RFC 1208 (rfc1208) - Page 2 of 18

Glossary of networking terms

RFC 1208                INTEROP Pocket Glossary               March 1991


   address resolution: A means for mapping Network Layer addresses onto
   media-specific addresses.  See ARP.

   ADMD: Administration Management Domain.  An X.400 Message Handling
   System public service carrier.  Examples: MCImail and ATTmail in the
   U.S., British Telecom Gold400mail in the U.K.  The ADMDs in all
   countries worldwide together provide the X.400 backbone.  See PRMD.

   agent: In the client-server model, the part of the system that
   performs information preparation and exchange on behalf of a client
   or server application.  See NMS, DUA, MTA.

   ANSI: American National Standards Institute.  The U.S.
   standardization body. ANSI is a member of the International
   Organization for Standardization (ISO)

   AOW: Asia and Oceania Workshop.  One of the three regional OSI
   Implementors Workshops, equivalent to OIW and EWOS.

   API: Application Program Interface.  A set of calling conventions
   defining how a service is invoked through a software package.

   Application Layer: The top-most layer in the OSI Reference Model
   providing such communication services as electronic mail and file
   transfer.

   ARP: Address Resolution Protocol.  The Internet protocol used to
   dynamically map Internet addresses to physical (hardware) addresses
   on local area networks. Limited to networks that support hardware
   broadcast.

   ARPA: Advanced Research Projects Agency.  Now called DARPA, the U.S.
   government agency that funded the ARPANET.

   ARPANET: A packet switched network developed in the early 1970s.  The
   "grandfather" of today's Internet.  ARPANET was decommissioned in
   June 1990.

   ASN.1: Abstract Syntax Notation One.  The OSI language for describing
   abstract syntax.  See BER.

   attribute: The form of information items provided by the X.500
   Directory Service.  The directory information base consists of
   entries, each containing one or more attributes. Each attribute
   consists of a type identifier together with one or more values.  Each
   directory Read operation can retrieve some or all attributes from a
   designated entry.




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