Search Results

A form of WDM that transmit and receive data over the same strand of fiber cabling. It uses slightly shifted wavelengths to distinguish between Tx (1310 nm) and Rx (1490 nm) signals. BiDi transceivers must be installed in opposite pairs, so the downstream tran...

A form of WDM that supports up to 16 different wavelengths, used to deploy four or eight bidirectional channels over a single fiber strand or two parallel lanes.

A type of WDM that provisions a bigger number of channels (20-160 in increments of 20). There is much less spacing between each channel and it requires much more precise and expensive lasers. Dense WDM requires opposite pair transceivers.

The loss of signal strength over a network medium. Attenuation is measured in decibels (dB), which is a ratio between two measurements - the signal strength at the origin (where it's the strongest) and the signal strength at the destination. dB represents th...

A logical network segment configured on a managed network switch. VLAN membership is configured by assigning a switch port to a VLAN. Switches can have multiple VLANs configured, but switch ports can only be a member of one VLAN at a time. VLANs can be configu...

An enumeration of all the LED colors you might see on a switch or router. Color Status Solid Green 🟢 Link connected, no traffic Flickering Green 🟩 Link operational (connected with traffic) No light Port isn't working or is shut down Blinking Amber...

aliases: RIP A distance-vector routing protocol. RIP only considers a single metric: the next hop router. It chooses paths based on the minimum hop distance to the destination router. Even while it's no longer widely deployed, it's used to compare it's bas...

aliases: BGP A specialized dynamic routing protocol for use in routing domains, internetworks, and connections between ISPs. While other protocols like EIGRP and OSPF are used to route communications within a single routing domain (called an Autonom...

aliases: EIGRP A distance-vector dynamic routing protocol. Unlike RIP, EIGRP uses two main metrics: a set of administrator-weighted elements, usually either bandwidth or delay, where: bandwidth is a cost value based on the lowest bandwidth link o...

aliases: OSPF A link-state dynamic routing protocol. OSPF stores the entire network topology graph, and chooses routes based on a configured least-cost path. While EIGRP is a flat routing system (where each router is equal), OSPF is hierarchical. Ne...

aliases: NTP Network clock synchronization protocol. Designed to be used in packet-switched, variable-latency data networks. NTP syncs subscribed hosts to a few milliseconds within the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Under ideal conditions, NTP ru...

A function on routers that allows them to forward DHCP discover broadcast packets to DHCP servers outside of the scope being served. Routers don't normally serve any broadcast packets, which is why this is a necessary function for larger networks. This setti...

aliases: SLAAC A simpler approach to automatic address assignment in IPv6.

aliases: DNSSEC A spoofing and poisoning mitigation toolset via DNS request validation. When DNSSEC is enabled, the authoritative server for the zone creates a set of resource records called an RRset. The RRset is signed with a private key called th...

M of N Control - An authorization method that requires $m$ amount of signatures from $n$ authorized keys in order to perform an action. M of N Control is used in multisignature arrangements (e.g. cryptocurrencies) to ensure that multiple parties consent to the...

Higher accuracy network time synchronization protocol. Defined in IEEE 1588 standard. Designed for timing-critical application requirements, including industrial networks, 5G cellular data connections, medical devices, market trading, financial services, or j...

A set of authentication and identification information issued by a Certificate Authority. Digital certificates are presented in the X.509 format, and they're used to provide proof that a keypair provided by the server that has the certificate can be trusted f...

An authentication and encryption service for the TCP/IP stack. Developed from the now obsolete SSL, but the two terms are used interchangeably. TLS is used in many places on the OSI layer, including the application, transport, and session layers. It's also us...