Glossary m

Another name for Ethernet Address.

A table containing a list of MAC addresses and the physical switch ports out which a switch should forward frames that are destined to each MAC address. LAN switches use a MAC address table to make good forwarding and filtering decisions.

Units that describe the speed at which data is sent over some communication media. Mbps represents 1,000,000 bits in 1 second; for example, 2 mbps is 2000 kbps, or 2,0000,000 bits per second.

The result of a mathematical formula that is used to hide a password during transmission.

A number that represents how good a particular route to a particular destination is. Lower metric routes are better than routes with larger metrics.

A device that converts sounds into analog electrical signals.

A device that converts digital and analog signals for the purpose of communicating over analog telephone lines.

The act of changing an analog electrical signal to encode a binary 0 or 1.

The largest TCP segment that a computer is allowed to send.