User manual

Terminology
50
LAN (Local Area Network)
LAN is a communications network that serves users within a confined geographical
area. It is made up of servers, workstations,
a network operating system and a
communications link. Servers are high-speed machines that hold programs and
data shared by network users. The workstations (clients) are the users' personal
computers, which perform stand-alone processing and access the network servers
as required.
Diskless and floppy-only workstations are sometimes used, which retrieve all
software and data from the server. Increasingly, Thin Client network computers
(NCs) and Windows terminals are also used. A printer can be attached locally
to a workstation or to a server and be shared by network users. Small LANs
can allow certain workstations to function as a server, allowing users access to
data on another user's machine. These peer-to-peer networks are often simpler to
install and manage, but dedicated servers provide better performance and can
handle higher transaction volume. Multiple servers are used in large networks.
The message transfer is managed by a transport protocol such as TCP/IP and
NetBEUI. The physical transmission of data is performed by the access method
(Ethernet, Token Ring, etc.), which is implemented in the network adapters that
are plugged into the machines. The actual communications path is the cable
(twisted pair, coax, optical fiber) that interconnects each network adapter.
MAC Address (Media Access Control Address)
A MAC Address is the hardware address of a device connected to a network.
MDI (Medium Dependent Interface)
Also called an "uplink port," MDI is a
port on a network hub or switch used to
connect to other hubs or switches without requiring a crossover cable. The MDI
port does not cross the transmit and receive
lines, which is done by the regular
ports (MDI-X ports) that connect to end
stations. The MDI port connects to the
MDI-X port on the other device. There are
typically one or two ports on a device
that can be toggled between MDI (not crossed) and MDI-X (crossed).
MDI X (Medium Dependent Interface – X (crossed)
MDI X is a port on a network
hub or switch that crosses the transmit lines
coming in to the receive lines going out.
MP3
( MPEG Audio Layer 3)
This is an audio compression technology that is included in the MPEG-1 and -2
specifications. MP3 encoding can allow you to compress CD-quality sound by a
factor of 12.