Network Terms "P"

Network Glossary and acronym's

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Packet

The term used to describe information that is compartmentalized for transport across the network. For example, the IP protocol has a packet structure that contains the Source IP address, Destination IP Address, Protocol type, Checksum, data, and so on.

Packet filtering firewall

A packet filtering firewall filters packets based on source and destination addresses, ports, and service protocols. This type of firewall uses ACLs or filter rules to control traffic. It operates at OSI layer 3 (Network layer), Offers high performance because it only examines addressing information in the packet header and it is subject to DoS and buffer overflow attacks.

Packet InterNet Groper (PING)

A TCP/IP utility that verifies TCP/IP is configured correctly and that another host is available.

Packet Switching

A packet switched network allows data to be broken up into packets. Packets are transmitted along the most efficient route to the destination. Packet switching is ideal for transmitting data that can handle transmission delays, as is often the case with Web pages and e-mail.

Page

A contiguous, fixed-length block of virtual addresses. It is copied from memory to disk and back during paging operations. Windows 2000 uses 4 KB blocks to map physical and virtual memory addresses. SQL Server allocates database space in 8K pages.

Page Description Languages (PDL)

A program that tells a printer how printed output should appear on a page. PostScript and TrueType are two different PDLs.

Paging file

Pagefile.sys. A file on a hard disk that Windows 2000 uses to transfer information in and out of RAM and virtual memory. Also called a swap file or a virtual memory page file.

PAN (Personal Area Network)

A personal area network is the interconnection of components, such as laptops, personal digital assistants, printers, mice, keyboards, and other Bluetooth equipped devices, using some form of wireless technology within a personal range (typically 10 meters).

PAP (Password Authentication Protocol)

One of the less-secure protocols, where the username and password are sent in clear text for authentication increasing the chance of interception. PAP should be used only when no other form of authentication is supported. PAP protocols are supported by multiple platforms, including Microsoft and Linux.

Partial Mesh

A mesh topology exists when there are multiple paths between any two nodes on a network. Mesh topologies are created using point-to-point connections. In a partial mesh topology, some redundant paths exist.

Partial replica

A replica that contains only selected attributes of objects on which a searches are likely to be performed. Partial replicas are read-only.

Partition

A portion of the free space on a hard disk that you format with a file system. Partitions can be either primary or extended.

A partition can also refer to a division (part) of the Active Directory database. In this case, it is called an Active Directory partition or directory partition.

Passive interface

Passive interfaces stop the routing process from participating out of a particular interface. The interface still listens and receives network traffic, but the interface does not participate, advertise, or generate any traffic for a given protocol. Passive interfaces are often used with protocol migration or redistribution.

Pass-through authentication

The process by which users log on to the network from computers or domains in which they have no account. Pass-through authentication allows a user with an account on one domain to access the entire network. Pass-through authentication can occur when a user logs on to a trusted domain or connects to a resource in a trusting domain.

Password

A credential used to verify a user's request to log on to the network. A password is associated with a user account name and both are used during the authentication process.

Password Authentication Protocol (PAP)

PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect)

A 32 or 64-bit bus providing compatibility with both 486 and Pentium machines. PCI buses:

Have a maximum throughput rate of 133 MB/s.
Are processor independent (the CPU and the PCI bus can process concurrently).
Use a divisor to synchronize the system bus speed and the PCI bus speed.
Are most commonly 5V, but specifications provide for 3V and dual-voltage cards.
Can support ISA and EISA; however if PCI and ISA share a bus, then the use of one disables the other.
Are plug-and-play.
Are normally white plastic.
Are available in 64-bit as well as 32-bit. 64-bit PCI cards are often backwards compatible with 32-bit PCI slots.

PCIe

PCI Express is the latest expansion bus standard, replacing AGP in newer systems.

PCI Express has a maximum throughput rate of 8 GB/s.
Rather than a shared bus, each PCIe slot links to a switch which prioritizes and routes data through a point-to-point dedicated connection and provides a serial full-duplex method of transmission.
Data is transferred in packets, allowing data to be transferred more quickly.
PCI Express is a serial communications channel made up of two differential wire pairs that provide 2.5 GB/s in each direction. Up to 32 of these lanes may be combined in x2, x4, x8, x16 and x32 configurations, creating a parallel interface of independently controlled serial links, providing up to 4GB/s transfer speeds.
The slots are different lengths because of the different lane configurations.
PCI Express offers greatly increased speed and higher quality service.
The bandwidth of the switch backplane determines the total capacity of a PCI Express implementation.
Each device on the bus can create a point-to-point connection with another device.
PCI Express is backwards compatible and allows legacy PCI technology to be run in the same system.
Originally called "Third Generation I/O" (3GIO), PCI Express is software compatible with PCI, but not plug compatible.
PCI Express is most commonly used for video cards in modern computer systems.
PCI Express supports Scalable Link Interface (SLI) video. SLI allows two instances of the same graphics card to be linked together to provide amazing graphic performance.

PCI-X

The PCI-X specification is a high-performance enhancement to the conventional PCI bus specification.

PCI-X has a maximum throughput rate of 1.06 GB/s.
PCI-X provides maximum clock frequencies of 266 MHz and 533 MHz increasing transfer rates up to 4.3 GB/s.
PCI-X 1.0 improved the efficiency of the PCI bus itself and the devices attached to it by providing new features such as split transactions and transaction byte counts.
PCI-X 2.0 adds additional features for systems reliability to minimize errors at high speeds and keep up with other advances made to such as RAID, Fiber Channel, and iSCSI architectures.
PCI-X is used primarily in server systems.

PCONSOLE

A GSNW or CSNW utility that allows you to manage NetWare print servers from a Windows 2000 client computer.

PDA (Personal Digital Assistant)

Any portable hand-held device used for computing.

PDC (Primary Domain Controller)

A PDC holds all security and account information for a Windows NT domain and is responsible to communicate all changes to the BDCs.

PDL (Page Description Languages)

A program that tells a printer how printed output should appear on a page. PostScript and TrueType are two different PDLs.

PDM (Protocol-Dependent Modules)

A Protocol-Dependent Module (PDM) is used by EIGRP to carry out the requirements specific to independent protocols. PDMs:

Operate completely independent of one another.
Learn from other sources to make decisions about adding routes.
Offer support for various routed protocols (e.g. IP, IPX, and AppleTalk).
Carry information from the routing table to the topology table.

PEAP (Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol)

PEAP (an extension of EAP) is one of the most effective wireless security solutions. PEAP provides authentication, including passwords. PEAP, provides the following two options:

PEAP-EAP-TLS. This method uses certificates (either on the local system or on a smart card).
PEAP-MS-CHAP v2. This method uses certificates on the server, but passwords on the client. Use this method when the client does not have a certificate.

Peer-to-peer network

A network in which every computer on the network is equal in providing and requesting resources. These networks have no central administration and only share-level security.

Per seat licensing

A licensing mode that requires you to buy a license for every client computer that will connect to resources on the server running Windows 2000.

Per server licensing

A licensing mode that requires you to buy a license for each server that will be running Windows 2000.

Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI)

A 32 or 64-bit bus providing compatibility with both 486 and Pentium machines. PCI buses:

Have a maximum throughput rate of 133 MB/s.
Are processor independent (the CPU and the PCI bus can process concurrently).
Use a divisor to synchronize the system bus speed and the PCI bus speed.
Are most commonly 5V, but specifications provide for 3V and dual-voltage cards.
Can support ISA and EISA; however if PCI and ISA share a bus, then the use of one disables the other.
Are plug-and-play.
Are normally white plastic.
Are available in 64-bit as well as 32-bit. 64-bit PCI cards are often backwards compatible with 32-bit PCI slots.

PERL (Practical Extraction and Report Language)

An interpreted script language that includes UNIX facilities with C. It is faster and easier to code than other languages, but works best for small, limited applications.

Permanent Virtual Circuit (PVC)

A virtual circuit that provides permanent access to the network like a permanent physical connection. Leasing a PVC is cheaper than leasing a permanent physical connection because the physical circuit is not dedicated to a single PVC and can be used to carry data from other virtual circuits.

Permissions

The rights granted to a user or group to access files and folders on a Windows 2000 computer or a network. These permissions may reside in the local computer's security database or in the Active Directory database of a domain controller on the network.

Persistent route

A static route entry or entry in a router that is stored in the registry. Static routes are stored in memory unless you specify through the Bp parameter that the route is persistent. When you restart a Windows 2000 computer, you will need to re-create all non-persistent routes.

Personal Area Network (PAN)

Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)

Any portable hand-held device used for computing.

Personal Web Server (PWS)

If you install Microsoft Internet Information Server on a computer running Windows 2000 Professional, it installs as Microsoft Personal Web Server (PWS). PWS is not a full Internet server, but you can use it to publish content on your local LAN, or to remotely administer an IIS server.

Phonebook entry

A list of the settings Dial-Up Networking uses to connect a client to a remote computer. The entry includes information such as the country code, area code, phone number, name of the remote computer, and so on.

Physical Layer

The lowest layer in the seven-layer OSI model that represents the hardware on a network. The physical layer is the adapter card and the physical media that transport protocols across the network.

PIF (Program Information File)

A text file that contains the information Windows needs to run MS-DOS applications, such as the path and filename of the executable file.

Piggyback attack

Entering a secured building immediately behind another employee without authenticating yourself is a piggyback attack.

PIM (Protocol Independent Multicast)

Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) is a very important multicast routing protocol that tells the router to ignore any Layer 3 protocol when making multicast-routing decisions (e.g. OSPF and EIGRP). PIM:

Uses the routing table that is populated by the unicast routing protocol in its multicast routing calculations.
Does not send routing updates between PIM routers.

PIM Dense Mode (PIM-DM)

PIM Dense Mode (PIM-DM) is a push method controlled by the source to push multicast information. PIM-DM:

Is used when there are many clients requesting the same multicast information.
Builds shortest-path trees by flooding multicast traffic domain wide, then prunes back the branches of the tree where no receivers are present.
Generally has poor scaling properties.

PIM Source Specific Multicast (PIM-SSM)

PIM Source Specific Multicast (PIM-SSM) builds trees that are rooted in just one source. PIM-SSM:

Sources (S) transmit an IP datagram to an SSM destination address (G).
Receivers can receive data by subscribing to channel (S,G).

PIM Sparse Mode (PIM-SM)

PIM Sparse Mode (PIM-SM) is a client-initiated pull method to get multicast information. PIM-SM:

Is used when there are few sources of information.
Uses a shared tree.
Requires an RP to be defined.
Requires multicast sources and receivers to register with their local RP.

PIM-DM (PIM Dense Mode)

PIM Dense Mode (PIM-DM) is a push method controlled by the source to push multicast information. PIM-DM:

Is used when there are many clients requesting the same multicast information.
Builds shortest-path trees by flooding multicast traffic domain wide, then prunes back the branches of the tree where no receivers are present.
Generally has poor scaling properties.

PIM-SM (PIM Sparse Mode)

PIM Sparse Mode (PIM-SM) is a client-initiated pull method to get multicast information. PIM-SM:

Is used when there are few sources of information.
Uses a shared tree.
Requires an RP to be defined.
Requires multicast sources and receivers to register with their local RP.

PIM-SSM (PIM Source Specific Multicast)

PIM Source Specific Multicast (PIM-SSM) builds trees that are rooted in just one source. PIM-SSM:

Sources (S) transmit an IP datagram to an SSM destination address (G).
Receivers can receive data by subscribing to channel (S,G).

PING (Packet Internet Groper)

A TCP/IP utility that verifies TCP/IP is configured correctly and that another host is available.

Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS)

POTS refers to the telephone system. Early on, Internet connectivity was accomplished with a modem converting digital signals into analog for transmission via POTS. Newer, better, and faster methods are quickly replacing POTS as a signal transport medium.

P-node

A peer to peer protocol that uses NetBIOS over TCP/IP. The P-node uses a NetBIOS name server (NBNS) such as WINS to resolve NetBIOS names and does not use broadcasts. It will query the name server directly. All computers using P-node must be configured with the IP address of the NBNS. Computers can communicate as long as the NBNS is working.

Point to Point Protocol (PPP)

A protocol designed as an enhancement to the original SLIP specification. PPP is a data link protocol that provides a standard protocol for sending packets across a point to point network link.

Pointer (PTR) record

A special resource record that is added to DNS to associate the IP addresses and the corresponding host name. Part of the administration of a DNS name server is ensuring that pointer records are created for hosts.

Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE)

PPPoE is a variation of Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) that sends PPP packets over an Ethernet network and an "always on" WAN link (DSL or cable modem, for example) rather than over a dial-up connection. In this way, Internet service providers can install PPP-based remote access servers and require remote clients to establish a connection before being granted access to the Internet. This lets Internet usage be better tracked and regulated. PPP over Ethernet automatically discovers the remote access server using broadcast messages.

Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP)

A protocol that allows a remote user to connect to the network over the Internet so that a company does not have to lease dedicated lines.

Poison message queue

Poison message queues are used to isolate messages that contain potentially harmful errors caused by an Exchange 2007 system failure. This queue is only viewable in the case that such messages have been directed to the poison message queue. Delivery of all messages within the poison message queue is suspended. If a message is deemed unharmful, it will be passed to the submission queue. All other messages within the poison message queue are deleted.

Poison reverse

Using the split horizon with poison reverse method (also called poison reverse or route poisoning), routers continue to send information about routes back to the next hop router, but advertise the path as unreachable. If the next hop router notices that the route is still reachable, it ignores the information. If, however, the path timeout has been reached, the route is immediately set to unreachable (16 hops for RIP).

POP3 (Post Office Protocol Version 3)

A mail-drop protocol designed to work with clients that are not always connected to the network. It allows a mail server to receive mail messages and store them on a server until the client comes back on line and requests them.

Port

Network ports are logical connections, provided by the TCP or UDP protocols at the Transport layer, for use by protocols in the upper layers of the OSI model. The TCP/IP protocol stack uses port numbers to determine what protocol incoming traffic should be directed to. Some ICANN specified categories for ports are listed below:

Well Known -- Port numbers range from 0 to 1023 and are assigned for specific protocols and services.
Registered -- Port numbers range from 1024 to 49151 and are specifically assigned, by ICANN, for newly created network services.
Dynamic, Private, or High -- Port numbers range from 49,152 to 65,535 and are assigned when a network service establishes contact and released when the session ends.

POSIX

A standard for versions of UNIX and UNIX-like operating systems. POSIX allows developers to create applications that meet certain US Federal standards.

POST (Power On Self-Test)

The first stage in the Windows NT boot process, during which the system checks to make sure all necessary hardware components and memory are in place and functioning correctly.

Post Office Protocol Version 3 (POP3)

PostScript

A programming language developed by Adobe that determines how a page will look when you print it.

POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service)

Power On Self-Test (POST)

The first stage in the Windows NT boot process, during which the system checks to make sure all necessary hardware components and memory are in place and functioning correctly.

Power Users

Users that can perform user functions on workstations and servers. They can also create user accounts and modify the accounts they have created. Power users can also add user accounts to the built-in groups Users, Guests, and Power Users.

PowerPC

An open-standard microprocessor architecture that uses RISC instead of Intel x86 processors. IBM, Motorola, and Apple worked together to develop the PowerPC.

Preemptive multitasking

The ability of the Windows 2000 operating system to service multiple requests of the CPU by preempting a task to execute another task.

Preferred bridgehead server

A domain controller that can potentially be chosen as a bridgehead server.

Presentation Layer

Layer 6 of the OSI reference model. This layer ensures that information sent by the application layer of one system will be readable by the application layer of another. The presentation layer is also concerned with the data structures used by programs, and therefore negotiates data transfer syntax for the application layer. Corresponds roughly with the presentation services layer of the SNA model. See also application layer, data link layer, network layer, physical layer, session layer, and transport layer.

Primary Domain Controller (PDC)

A PDC holds all security and account information for a Windows NT domain and is responsible to communicate all changes to the BDCs.

Primary Domain Controller (PDC) Emulator operations master

An operations master that simulates a Windows NT 4.0 Primary Domain Controller (PDC). Also called a PDC Emulator master.

Primary ID

The ID assigned to a specific user for auditing purposes. With the impersonation (or client) ID, this information tells a system administrator who is using which network functions.

Primary partition

The partition of a hard disk that the operating system uses. One basic hard disk can have up to four primary partitions.

Print audit policy

A list of the types of print events you want to record in your auditing logs. Print audit policies should include both file and object access.

Print device

In the Windows 2000 environment, the hardware that produces printed output (what the rest of the world calls a printer). When the term "printer" is used, it refers to the software interface between the operating system and the print device. The print devices are connected to print servers or client computers that have the correct printing software installed on it.

Print driver

A piece of software that translates the graphics commands in documents into a language the print device can understand.

Print forms

A description of and location for a specific size of paper in a particular tray in the print device.

Print monitor

A component of the print spooler that controls access to and monitors the status of a specific print device.

Print Operators

A special group of users that have been given the necessary rights to manage a printer or printers.

Print permissions

Specific printing-related rights you assign to users. There are four levels of printer permissions that can be assigned, including Print, Manage Documents, and Manage Printers.

Print processor

A component of the print spooler that works in conjunction with a print driver to despool the spooled print jobs. Despooling is the process of reading the contents from a spool file and converting the print data into a format the print device can understand.

Print queue

In the Windows 2000 environment, a list of print jobs waiting to be processed by the printer and printed by the print device. This terminology is a little different from other operating systems such as NetWare. In NetWare, the print queue is a directory on a server that holds print jobs waiting to be printed and has configurable properties and settings.

Print router

A component of the print spooler that receives print jobs from the remote print provider and routes them to the appropriate print processor.

Print services

Software components that reside on the print server. They receive print jobs from clients and send them on to the spooler.

Print spooler

A collection of DLLs that receive, process, schedule, and distribute print jobs. Every print job goes through the print spooler.

Printer

In the Windows 2000 environment, the "printer" is the software interface between the operating system and the print device. The printer determines how a print job travels to the print devices. A single printer can send print jobs to multiple print devices. Multiple printers can send jobs to a single print device.

Printer port

An I/O port through which the printer and computer communicate.

Printing pool

A technique that helps you use the available resources more efficiently in a high traffic printing environment. In a printing pool, the print server directs new print jobs to the print device with the lightest load.

Private key

The private (secret) member of a cryptographic key pair associated with a public key algorithm. The private key can be used to decrypt data that has been encrypted using the public key.

Private Management Domain (PRMD)

A PRMD is a private company that controls an X.400 management domain. These domains are the backbone for transferring electronic messages. PRMDs handle internal messages and communicate with each other through ADMDs.

Private Network

A LAN or WAN for private individual or group use which may or may not be secure. Examples include home and organization (small business, corporate, institute, government) networks. Intranets and extranets, although related to the Internet, are private networks. Both an extranet and intranet are tightly controlled, and made available only to select organizations. An extranet is made available to the public and an intranet is made available internally.

PRMD (Private Management Domain)

Process isolation

Lets you run each application separately. This means that if one application fails, it can't affect the other applications running on your server.

Processor

The logic circuitry that responds to instructions and runs the computer. Also called a CPU (central processing unit).

Processor queue length

How long the processor queue is. A counter measures how many threads are requesting processor time at once.

Program Information File (PIF)

A text file that contains the information Windows needs to run MS-DOS applications, such as the path and filename of the executable file.

Promiscuous mode

The ability for an adapter card to view packets travelling across the network. A LAN adapter must support promiscuous mode if it is used to monitor network traffic.

Promote

The process of changing a Windows 2000 member server into a domain controller. The process transfers an up-to-date copy of the Active Directory database from a current domain controller to the new domain controller.

Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol (PEAP)

PEAP (an extension of EAP) is one of the most effective wireless security solutions. PEAP provides authentication, including passwords. PEAP, provides the following two options:

PEAP-EAP-TLS. This method uses certificates (either on the local system or on a smart card).
PEAP-MS-CHAP v2. This method uses certificates on the server, but passwords on the client. Use this method when the client does not have a certificate.

Protocol

Conventions or rules for sending data across a network. These conventions may deal with content, format, timing, sequencing, and error control.

Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM)

Uses the routing table that is populated by the unicast routing protocol in its multicast routing calculations.
Does not send routing updates between PIM routers.

Protocol stacks

Protocol stacks are installed and configured versions of protocols that connectors use to communicate. For example, the X.400 Connector uses TCP/IP, TP4/CLNP, and/or X.25.

Protocol-Dependent Modules (PDM)

A Protocol-Dependent Module (PDM) is used by EIGRP to carry out the requirements specific to independent protocols. PDMs:

Operate completely independent of one another.
Learn from other sources to make decisions about adding routes.
Offer support for various routed protocols (e.g. IP, IPX, and AppleTalk).
Carry information from the routing table to the topology table.

Proxy

A computer on the network that keeps a cache of resolved names and responds to queries for names outside the local subnet.

Proxy server

A computer on the network that keeps a cache of resolved names and responds to queries for names outside the local subnet.

PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network)

The network you use when you make a typical telephone call. It is a worldwide, circuit-switched, analog network. Computers connect to the PSTN through a modem. The PSTN can be used on an on-demand (dial-up) basis or a circuit can be leased permanently as a dedicated line.

PTR (Pointer) record

Public folder

Public folders provide a simple and efficient way to collect, organize, and share Exchange 2007 collaborative applications such as calendars, contact lists, task lists, and message lists.

Public key

The public (non-secret) member of a cryptographic key pair associated with public key algorithm. When the public key is used to encrypt data, the corresponding private key is necessary to decrypt it.

Public key infrastructure

Also called PKI. The policies and software relating to digital certificates and public and private keys. It includes digital certificates and certification authorities the guarantee the identity the parties involved in an electronic transaction.

Public Network

A large collection of unrelated computers, with each node on the network having a unique address. The Internet, for example, is a public network. Because computers are unrelated and many companies and individuals share the same communication media, the public network is by nature insecure.

Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)

Pull feed

In a pull feed, a computer connects to a host at scheduled times and requests any new information.

Pull partners

A WINS server that pulls (requests) WINS database entries from its push partners. The pull partner pulls new WINS database entries by requesting entries with a higher version number than the last entry it received during the last replication from that push partner.

Punch-down block

A punch-down block is typically used in telephone wiring cabinets to connect individual strands of twisted pair wires. For example, the punch-down block connects the outside phone lines to inside extensions or phone plugs at the demark (where the local network ends and the telephone company's network begins). You use a punch-down tool to attach wires to the punch down block.

Push feed

In a push feed, the computer containing replicated information connects to its partners at specified intervals and uploads new information.

PVC (Permanent Virtual Circuit)

PWS (Personal Web Server)