RFC 1208 (rfc1208) - Page 2 of 18
Glossary of networking terms
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
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.
Jacobsen & Lynch