Lantronix ETS Reference Manual - page 297
Glossary
MTU
Glossary-5
MTU
Maximum Transmission Unit. The MTU of a link is the maximum packet size,
in bytes, that can be transmitted across the link. For Ethernet, this is 1536 bytes.
For SLIP lines, it can be variable, based on each host’s ability to receive and
reassemble packets. The RFC for SLIP suggests an MTU of 1006 bytes, but
this is not a requirement.
multicast
A message that is sent out to multiple devices on the network by a host.
Multicasts are generally sent at specified intervals to avoid cluttering the
network, and in the case of LAT, contain the name of the host sending them as
well as information about what LAT services that host provides.
nameserver
A device that translates (or resolves) text hostnames (such as alex.ctcorp.com)
into their numeric IP address equivalents (such as 192.0.1.55). IP addresses
can be routed easily since hosts on the network know how to map numeric
addresses to exact hosts. Hosts have more trouble with names, and this is where
name servers come in. No Telnet connect request can be attempted until a
numeric address is known for a host, so if there is no accessible name server
(or the Server has not been told of its identity with the Set Server Nameserver
command), numeric addresses must be used.
NCP
Network Control Program. NCP is a program run on VMS machines to
configure local network hardware and remote network devices. In the case of
the ETS, NCP can be used to remotely log into and reboot the Server or cause
it to “dump” its memory to a host for analysis. It is can also be used to access
the ETS console port from a host VMS system.
NetWare
A Novell-developed Network Operating System (NOS). NetWare provides
file and printer sharing among networks of Personal Computers (PC’s). Each
NetWare network must have at least one fileserver, and access to other
resources is dependent on connecting to and logging into the fileserver. The
fileserver(s) control user logins and access to other network clients, such as
user PC’s, print servers (such as the ETS), modem/fax servers, disk/file
servers, and so on.
network address
The identifier for a node. Every node has a hardware address that is unique
across all networks and, for TCP/IP networks, an IP address that is unique on
the network. See hardware address and IP address.
node
Any intelligent device connected to the network. This includes terminal
servers, host computers, and any other devices that are directly connected to
the network.
A node can be thought of as any device that has a hardware address. A service
node is a node on the network that provides a service other users can connect
to, for example, a printer. A terminal server that allows only local logins is not
a service node, as it does not allow remote network users to connect to it.