Glossary of terms

ARP (Address Resolution Protocol)

The TCP/IP protocol used to dynamically bind a high level IP address to a low-level hardware address. ARP is used only across a single physical network and is dependent on the hardware broadcast capability of the underlying network hardware. Although ARP is aware of IP, conceptually it resides in a lower layer than IP, and IP treats it as part of the functionality provided by the underlying hardware. (See [Comer, chapter 5])

BOOTP (Bootstrap Protocol)

Provides an alternative to RARP for a diskless workstation to determine its IP address. Unlike ARP and RARP, BOOTP is an extensible protocol. One of the implications of its extensibility is that its descendants (like DHCP) can use old BOOTP relays. Superseded by DHCP. (See [Comer, chapter 19], [RFC 1542] and [RFC 951])

DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol)

Provides a framework for passing configuration information to hosts on a TCP/IP network. DHCP is based on BOOTP, adding the capability of automatic allocation of reusable network addresses and additional configuration options. DHCP captures the behavior of BOOTP relay agents, and DHCP participants can interoperate with BOOTP participants.
DHCP consists of two components: a protocol for delivering host-specific configuration parameters from a DHCP server to a host and a mechanism for allocation of network addresses to hosts.

ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol)

Integral part of IP for error and control messages handling. (See [Comer, chapter 9])

IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force)

The protocol engineering and development arm of the Internet.
It is a large and open international community, built on a voluntary basis, and its goal is to develop and define Internet protocols in order to contribute to the engineering and evolution of the Internet.
Here is the IETF home page.

internet

A collection of packet switching networks interconnected by routers along with the protocols that allow them to act logically as a single virtual network.

(the) Internet

The global internet, that uses the TCP/IP protocol suite for interconnection atop different physical connection channels. The Internet provides universal connectivity and three levels of network services: unreliable, connectionless packet delivery (IP and UDP); reliable, full duplex stream delivery (TCP/IP); and application level services (like e-mail) that base on the first two.

IP (Internet Protocol)

The fundamental Internet protocol, used atop almost any physical network. Defines its basic transmitted unit of information, the IP datagram. Includes ICMP as an integral part.
IP is a connectionless, unreliable, best-effort packet delivery system. (See [Comer, chapter 7])

RARP (Reverse Address Resolution Protocol)

A TCP/IP protocol a diskless station can use at startup to find its IP address. Derived from ARP. Superseded by BOOTP. (See [Comer, chapter 6])

RFC (Request For Comments)

The specification documents of the Internet protocol suite, as defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and its steering group (the IESG).
The RFC Editor is the publisher of the all RFCs, and is located at the Information Sciences Institute ( ISI) of the University of Southern California (USC).
Here is a list of RFC sites on the Internet.
See also [Comer, appendix 1].

Relay Agent (BOOTP relay agent)

A BOOTP relay agent is an Internet host or router that passes DHCP messages between DHCP clients and DHCP servers. DHCP is designed to use the same relay agent behavior as specified in the BOOTP protocol specification.

TCP (Transmission Control Protocol)

Reliable connection-oriented stream delivery service, one of the core internet protocols. Provides full-duplex connection (with a possibility to shut it down one-way to form a simplex one) between two machines on an internet. Allows efficient data transfer across networks of different kinds with different communication parameters, as well as different underlying communication protocols.
Most widely used in the Internet over IP, in which case it is often designated as TCP/IP. It provides the transport level in the TCP/IP protocol suite. (See [Comer, chapter 12])

UDP (User Datagram Protocol)

A datagram-oriented protocol above IP which includes a protocol port number for the source and the target, allowing to distinguish between different application programs on the source and target machine within the addressing scheme. It is as unreliable as the underlying IP, with the exception that it fixes a checksum field to control the transferred data integrity. (See [Comer, chapter 11])

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