NETGEAR ME103 - Manual (Page 111)

Reference Manual for the ME103 802.11b ProSafe Wireless Access Point
Glossary 3
August 2003
Because domain names are alphabetic, they're easier to remember. The Internet however, is really based on
IP addresses. Every time you use a domain name, therefore, a DNS service must translate the name into the
corresponding IP address. For example, the domain name www.example.com might translate to
198.105.232.4. The DNS system is, in fact, its own network. If one DNS server doesn't know how to
translate a particular domain name, it asks another one, and so on, until the correct IP address is returned.
Domain Name
A descriptive name for an address or group of addresses on the Internet. Domain names are of the form of a
registered entity name plus one of a number of predefined top level suffixes such as .com, .edu, .uk, etc. For
example, in the address mail.NETGEAR.com, mail is a server name and NETGEAR.com is the domain.
DSL
Short for digital subscriber line, but is commonly used in reference to the asymmetric version of this
technology (ADSL) that allows data to be sent over existing copper telephone lines at data rates of from 1.5
to 9 Mbps when receiving data (known as the downstream rate) and from 16 to 640 Kbps when sending data
(known as the upstream rate).
ADSL requires a special ADSL modem. ADSL is growing in popularity as more areas around the world
gain access.
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
DHCP. An Ethernet protocol specifying how a centralized DHCP server can assign network configuration
information to multiple DHCP clients. The assigned information includes IP addresses, DNS addresses, and
gateway (router) addresses.
EAP
Extensible Authentication Protocol is a general protocol for authentication that supports multiple
authentication methods.
EAP, an extension to PPP, supports such authentication methods as token cards, Kerberos, one-time
passwords, certificates, public key authentication and smart cards. In wireless communications using EAP, a
user requests connection to a WLAN through an AP, which then requests the identity of the user and
transmits that identity to an authentication server such as RADIUS. The server asks the AP for proof of
identity, which the AP gets from the user and then sends back to the server to complete the authentication.
EAP is defined by RFC 2284.
ESSID
The Extended Service Set Identification (ESSID) is a thirty-two character (maximum) alphanumeric key
identifying the wireless local area network.
Gateway
A local device, usually a router, that connects hosts on a local network to other networks.
IP
Internet Protocol is the main internetworking protocol used in the Internet. Used in conjunction with the
Transfer Control Protocol (TCP) to form TCP/IP.