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List of netowrking, wireless, broadband, satellite, telephony, general computing and other technical terms used throughout the site.
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Term Description
NAP NAP (Network Access Point) is a major public network exchange facility for interconnecting traffic between ISPs.

NAPs (and MAEs) are interconnection points (and often the congestion points) that determine how/where traffic is routed in what is considered the Internet backbone.

The term is often used interchangeably with MAE (Metropolitan Area Exchange), see the MAE term description for more details.
NAPT NAPT (Network Address Port Translation) a.k.a. PAT, port mapping, NAT overloading, port-level NAT, or single-address NAT.

The term refers to an extension to NAT, in which multiple client computers communicate through the same IP, and also have unique port numbers assigned to transmissions in order to distinguish between them.

In other words, NAPT/PAT extends NAT from "one-to-one" into "many-to-one" by associating unique source ports with the data flow.

NAPT is discussed in RFC 2663
NAS NAS (Network-Attached Storage) is hard disk storage that is set up with its own IP address and attachet to the LAN, rather than being attached to a computer for serving applications to workstations.

NAS consists of hard disk storage (including multi-disk RAID systems), and software for configuring and mapping file locations to the network-attached device. Network-attached storage can be a step toward and included as part of a more sophisticated storage system known as a storage area network (SAN).
NAT NAT (Network Address Translation) is an IETF standard that enables LANs to use one set of private IP addresses for internal traffic an another set of IPs for external traffic. Typically, a NAT device makes all IP address translations where the LAN meets the WAN.

NAT permits a large number of LAN users to share one external IP address, and adds some network security, since private IP address ranges are not routable outside the LAN.

The following 3 blocks of the IP address space have been reserved by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) for private Intranets:

10.0.0.0 - 10.255.255.255 (class A, 10/8 prefix)
172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255 (class B range, 172.16/12 prefix)
192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255 (class C range, 192.168/16 prefix)

Resources: NAT-RFC1631, Private IPs - RFC1918
NBTSTAT NBTSTAT (NetBIOS over TCP/IP Statistics) is a Windows command-line utility, here are some useful flags for it:

-n Lists your NetBIOS names
-s Lists your current NetBIOS sessions
-? Displays help and information on flags
NCQ NCQ (Native Command Queuing) is a hard disk drive technology that allows the individual disk to internally optimize the order in which received read/write commands are executed. This can reduce the amount of unnecessary drive head movement, improving performance and reducing drive wear.

The technology is especially effective in worlkoads where multiple simultaneous read/write requests are outstanding, most often occuring in server-type applications. NCQ has been typically used in SCSI drives, and is currently making its way into some SATA drives. While NCQ typically improves disk performance in the presense of multiple read/write requests, historically it has also been argued that it may indroduce some latency to access of sequential reads/writes induced by NCQ logic.
NetBIOS NetBIOS (Network Basic Input Output System) - a networking protocol developed in the 1980s. Because a lot of legacy software was written for NetBIOS's API, it has been adapted to work over various other protocols such as IPX/SPX and TCP/IP.

NetBIOS over TokenRing or Ethernet is now referred to as NetBEUI. NetBIOS over TCP/IP is referred to as NetBT (or NBT). With Win 2K and later, NetBT is now the preferred NetBIOS transport.
NetBT NetBT (a.k.a. NBT) - NetBIOS over TCP/IP
netmsak netmask (also known as subnet mask, or address mask) is a technique used by the IP protocol to determine which network segment packets are destined for.

In essence, the subnet mask is a 32bit bitmask used to tell what portion of an IP address identifies the subnetwork, and what portion identifies the host. One of the most widely used netmasks for home/SOHO applications is 255.255.255.0, used for a Class C subnet, one with up to 255 host computers.
NETSTAT NETSTAT (Network Statistics) is a command-line utility for displaying network statistics. Here are some of its more useful flags:

-? Displays help and information on all flags.
-a Displays all listening ports and active connections.
-n Displays addresses and port numbers in numerical form.
NFC NFC (Near Field Communication) is a short-range wireless standard that enables communication between compatible devices by simply bringing them close together (within 4 inches of each other). NFC uses electromagnetic induction between two loop antennas located within each other's near-field. It operates in the 13.56 MHz unlicensed radio frequency band.

NFC communication requires at least one transmitting (active) device, and another (passive or active) to receive the signal.

Active devices are able to both send and receive data, and can communicate with each other as well as with passive devices. Smartphones and some Bluetooth speakers are by far the most common implementation of active NFC devices.

Passive NFC devices are usually read-only tags that include a small unpowered NFC chip.
NIC NIC (Network Interface Card), also called a Network Adapter, is a device that connects your computer to a network. The most common types of NICs are Ethernet and Token Ring.
NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology
NMS NMS - Network Management System (or Station).

Also: Network Monitoring Station.
NNTP NNTP (Network News Transfer Protocol) is a protocol that allows customers to view information on Usenet newsgroups. Many carriers have the option of setting up news feeds that are sent directly to a customer's news server or setting up access to the carrier's news server with a login and password.
node node is a connection point in a network, either end or redistribution point for data transmissions. In general, a node has the capability to recognize and process, or forward transmissions to other network nodes.
NTP NTP (Network Time Protocol) is an internet standard protocol, built on top of TCP/IP, that assures accurate time synchronization of computer clock times in a network to the millisecond.

Based on UTC (Coordinated Universal Time), NTP can synchronize client clocks to the U.S. Naval Observatory Master Clocks. It can run as a continuous background client program and periodically send time requests to NTP servers, then using the obtained timestamps to adjust the client's clock.

See also: RFC 1305
Term Description
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