110 GLOSSARY
Fast Ethernet is 100 Mbps, and the bandwidth of Gigabit Ethernet is
1000 Mbps.
baud The signalling rate of a line, that is, the number of transitions (voltage
or frequency changes) made per second. Also known as line speed.
BOOTP The BOOTP protocol allows you to automatically map an IP address to a
given MAC address each time a device is started. In addition, the
protocol can assign the subnet mask and default gateway to a device.
bridge A device that interconnects two LANs of a different type to form a
single logical network that comprises of two network segments.
Bridges learn which endstations are on which network segment by
examining the source addresses of packets. They then use this
information to forward packets based on their destination address. This
process is known as filtering.
broadcast A packet sent to all devices on a network.
broadcast storm Multiple simultaneous broadcasts that typically absorb all the available
network bandwidth and can cause a network to fail. Broadcast storms
can be due to faulty network devices.
cache Stores copies of frequently accessed objects locally to users and serves
them to users when requested.
Classifier Classifies the traffic on the network. Traffic classifications are
determined by protocol, application, source, destination, and so on.
You can create and modify classifications. The Switch then groups
classified traffic in order to schedule them with the appropriate service
level.
collision A term used to describe two colliding packets in an Ethernet network.
Collisions are a part of normal Ethernet operation, but a sudden
prolonged increase in the number of collisions can indicate a problem
with a device, particularly if it is not accompanied by a general increase
in traffic.
CSMA/CD Carrier-sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection. The protocol
defined in Ethernet and IEEE 802.3 standards in which devices transmit
only after finding a data channel clear for a period of time. When two
devices transmit simultaneously, a collision occurs and the colliding
devices delay their retransmissions for a random length of time.
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