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Networking Terms

Networking Terms

  • NIC (Network Interface Controller) → A piece of hardware which implements network connectivity for a host system. This is good to remember as the actual PCB which collects signals from the antenna and translates them.

  • interface (network interface) → The kernel representation of a TCP/IP socket by which communication is made. Usually there is one interface per NIC, but that isn’t always true especially in complicated setups (like ours). Think of these interfaces as tunnels between locations.

  • IPv4 address → The address up to 255.255.255.255 which defines a device on the network, just like a home address reaching mail.

  • IP subnet → The range of IP address that can communicate to eachother, denoted by a / . For example 192.168.1.1/24 means a device can have an IP on 192.168.100.1 or up to 192.168.100.255. Note the first 3 numbers stay the same.

  • layer 2 link → The link-layer connection of a device to another, where the MAC protocol controls how devices establish and transmit packages. Think of this as the actual signal reaching each device’s antenna.

  • layer 3 link → The IP connection of a device to another, where IP protocol dictates how devices send and recieve information in a shared and routed network. Easily understood as the “sending data to an IP address” part of networking.

  • DHCP server → A program which assigns IP addresses to clients looking for them. Can have custom rules where one MAC=an IP address, this is called static assignment.

  • dnsmasq → A DHCP server package.

  • wpa_supplicant → A package which facilitates layer 2 connection to an access point.

  • hostapd → A package which facilitates the layer 2 broadcasting of an access point.

  • dhcpcd → A package which assigns an IP addresses to an interface, or alternatively asks/listens to a DHCP server assigning an IP.

  • Bridging → The connection of two interfaces via an intermediary such that they share layer 3 properties but can communicate bidrectionally on their respective layer 2 links. Think of this as merging two mailboxes into one, but that mailbox still has two different lids.

  • Bonding → The insensitively-named system of merging two interfaces via a single alias into a priority based layer 2 system. This is similar to bridging in its layer 2 properties, but the kernel can handle, via various settings, how to change priority and active fallback of two interface connections. This includes zero loss switching, shared MAC virtualizing, and more. Can be thought of as the above mailboxes, but only the lid with the most mail flowing is opened at one time.