Network terms

Updated: 02/04/2024 by Computer Hope

Network terms with full definitions and information on each term. Explore this list of over 920 terms like topology, download, hub, and CDN. Navigate quickly through the list by clicking one of the letters below; for example, click 'W' to find terms like Wi-Fi' in the 'W' section.

Database terms - Internet terms - Network protocols - Network ports - Security terms
Top 10 network terms
Ring topology

Class A
Network
E-mail
Ring topology
Mesh topology
Network server
Username
Communication device
Download
Hub

Number
T568A and T568B network cables

1U
2U
3GPP
3U
4U
5G
5U
6to4
6U
7U
10BASE2
10BASE5
10BASE-T
10 Gigabit Ethernet
100BASE-FX
100BASE-T
100BASE-T4
100BASE-TX
100BASE-X
100VG-AnyLAN
568A
568B
802.3
802.3ab
802.3ae
802.3u
802.3z
802.11
802.11a
802.11b
802.11c
802.11d
802.11e
802.11f
802.11g
802.11i
802.11j
802.11n
802.12
802.16
802 standards
1000BASE-CX
1000BASE-LX
1000BASE-SX
1000BASE-T

A
Diagram of an anycast network

Access log
Access point
Access rights
Access server
Account
Ack
ACL
ACR
Active directory
Active topology
Ad
Address resolution protocol
Ad hoc
ADSI
ADSL
Agent
Aggregate
Aloha
Anonymous
Antenna
Anycast
Apache server
APIPA
Apple Airport
AppleTalk
Application gateway
Application layer
Application server
ARCnet
A record
ARP
ARPA
ARPANET
AS
ASN
ASN.1
ASP
Asynchronous Transfer Mode
ATM
Attachment Unit Interface
AUI
Autonomous system
AWS

B
United States Internet Backbone

Backbone
Bandwidth
Baseband
Base station
BDC
Beowulf
BER
BERT
BGMP
BGP
Bind
Bisync
Bitnet
Bit stuffing
Bittorrent
BlackBerry Enterprise Server
BlackBerry Messenger
Blade
Blade server
BNC
BNC Connector
BOINC
BOOTP
Bootstrap protocol
Border Gateway Protocol
Bottleneck
BPDU
BPL
BPSK
BranchCache
Bridge
Broadband
Broadcast
Broadcast address
Broadcast domain
Brouter
BSDI
BSS
BSSID
Burst
Bus topology

C
Cable tester from TRENDnet

Cable
Cable tester
CAP
Cascading hubs
Cat 1
Cat 2
Cat 3
Cat 4
Cat 5
Cat 5e
Cat 6
Cat 7
CCDE
CCIE
CCNA
CCNP
CCS
CDDI
CDN
Central office
CHAP
Chernobyl packet
Chirp
CIDR
CIFS
CIM
CIR
CISSP
Citrix
Class A
Class B
Class C
Class D
Class E
Cleartext
CLI
Client
Client-server network
CLNS
Cloud computing
Cluster
Clustering
CNAME
CNE
CNST
CO
Coaxial cable
Collision
Colo
Colocation
Command Line Interface
Communication device
Communications
Communications controller
Communications protocol
Competitive Access Provider
Computer name
Connectionless
Contention
Convergence
Core router
Credential
CREN
Crimp
Crimping tool
Crossover cable
Cross-platform network
Crosstalk
CSMA/CD
CSNET
CSU/DSU
CTCP
cURL

D
IBM data center in Boulder Colorado

DA-15
DApps
Data center
Data communication
Datagram Delivery Protocol
Data line
Data link layer
Data transfer
Data transfer rate
DB-9
DCOM
DDP
DDR
Decentralized system
Dedicated server
Deep Space Network
Default user
Denial Of Service
Deploy
DHCP
Dial-on-demand routing
Digital data transmission
Directory harvest attack
Disk duplexing
Diskless workstation
Disk quota management
Disk server
Distributed computing
Distributed system
DIX
DLC
DMZ
DNS
DNS hijacking
DNS record
DNS resolver
DoCoMo
Domain
Domain controller
Domain forwarding
Domain join
Domain local group
Domain name
Domain name registrar
Domain namespace
Domain Name System
Domain tree
DOS
Down
Download
Downtime
DS3
DSAP
DSL
DSN
DSR
DTX
Dumb terminal
Dynamic allocation
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
Dynamic routing

E
Ethernet cables connected to network switch

E1
E2
E3
E4
E5
EAP
Echo
Edge device
Edge router
EDIINT
Egress filtering
EIGRP
E-mail
Encapsulation
Endpoint
Enterprise-wide network
Entry
Error rate
Ethereal
Ethernet
Ethernet adapter
Ethernet controller
Ethernet frame
Ethernet port
Ethernet SNAP
EtherPEG
Ethertalk
Ethtool
Evil twin
Exchange
Expect
External IP address
External LAN adapter
Externet port
Extranet

F
Fiber optic

FaaS
Fast Ethernet
Fault tolerance
FCIP
F connector
FDDI
FDDI-2
FEC
FEP
FFDT
Fiber-optic
Fiber-optic cable
Fibre channel
FidoNet
File server
File sharing
File transfer
File Transfer Protocol
FiOS
Firewall
Flood
FOIRL
FOMO
Forests and trees
Forward error correction
FQDN
FR
Frame
Frame relay
FreeNAS
Freenet
Free Space Optics
Front-end processor
FSO
FSP
FTAM
FTP
FTTP

G

Gateway
GBIC
Geocast
Glass house
Google Nest
Ground loop
Group policy
GroupWare
G.SHDSL
Guest
Guided media

H
Two hands coming out of computer monitors and shaking

H.323
Hamachi
HAN
Handshake
HDLC
HDSL
HELO
Heterogeneous network
Hidden share
Home
Home area network
Home directory
HomeGroup
Home network
Homogeneous Network
Hop
Hops
Host
Host computer
Hostid
Hostname
Host priority
Hosts file
Hotspot
HSS
HSSI
Httperf
HTTP server
Hub
Hubbed mode
Hybrid cloud
Hybrid topology
HyperTerminal
Hyper-V

I
IP address

IANA
ICA
Icacl
ICANN
ICMP
ICS
ICT
IDSL
IEEE 802.11
IEEE 802 standards
IEN
IGES
IGMP
IGP
IGRP
IIS
IMAP
Infrared broadband
Internal IP address
Internet
Internet Information Server
Internet node
Internet Packet eXchange \ Sequential Packet eXchange
Internet Protocol
Internet Protocol Television
InterNIC
Interoperability
Intranet
IP
IP cloaking
IPP
IPsec
IP spoofing
Iptables
IPTV
IPv4
IPv6
IPX/SPX
IS
ISATAP
iSCSI
iSCSI Initiator
ISDN
ISIS
ISP
IT
IT infrastructure

J

Jabber

K

Kerberos

L
LAN port

L2TP
LAN
LAN port
LAN segment
Latency
LAWN
Layer 1
Layer 2
Layer 3
Layer 4
Layer 5
Layer 6
Layer 7
Layer 8
Leased line
Leech
LFAP
Li-Fi
Linear bus topology
Line-side T1
Link aggregation
Link state packet
LLC
Lmhosts
Load balancing
Local
Local Area Network
Local bypass
Localhost
Local IP address
Locking
Lockout
LOF
Logical unit
Log off
Log on
Loopback
LOS
LPWAN
LPX
LSP
LU

M
Mesh topology

MAC
MAE
Mail server
Mainframe
MAN
Many-to-many data relationship
Map
MAPI
Mastodon
MAU
MCSA
MCSE
MDaemon
MDF
Mesh topology
MetaMask
Metcalfe's Law
MIB
Mirror
Mirroring
MMS
Modbus
MPLS
MPP
MRU
MSAU
MSCS
MTU
Multicast
Multi-mode fiber
Multiplex
Multi-user system
MX record
My Network Places
MySensors

N
Network Area Storage hard drive enclosure

N+
NAK
Nameserver
Name server protocol
NAP
NAPT
Narrowband transmission
NAS
NAT
NBT
NCP
NDIS
NDR
NDRO
Negate
Nest Wifi
Net
Net architect
NetBEUI
NetBIOS
NetBIOS over TCP/IP
Netio
Netmask
Net neutrality
Netstat
Netting
NetWare
Network
Network+
Network Access Protection
Network adapter
Network address
Network administrator
Network architecture
Network connection
Network Control Panel
Network database
Network device driver
Network directory
Network drive
Network engineer
Network layer
Network management software
Network media
Network Neighborhood
Network operating system
Network port
Network printer
Network segment
Network server
Network socket
Network solutions
Network structure
Network terminal number
NFS
NIC
NIT
NMS
NNTP
Node
Node address
NOS
Notwork
NPAC
NSAP
NSFNET
Nslookup
NSP
NSPA
NTN
NTP

O

OC
Octet
ODI
Offline mode
Offsite
OID
Open
OpenSSL
OpenStack
Optical carrier
Optical fiber
Optical wireless
Optical wireless communication
Oracle public cloud
OSI
OSPF
Overlay
Overlay network
OWC

P
Point-to-Point Protocol, or PPP

P2P
PaaS
PAC
Packet
Packet aggregation
Packet switching
PAD
PAN
PAT
Patch cable
Patch panel
Payload
PDC
PDU
Peer
Peer-to-peer communication
Peer-to-peer network
Permission
Personal cloud
Physical layer
Physical unit
Pidgin
Piggyback
PIM
Ping
Ping and pong
Ping of death
POE
POP
POP3
Port
Port forwarding
Port scanner
Port triggering
Power over Ethernet
Power user
PPP
PPPoE
PPTP
Presentation layer
Print server
Promiscuous mode
Propagation delay
Protocol
Proxy
Proxy server
Pseudoterminal
Ptm
PTR
Pts
Pty
Punch down tool
PureVPN
Push e-mail
Putty
PXE

Q

QMAC
QoS
QPSK

R
Rack mount

Rack mount
RADIUS
RADSL
RAP
RARP
RAS
rDNS
RDP
Real-time transport protocol
Recursion
Redis
Regenerative Repeater
Remote access
Remote Access Server
Remote Desktop
Remote Media Streaming
Remote storage
Remote user
Repeater
RequestTTY
Reserved address space
Resource record
REST
Reverse DNS lookup
Reverse resolving
RF
Ring sequence
Ring status
Ring topology
RIP
RJ-45
RLP
Roam
Rollover cable
Round robin
Route
Route aggregation
Router
Routing
Routing algorithm
Routing table
RPC
RRAS
RTCP
RTP
RTSP
RTTP

S
Storage Area Network units in a network storage rack

SA
SaaS
Samba
SAN
SAP
SATAN
Satellite
S band
S-band Multiple Access
SCTP
SDLC
SDSL
SDU
Second-level domain
Segment
Sequenced Packet eXchange
Serial
Server
Server farm
Serverless computing
Server mirroring
Service Advertising Protocol
Session layer
SFTP
Share
Shared directory
Shared folder
Shielded Twisted-Pair cable
Short haul
Sign off
Sign on
Single-mode fiber
Sitename
SLA
SLD
SLIP
SMA
Smart home
Smart terminal
SMB
SMS
SMTP
Smurf attack
SNA
Sneakernet
Sniffing
SNMP
SOA
SOCKS
SONET
Spanning tree
Spanning tree protocol
SPDY
SPI
Spoof
Spoofing
Spread spectrum
SPX
SSAP
SSH
SSHD
SSID
SSL
SSTP
Stack
Stadia
Star topology
Stateful firewall
Stateless
Static
Static allocation
STM
STM-1
STM-4
STM-8
STM-16
STM-64
Store and forward
STP
STP Cable
Straight through
Streaming content
STS
STS-1
STS-3
STS-12
STS-24
STS-48
STS-192
Subdomain
Subnet
Subnet mask
Subnetwork
Supercomputer
Switch
Symmetrical
SYN
SYN attack
Syncthing
Syslog
SYSOP
System administrator
System operator

T
Blank prompt on terminal screen

T1
T2
T3
T568A
T568B
TA
TACACS
Tap
TCP
TCP fingerprinting
TCP/IP
TDMA
TeamViewer
Tele
Telecommunications
Telepresence
Teleprocessing
Telnet
Teredo
Terminal
Terminal emulation
TFTP
Thick client
Thick Ethernet
Thin client
Thin Ethernet
Throttle
Throughput
Time-out
Time server
TKIP
TLD
Token
Token ring
Toner probe
Top-level domain
Topology
TOPS
TOS
TP-PMD
Trace
Tracepath
Traceroute
Traffic
Traffic shaping
Transaction processing
Transfer rate
Transit network
Transmit
Transport layer
Tree topology
Trunk
TTFB
TTL
Tuner card
Tunnel
Turnpike effect
Twisted-pair cable

U
UTP cable

UDP
UDSL
UNC
Unethical hacking
Unguided media
Unicast
Uniformity
Unshielded Twisted Pair cable
Uplink
Upload
Upload/download
UPnP
Upstream
User
User account
User group
Username
UTP cable

V
Three VLANs, three computers, a printer, and a server connected to one network switch

VADSL
VAN
VBR
VC
VCI
VCID
VDD
VDSL
Vhost
Virtual computing
Virtual host
Virtualization
Virtual router
VLAN
VMware vSphere
VNC
VOIP
VPN
VPS
VRRP
VSAT

W
Wireless router

Wake On LAN
Walled garden
WAN
WAP
WBEM
Webcast
Web farm
Web forwarding
Web host
Web server
WEP
WFW
WHOIS
Wide Area Network
Wideband transmission
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi calling
Wi-Fi Direct
Wi-Fi extender
WiMAX
Winpopup
WINS
Winsock
WireGuard
Wireless
Wireless adapter
Wirelessly
WireShark
Wire stripper
WISP
WLAN
WOL
Workgroup
Workstation
WPAD
WPAN
WPS

X

X.25
X.400
Xerox network services
XMT
XNS

Y

Currently, no listings.

Z

ZAK
Zarafa
Zeroconf
Zero configuration network
ZIP
Zombie
Zone

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