decides where to forward the data before it receives the entire packet. It is faster, but less accurate, than the other switching method, store and forward.

Front 17

data port

Back 17

A port or a connectivity device to which a network nodes are connected.

Front 18

device driver

Back 18

The software that enables an attached device to communicate with the computer's operating system.

Front 19

DIP (dual inline package) switch

Back 19

A small plastic toggle switch on a circuit board that can be flipped to indicate either an "on" or "off" status, which translates into a parameter setting.

Front 20

dynamic routing

Back 20

A method of routing that automatically calculates the best path between two nodes and accumulates this information in a routing table. If congestion or failures affect the network, a router using this can detect the problems and reroute data through a different path. Modern networks primarily use it.

Front 21

EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read-only memory)

Back 21

A type of ROM that is found on a circuit board and whose configuration can be erased and rewritten through electrical pulses.

Front 22

EIGRP (Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol)

Back 22

A routing protocol developed in the mid 1980s by Cisco Systems that has a fast convergence time and a low network overhead, but is easier to configure and less CPU intensive than OSPF. It also offers the benefits of supporting multiple protocols and limiting unnecessary network traffic between routers.

Front 23

expansion board

Back 23

A circuit board used to connect a device to a computer's motherboard.

Front 24

expansion slot

Back 24

A receptacle on a computer's motherboard that contains multiple electrical contacts into which an expansion board can be inserted.

Front 25

ExpressCard

Back 25

A PCMCIA standard that allows external devices to connect to portable computers through a 26-pin interface, with data transfer rates of 250Mbps in each direction (for a total of 500Mbps), similar to the PCI Express expansion board specification. They come in two sizes: 34mm and 54mm wide. Over time, PCMCIA expects it to replace the CardBus standard.

Front 26

exterior router

Back 26

A router that directs data between nodes outside a given autonomous LAN, for example, routers used on an Internet's backbone.

Front 27

Fedora Core

Back 27

A popular version of the Linux operating system packaged and distributed by Red Hat, Inc.

Front 28

filtering database

Back 28

A collection of data created and used by a bridge that correlates the MAC addresses of connected workstations with their locations. It is also known as a forwarding table.

Front 29

firewall

Back 29

A device (either a router or computer running special software) that selectively filters or blocks traffic between networks. They are commonly used to improve data security.

Front 30

FireWire

Back 30

A peripheral bus standard developed by Apple Computer and codified as the IEEE 1394 standard. Traditional types of this connection support a maximum throughput of 400Mbps, but a newer version supports potential throughput rates of over 3 Gbps. In addition to connection peripherals, it can be used to network computers directly in a bus fashion.