CompTIA Network+ Certification Acronyms List Part 2

MDF

(Main Distribution Frame): Also known as the main cross connect, the first point of interconnection between an organization's LAN or WAN and a service provider's facility.

MDIX

(Media Dependent Interface Crossover): A type of port found on Ethernet networking devices in which the wiring is crossed so that the transmit line of one device becomes the receive line of the other. MDI-X is used to connect hubs and switches to client computers.

MFA

(Multifactor Authentication): An authentication scheme that requires the user to present at least two different factors as credentials, from something you know, something you have, something you are, something you do, and somewhere you are. Specifying two factors is known as 2FA.

mGRE

(Multipoint Generic Routing Encapsulation): A tunneling protocol that can encapsulate a number of OSI layer 3 protocols.

MIB

(Management Information Base): A database used in network management that contains a list of objects managed by the NMS and their descriptions as well as data about each object's performance.

MIMO

(Multiple Input-Multiple Output): In the context of 802.11n wireless networking, the ability for access points to issue multiple signals to stations, thereby multiplying the signal's strength and increasing their range and data-carrying capacity. Because the signals follow multipath propagation, they must be phase-adjusted when they reach their destination.

MU-MIMO

(Multi User-Multiple in, Multiple Out): The ability to communicate with up to four devices simultaneously. Introduced in 802.11ac

MOU

(Memorandum Of Understanding): An agreement (bilateral or multilateral) between parties defining terms and conditions of an agreement.

MPLS

(Multiprotocol Label Switching): A network technology defined by a set of IETF specifications that enable Layer 3 devices, such as routers, to establish and manage network traffic.

MSS

(Maximum Segment Size): Limits the size of packets, or small chunks of data, that travel across a network, such as the Internet. All data that travels over a network is broken up into packets.

MTBF

(Mean Time Between Failure): Measures the system's reliability by identifying the average time between failures

MT-RJ

(Mechanical Transfer Registered Jack): Sometimes called a Fiber Jack connector, it is a compact snap-to-lock connector used with multimode fiber.

MTTR

(Mean Time To Repair): Average length of time required to perform a repair on the device.

MTU

(Maximum Transmission Unit): The largest IP packet size in bytes allowable by routers in a path without fragmentation and excluding the frame size.

MX

(Mail Exchange): A DNS record that maps a domain name to a mail exchange server list.

NAC

(Network Access Control): A term that refers to collected protocols, policies, and hardware that govern access on devices to and from a network.

NAS

(Network Attached Storage): A specialized storage device or group of storage devices that provides centralized fault-tolerant data storage for a network. NAS depends on traditional network transmission methods such as Ethernet.

NAT

(Network Address Translation): A technique often used to conserve IP addresses by maps devices on a private network to single Internet-connected device that acts on their behalf.

NDA

(Non-Disclosure Agreement): A signed agreement between a company and an agency in which the agency promises they will not disclose or share confidential information.

NDP

(Neighbor Discovery Protocol): A protocol that is part of the IPv6 protocol suite, used to discover and exchange information about devices on the same subnet (neighbors). In particular, it replaces the IPv4 ARP protocol.

NFV

(Network Functions Virtualization): Provisioning virtual network appliances, such as switches, routers, and firewalls, via VMs and containers.

NGFW

(Next Generation Firewall): Combining a traditional

firewall with any other network device (such as an intrusion prevention system) to get additional functionalities.

NIC

(Network Interface Card): A device that serves as an interface between the computer and the network. Also called a network adapter or network card.

NIDS

(Network Intrusion Detection System): A system that monitors network traffic and alerts for unauthorized activity.

NIPS

(Network Intrusion Prevention System): A type of intrusion prevention that protects an entire network and is situated at the edge of the network or in a network's DMZ.

NS

(Name Server): A DNS record that delegates a DNS zone to use the given authoritative name servers.

NTP

(Network Time Protocol): An Internet protocol that enables synchronization of computer clock times in a network of computers by exchanging time signals (PORT 123).

OID

Object Identifier): Numeric schema used for attributes of digital certificates. onboarding The process of bringing in a new employee, contractor, or supplier.

OSI

(Open Systems Interconnection): A model for understanding and developing computer-to-computer communication developed in the 1980s by ISO. It divides networking functions among seven layers: Physical, Data Link, Network, Transport, Session, Presentation, and Application.

OSPF

(Open Shortest Path First): An IGP and link-state routing protocol that makes up for some of the limitations of RIP and can coexist with RIP on a network.

OTDR

(Optical Time Domain Reflector): A device used in fiber optics to measure the time and intensity of light reflected on an optical fiber. It is used to test the integrity of a fiber cable and is used for the building, certifying, maintaining, and troubleshooting fiber optic systems.

PaaS

(Platform as a Service): A method that enables infrastructure and tools from the service provider so that the client does not need to manage them.

PAN

(Personal Area Network): A network that connects two to three workstations with twisted pair cabling most often seen in small or home offices.

PAT

(Port Address Translation): A subset of dynamic NAT functionality that maps either one or multiple unregistered addresses to a single registered address using multiple ports. Also known as overloading.

PC

(Personal Computer): A general purpose computer intended for use by individual users.

PDU

(Power Distribution Unit): Advanced strip socket that provides filtered output voltage. A managed unit supports remote administration.

PoE

(Power over Ethernet): A standard that specifies a method for supplying electrical power over Ethernet connections.

POP3

(Post Office Protocol version 3): A protocol used from retrieving email from a mailbox on the mail server (PORT 110).

PSK

(Pre-Shared Key): A value (key) shared with another party so that they can encrypt messages to then be securely sent.

PTR

(Pointer Record): A type of DNS data record that is used for reverse lookups, to provide a host name when the IP address is known.

QoS

(Quality of Service): A set of parameters that controls the level of quality provided to different types of network traffic.

QSFP

(Quad Small Form-Factor Pluggable): A fiber-optic transceiver that complies with the 802.3ba standard, squeezing four channels in a single transceiver and supporting data rates up to 40 Gbps (4 x 10 Gbps).

RA

(Router Advertisement): A message from a router in response to a client's solicitation and provides DHCP information.

RADIUS

(Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service): A client-server networking protocol that facilitates communication between a central server and individual users who want to gain access to the server.

RAID

(Redundant Array of Independent or Inexpensive Disks): A data storage virtualization technology that combines multiple physical disk drive components into one or more logical units for the purposes of data redundancy, performance improvement, or both.

RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol)

Port 3389

RF

(Radio Frequency): A frequency in which network or other communications that take place using radio waves in the 10 KHz to 1 GHz range.

RFC

(Request for Comment): A document published by the IETF that details information about standardized Internet protocols and those in various development stages.

RFID

(Radio Frequency Identification): Uses radio signals to communicate with a tag placed in or attached to an object

RG

(Radio Guide): More frequently used as Radio Grade, this is a specification commonly used with connection types.

RIP

(Routing Internet Protocol): A distance-vector routing protocol. Routers running the distance-vector protocol send all or a portion of their routing tables in routing-update messages to their neighbors.

RJ

(Registered Jack): A connector type for twisted-pair cabling. Telephone cabling uses an RJ-11 connector and network cabling uses an RJ-45 connector.

RPO

(Recovery Point Objective): The maximum length of time that an organization can tolerate between backups.

RSSI

(Received Signal Strength Indicator): A relative metric used by 802.11 radios to measure received signal strength (amplitude) and quality.

RTO

(Recovery Time Objective): The maximum amount of time that a process or service is allowed to be down and the consequences still to be considered acceptable.

RTSP

(Real Time Streaming Protocol): A protocol used for establishing and maintaining communications with a media server PORT (554).

SaaS

(Software as a Service): Pay for software as you use it. Not installed locally, instead it is 'Hosted 'software e.g. Google Docs

SAN

(Storage Area Network): A high-speed network with the sole purpose of providing storage to other attached servers.

SC

(Standard Connector/Subscriber Connector): A type of connector used with fiber cabling.

SCADA

(Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition): Large scale, distributed, measurement and control systems used to monitor or to control chemical, physical, or transport processes.

SCP

(Secure Copy Protocol): A protocol that uses SSH to securely copy files between a local and a remote host, or between two remote hosts (PORT 22).

SDN

(Software Defined Network): Aims at separating the infrastructure (hardware) layer from the control layer

-directly programmable from a central location, flexible, vendor neutral, based on open standards.

-basically just "network virtualization"- allows data transmission paths, comm decision trees, flow control to be virtualized

SDWAN

(Software-Defined Wide Area Network): A wide area network that uses software-defined networking technology, such as communicating over the Internet using overlay tunnels which are encrypted when destined for internal organization locations.

SFP

(Small Form Factor Pluggable): A transceiver used to interconvert electrical signals to optical signals.

SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol)

A protocol available with the proprietary version of SSH that copies files between hosts securely. Like FTP, SFTP first establishes a connection with a host and then allows a remote user to browse directories, list files, and copy files. Unlike FTP, SFTP encrypts data before transmitting it (PORT 22).

SIEM

(Security Information and Event Management): Software that can be configured to evaluate data logs from IDS, IPS, firewalls, and proxy servers in order to detect significant events that require the attention of IT staff according to predefined rules.

SIP

(Session Initiation Protocol): A set of Application layer signaling and control protocols for multiservice, packet-based networks. SIP is used to make an initial connection between hosts for transferring multimedia data (PORT 5060/5061).

SLA

(Service Level Agreement): An agreement entered into by the transmitter, ISP and the receiver, subscriber.

SLAAC

(Stateless Address Auto Configuration): A method of automatic IPv6 address configuration on a client

SMB

(Server Message Block): A protocol that works on the Application layer and is used to share files, serial ports, printers, and communications devices, including mail slots and named pipes, between computers (PORT 445).

SMTP

(Simple Mail Transfer Protocol): A communications protocol that enables sending email from a client to a server or between servers (PORT 25).

SNMP

(Simple Network Management Protocol): An Application-layer protocol used to exchange information between network devices (PORT 161).

SOA

(State of Authority): Record stores important information about a domain or zone such as the email address of the administrator, when the domain was last updated, and how long the server should wait between refreshes.

SOHO

(Small Office/Home Office): A small network typically serving 1 to 10 users.

SPAN

(Switched Port Analyzer): Copying ingress and/or egress communications from one or more switch ports to another port. This is used to monitor communications passing over the switch.

SQL

(Structured Query Language): A programming language used to create, interact with, and request information from a database.

SRV

(Service Record): A type of DNS data record that identifies the hostname and port of a computer hosting a specific network service besides email, such as FTP or SIP.

SSD

(Solid State Drive): A flash memory storage device that contains its own processor to manage its storage

SSH

(Secure Shell): Allows a user to communicate with a remote device; does use encryption (PORT 22).

SSID

(Service Set Identifier): A unique character string used to identify an access point on an 802.11 network.

SSL

(Secure Sockets Layer): A method of encrypting data to provide security for communications over networks such as the Internet. TLS (Transport Layer Security) is a later version on SSL.

SSO

(Single-Sign-On): An authentication process that allows a user to access multiple applications with one set of login credentials.

ST

Straight Tip or Snap Twist): The first widely used connector in the data world, at least in North America, was the ST, sometimes called Snap and Twist.

STP

(Spanning Tree Protocol): A Layer 2 protocol that is used for routing and prevents network loops by adopting a dynamic routing method.

SYSLOG

(System Log): A log, accessed through Event Viewer on Windows Server platforms, that provides information and warnings on events logged by operating system components and hardware devices. These events include driver failures, device conflicts,

read/write errors, timeouts, and bad block errors.

TACACS+

(Terminal Access Control Access Control System+): An authentication protocol used for remote communication with any server housed in a UNIX network.

TAP

(Terminal Access Point): Creates a monitor port that allows an IDS to see all network traffic.

TCP

(Transmission Control Protocol): Provides reliable, ordered, and error-checked delivery of a stream of packets on the internet. TCP is tightly linked with IP and usually seen as TCP/IP in writing.

TFTP

(Trivial File Transfer Protocol): A simple version of FTP that uses UDP as the transport protocol, and does not require a logon to the remote host (PORT 69).

TIA/EIA

(Telecommunications Industry Association/Electronic Industries Alliance): Plays an important role in enabling U.S. electronics producers to be competitive by developing technical standards, hosting trade shows and seminars, performing market analysis, and facilitating relations with the government.

TKIP

(Temporal Key Integrity Protocol): A security protocol created by the IEEE 802.11i task group to replace WEP.

TLS

(Transport Layer Security): A security protocol that uses certificates and public key cryptography for mutual authentication and data encryption over a TCP/IP connection.

TTL

(Time to Live): A value for the ping command that determines how many hops an IP packet can travel before being discarded.

TX/RX

(Transmit and Receive): Tx level is the power in decibels per milliwatt (dBm) at which a modem transmits its signal. the Rx level is the power in dBm of the received sign

UDP

(User Datagram Protocol): Protocol that operates instead of TCP in applications where delivery speed is important and quality can be sacrificed.

UPC

(Ultra Physical Contact): Fiber-optic connector that makes physical contact between two fiber-optic cables. Polished extensively for a superior finish and better junction integrity.

UPS

(Uninterruptible Power Supply): A device that provides backup power when the electrical power fails or drops to an unacceptable voltage level.

URL

(Uniform Resource Locator): A location or address identifying where documents can be found on the Internet; a Web address.

USB

(Universal Serial Bus): A hardware interface standard designed to provide connections for numerous peripherals.