Home : Tutorials : Definitions & Terminology

Definitions & Terminology.

The meanings of things in my words.

Resources - A broad term. Each individual computer has it's own resources. Resources include data, memory, storage, processing power & video rendering. Many other devices are considered resources like servers, printers, scanners, cd-roms, routers & switches.

Network - A group of connected resources. Types of networks include Ethernet (Cat-5e), Coax (Broadband) & Wi-Fi (Wireless). Usually these resources are shared but they don't actually have to be.

Domain - A territory over which rule or control is exercised. In computer terms a domain refers to a group of computers that share a common user database. This list of users is used to control network access & file permissions to all members of that domain. You must supply a valid username & password to the domain controller (computer with the user database) to access any resources on computers joined into that domain. All Windows servers in a domain share one user database.

Server - A server is just that. You place an order and the server serves it to you if you are the guest list. When not using a domain each server uses it's own user database for controlling network access & file permissions. Multiple servers means multiple user databases. The difference from a domain is that client computers (Windows XP or 2000) can have their own user databases to control access to local resources. That mean Windows XP/2000 can also act as a server. A server doesn't share it's user database with the computers connected to it. You must have identical user accounts & passwords on each machine to avoid getting a logon prompt when using a server. Using a server without a domain is really just a glorified peer-to-peer network. There is much more flexibility in controlling security features & backups with a server.

Email servers - These are the computers that hold your emails until you use Outlook (or Thunderbird nowadays) to check and download the messages to your desktop computer.

Web servers - Mostly known for holding public information that you use Internet Explorer (or Firefox nowadays) to view as web pages. Web servers process information & control security as well.

Database servers - Hold & process different types of information organized into tables. Each column in the table can identify & control the different type of information each row is able to contain. Each row is a different record (or listing) in the table. Other servers or applications usually access this information in the background. You generally have to have an account to access a database server but many web pages use database information to create the web pages you freely view.

FTP servers - FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. An FTP server holds files. Any kind of file. These files can be made available for download to anyone. There are public & private FTP servers. You can limit how much bandwidth to allow for uploads/downloads & how many users to allow at one time. FTP is still going strong but it is insecure. A 3rd party FTP client is the preferred method but Internet Explorer will work to download with.

Peer-to-Peer (p2p) - A network without a main server. In a p2p network using Windows XP/2000 each desktop computer acts as a server with it's own user database for controlling network access & file permissions. In Windows 98 you can only set a password to control network access. You must know a valid username & password for each Windows computer you wish to access resources on. If you have a printer connected directly to your computer that other computers can print to than you are using a p2p (Peer-to-Peer) network. Programs like Kazaa & BitTorrent are also considered p2p networks but use the Internet to share resources instead.