NAP

Acronym for Network Access Point, the major internet providers usually have peering points at one or more NAPs.

NAS

Acronym for Network Access Server, this is a terminal server designed specifically to provide remote connectivity via PPP and similar protocols.

NAT

Acronym for Network Address Translation, a system included with many routers and some operation systems where many hosts "behind" the router, or firewall host are translated to a single real IP address. Fundamentally, NAT is great for any use where the inside client opens a connection out to a remote site (web browsing), or where the two ends rendevous on a selected, random port (IRC's CTCP, FTP), but problematic where a specific port is used and more than one of the translated machines need to accept new connections in from outside, such as in web serving, online games, and other servers.

Nerd

The "n" word, this term is deragatory when used by outsiders, but acceptable when used to describe a fellow nerd. While geeks must be born, nerds are made, the most famous case being Bill Gates.

Netiquette

The informal set of rules for using the Internet, ignoring them may result in being flamed or mail-bombed. Guidelines for usenet news can be found in news.announce.newusers.

Netscape(tm)

A commercial GUI World-Wide-Web browser for X-Windows, MS-Windows and Macintosh, available from Netscape Communications.

Newbie

Somebody new to the Internet, or to computers in general. If you needed to look this up, you are most likely a newbie.

Newsgroup

A message area in the Usenet News, each newsgroup can be either 'moderated' with only postings approved by a moderator publically posted, or 'unmoderated' where all messages are distributed to the newsgroup immediately.

NeXT

The Unix workstation manufactuered for several years by NeXT, designed to run the MACH operating system, NeXTSTEP.

NFS

An acronym for Network FileSystem, this is one method of sharing files across a LAN or through the internet.

See also: AFS.

NIC

An acronym for Network Interface Card or for Network Information Center, such as the Internic. Not to be confused with NOC.

NIS

Network Information Service, a data-distribution method popular on Sun workstations. Originally created as Yellow Pages (YP) until forced to change due to trademark infringement on British Telecom

NLRI

Network Layer Reachability Information. Used primarily in Cisco router configurations.

NNTP

Acronym for Network News Transfor Protocol, a system for reading and writing Usenet News articles across a network, this service is defined by RFC number 977.

NOC

Network Operations Center, a site used by a business or other operation for controlling and monitoring a LAN and/or WAN.

NSF

An acronym for National Science Foundation, the NSFNet became officially disconnected from the primary Internet on April 30, 1995.

NSP

An acronym for Network Service Provider, these are the companies that provide connectivity to the internet for ISPs and others requiring high speed connections between their LANs and the Internet.

nybble

A "nybble" is four bits (one-half of a byte). Nybble chips were occasionally used to conserve costs where only values from 0-15 will be stored.

ob- /ob/

abbreviation for "obligatory. An oft-neglected facet of netiquette in which the author of a usenet post includes a bit of on-topic material to justify an otherwise off-topic posting.

See also Jargon's definition

OLE

Object Linking and Embedding, Microsoft's proprietary mechanism for allowing documents and applications to access data and subroutines from within other applications. OLE is itself built on top of COE. OLE is a major component of ActiveX, and sees some minimal use in linking data (primarily video and audio clips) across applications.

OO

Object Oriented, any programming language or other system which is based on the concept of grouping related routines and data structures together in 'objects'.

OOB

Out-Of-Band, meaning information sent outside of the normal communications stream.

OS

Operating System, the basic instruction set used to provide a computer with the routines necessary to communicate with the user and hardware devices.

See also BIOS.

OSF

Open Software Foundation, backers of MACH and other projects.

See Also: FSF.

OSPF

An internet routing protocol, this stands for Open Shortest Path First. This is a relatively new protocol with many enhancements over RIP and other older systems. Defined in RFC number 1583.

See also VLSM, Router.

OTOH

On The Other Hand. Internet Chat shorthand.

Packet

A packet is a standardized unit of data. In network communications a packet generally consists of a "header" with identifying information and a "body" containing the data to be transmitted.

Palmtop

Palmtops are a class of personal computers (generally with PDA software) that fit in the palm of your hand. One of the most well-known palmtops is the Pilot, developed by PalmOS and marketed by US Robotics.

Parallel

Parallel data communications send several bits over the connection (usually multiple physical wires) at once, as opposed to serial links which send one bit at a time. Parallel connections are generally used for printers and for some high speed data connections.

PASC

The Portable Application Standards Committee, PASC is charted by IEEE

QI

An acronym for Query Interface, The QI (generally based on the CCSO Nameserver) is a database system that can be accessed by ph client programs to retrieve and edit entries in the server. This is generally used for phonebook services, but can be used in any database application. Further information is available.

QWERTY

The standard english-language keyboard layout. Term comes from the first six letters below the row of numbers.

See also: DVORAK

QWK

A format for offline mail and news reader packets, originally made popular on MS-DOS BBSs.

Quine A program that generates a copy of it's own source text as it's complete output. From the logician Willard van Orman Quine. The Quine page

RADIUS

Remote Authentication Dial-In user Service. A standard for authentication and accounting, RADIUS is primarily used to control dial-up access to PPP and other services. The protocal was standardized in RFC 2058, the current implementation is defined in RFCs 2138 and 2139. RADIUS uses UDP packets, older servers use ports 1645 and 1646, the current standard is port 1812 for authentication and 1813 for accounting.

See also TACACS.

RAM

Acronym for Random Access Memory, a form of primary storage that allows direct read and write operations. RAM storage is generally a very high-speed medium that requires constant power to avoid data loss.

See also ROM. (rezidew)

RARP

Reverse ARP, a mechanism to match a MAC address to the corresponding IP address.

RAS

Remote Access Server. Generally used to refer to NT services, RAS is similar to NAS both terms describe specialized models of terminal server

RBL

Realtime Blackhole List. A list of open mail relays and rogue sites, maintained by Paul Vixie. Subscribers to the RBL reject all mail and/or connection attempts from RBL'd IP addresses, effectively cutting off irresponsible/incompetent domains from the rest of the Internet. Subscription is completely voluntary, details are at http://maps.vix.com/rbl/.

Regular Expression.

Regular Expressions use Meta Characters to express variable parts of a pattern to be matched. Regular Expression. (rezidew)

RFC

Acronym for Request For Comment, these a broad range of notes covering a variety of topics related to the Internet. RFCs are handled by the IETF and are archived at several sites.

RIP

Router Information Protocol, a standard mechanism for exchanging routes (paths) between routers, this protocol is slowly being replaced by OSPF. RIP is specified in RFC 1058.

RISC

Reduced Instruction Set Computer. A CPU based on a limited number of basic instructions, systems using RISC result in larger binary files but overally faster execution of each instruction.

Rm

The Unix command. to delete a file from a directory.

Rmdir

The Unix command. to delete a directory.

ROM

Acronym for Read-Only Memory, ROM is used for permanent storage, such as system bootstrap routines.

See also RAM. (rezidew)

Root

1: The 'base' or bottom of a system. e.g. the 'root directory' is the lowest possible directory in a filesystem, and in X11 the 'root window' is the background on which all other windows are drawn. 2: In Unix, the user 'root' is the user that owns the system and has full superuser power.

Rot-13

A simple form of encryption in which the letters A-M are transposed with the letters L-Z, often used in Usenet postings of offensive jokes to prevent people from accidentally reading a disturbing message.

ROTFL

Shorthand for Rolling On the Floor Laughing.

See also: IMHO, TMK.

Router

A router is a special type of internet host that gateways (transfers) packets between two or more networks.

Ruby A scripting language influenced by Perl and Eiffel. Ruby Home Page

segment

A segment is a physically or logically distinct section of a network. Segments are used to isolate network traffic, and often have specific limitations on their physical size and number of hosts and other physical connections.

Sendmail

A popular Mail Transport Agent, sendmail is a popular mail processing package used primarily on older Unix systems.

Serial

A serial communications circuit sends the individual bits over the connection one by one, as opposed to a parallel communication circuit. Most home computer data communications are done over serial links.

server

A server provides information or other services to it's clients. Most network protocols are client-server based. While a server usually refers to an entire machine, it's can also be used to refer to a particular daemon on that machine.

SGML

Acronym for Standard Generalized Markup Language, a generic grammar used as the basis for many document formats. Additional information on SGML is available from w3.org.

Shell

One of several command line interfaces available on Unix machines, some common unix shells include Bourne, Korn, tcsh, and the Bourne Again shell (from GNU.

SLIP

Acronym for Serial Line Internet Protocol, SLIP is a serial packet protocol used to connect a remote computer to the Internet using modems or direct connections, SLIP requires an Internet provider with special SLIP accounts or a shell account a SLIP emulator such as TIA(tm) or SLiRP.

SMTP

An acronym for Simple Mail Transport Protocol, which defines a common mechanism for exchanging mail across a network. This protocol is described in RFC number 821. Usually SMTP is incorporated in a MTA

Snail Mail

The U.S. Postal service or other form of ground mail. As opposed to E-Mail

SNMP

Simple Network Mangement Protocol, a system for configuring and monitoring devices on IP networks, as defined in RFC 1157. The protocol defines both standard and device-specific MIBs specifying what information is available and how to access it.

spam

A popular canned meat product. Also, bulk, mass, or repeated posting or mailing of substantially identical messages. The emphasis is on the multiple sending, either many copies to one destination, or one copy to many destinations. This is a reference to the famous Monty Python Spam sketch.

SPID

Service Protocol Identifier, used in some ISDN hardware to register a particular device to the central office switch.

SQL Structured Query Language. A standard programming language for access to database systems.

SSH

A standard for cryptographic connections over a TCP connection.

Steganography

The practice of hiding one piece of information inside of another. The most common example is watermarking.

Stel

Secure Telnet

Surfing

The term used by newbies to descripbe exploring the Internet, usually through a World-Wide-Web browser, a metaphor from real surfing.

credits : http://www.msg.net/kadow/answers/