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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
SackOpts SackOpts (Selective Acknowledgements - RFC 2018). SACKs allow a receiver to acknowledge non-consecutive data. This is particularly helpful on paths with large TCP Windows (large RWIN / BDP). Selective acknowledgements also allow TCP to recover from IP packet loss without resending packets that were already received by the client.

While SACK is now supported by most operating systems, it may have to be explicitly turned on by the system administrator.
SAN SAN (Storage Area Network) is a high-speed special-purpose (sub)network that interconnects different types of data storage devices with associated data servers on behalf of a larger network of users. Typically, a storage area network uses Fibre channel framework, or Gigabit Ethernet and is part of the overall network of computing resources for an enterprise.
SATA Serial ATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment). SATA is a newer standard for connecting hard drives in computer systems. It is based on serial signaling technology (as opposed to Parallel ATA, or PATA). SATA cables have only 7 conductors and are more flexible, thinner, use lower voltage, have lower potential for crosstalk/EMI, and can be longer than PATA ones (40-conductors).

Recent SATA hard drives have started implementing NCQ (Native Command Queuing, a technology designed to increase performance by allowing the disk to internally optimize the order in which read/write commands are executed. This bring brings SATA drives performance a step closer to SCSI than IDE PATA drives.
SCSI SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) is an electronic interface allowing computers to communicatd with peripheral hardware such as disk drives, CD-ROM drives, scanners, etc.

SCSI is a very fast, and flexible parallel interface supported by all major Operating Systems. The latest Ultra320 SCSI standard allows for 15 devices to be connected to a single SCSI cable/port with length of up to 12 meters(LVD), having transfer rates of up to 320 MBps (Megabytes per second).

SCSI hard disk drives are often used in server environments, have better specs, and are higher priced than their IDE counterparts.

Top 10 reasons why SCSI is better than IDE:
10. more devices per cable/port (up to 16)
9. you can connect external devices to the SCSI bus (scanners/printers, etc.)
8. better multi-user capabilities (simultaneous access)
7. much lower CPU utilization
6. SCSI ensures data integrity with CRC checks, etc.
5. four times higher MTBF (mean time between failure)
4. longer is better (cables up to 12 meters with LVD)
3. lower access/seek time (HDD spindle speed up to 15K RPMs)
2. higher transfer rates (up to 320 MBytes/sec.)

and the number one reason why SCSI is better than IDE is....:
1. SCSI is just a smarter bus than IDE
SCTP SCTP (Stream Control Transmission Protocol) is a computer networking Transport Layer protocol, serving in a similar role as the popular TCP/UDP protocols.

It provides some of the same service features of both, ensuring reliable, in-sequence transport of messages with congestion control.
Sometimes referred to as "next generation TCP", SCTP is designed to make it easier to support a telephone connection over the Internet (and specifically to support the telephone system's Signaling System 7 (SS7) on Internet connection).

SCTP was defined in 2000 by the IETF Signaling Transport (SIGTRAN) working group in RFC 4960 (RFC 3286 provides an introduction). Defined by RFC 2960 originally, obsoleted by RFC 4960.

In the absence of native SCTP support by operating systems, it is possible to tunnel SCTP over UDP, as well as mapping TCP API calls to SCTP.
SDM SDM (Space Division Multiplexing) is a method by which metallic, radio, or optical transmission media are physically separated by insulation, waveguides, or space in order to maintain channel separations. Within each physically distinct channel, multiple channels can be derived simultaneously through frequency, time, or wavelength division multiplexing. Some Passive Optical Network (PON) implementations employ space division multiplexing, with the downstream transmissions occurring over one fiber of a duplex fiber optic cable and upstream transmission occurring over the other fiber.

Space Division Multiplexing is an integral part of the new 802.11n wireless standard. It allows for different data streams to be transmited over different antennas simultaneously with the goal of increased capacity (throughput) and better SNR performance. These different data streams can then be recombined at the receiver using multiple antennas as well.

In fiber optics, SDM is the condition in which each fiber of a bundle carries a separate channel.
SDSL SDSL (Single line DSL, Symmetric DSL) is a DSL variation that uses just one twisted pair. SDSL is also symmetric, ie, the maximum data rate both upstream and downstream is the same, as opposed to ADSL.
SLA SLA (Service Level agreement) is a document outlining the service that a carrier provides to a customer. SLAs normally include acceptable levels of latency, packet loss, availability, as well as other expectations of the customer and carrier. In the event that the carrier does not meet their SLA (customer experiences carrier-caused outage, for example), the customer may be eligible for billing credit.
SMTP SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is a TCP/IP protocol used in sending and receiving e-mail. It is usually used together with POP3 or IMAP, protocols that let the user save messages in a mailbox and download them periodically from a server. In other words, client programs typically use SMTP for sending e-mail and POP3/IMAP for downloading email messages from their local mail server.
sneakernet sneakernet (jargon, generally ironic, a.k.a. floppy-net, foot-net) - transfer of data by physically carrying floppy disks, hard disks, tape or other removable medium from one place to another.

"Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon filled with magtape, or a 747 filled with CD-ROMs."
SNMP SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) is an internet standard protocol defined in RFC 1157, developed to manage nodes on an IP network.

SNMP is used most often by network administrators to monitor and map network availability, performance, and error rates. To work with SNMP, network nodes utilize a distributed database of object definitions called the Management Information Base (MIB). All SNMP compliant devices contain a MIB which supplies the pertitent attributes of a device. Some of the attributes are hard coded in the MIB while others can be dynamic values suplied by software running on the device.
SNR SNR or S/N (Signal-to-Noise Ratio)
In communications, signal-to-noise ratio is a measure of signal strength relative to background noise (measured as signal level divided by noise). The ratio is usually measured in decibels (dB).

Higher SNR numbers repesent cleaner signals, with less noise. Decreasing noise, and/or increasing signal increases/improves the SNR value.
SOHO Small Office/Home Office (SoHo) - a market for relatively inexpensive consumer electronics targeted towards individuals and small companies.
SONET SONET (Synchronous Optical Network) is an optical networking standard, defining specific aspects of how the network will be automatically restored during service outages via redundant links, as well as how it will be synchronized to facilitate time division multiplexing (TDM).
SPI SPI (Stateful Packet Inspection) is a firewall technology that monitors the state of a transaction to verify the destination of an inbound packet matches the source of a previous outbound request.
SSD SSD (Solid State Drive) is a data storage device that uses solid-state memory to store persistent data in the same manner as traditional block i/o mechanical hard disk drives (HDDs).

SSDs retain data in non-volatile memory chips, contain no moving parts, they're faster, less susceptible to physical shock, quieter, with much lower access time and latency, and use less power than traditional traditional HDDs.
SSID SSID (service set identifier) is a 32 byte set of characters that uniquely names a WLAN (Wireless LAN). This name allows stations to connect to the desired network when multiple independent networks operate in the same physical area.

A set of wireless devices communicating directly with each other is called a basic service set (BSS). Several BSSs can be joined together to form an extended service set (ESS), a logical WLAN segment. A Service Set Identifer (SSID) is simply a 32 byte alphanumeric name given to such ESS.
STBC STBC (Space-Time Block Coding) is a technique used in wireless communications to transmit multiple copies of the same data stream across a number of antennas (and frequency channels) to improve the reliability of data transfer.

Wirelessly transmitted signal traverses a potentially difficult environment with scattering, reflections, noise, etc. Data redundancy results in a higher chance of being able to use one of more of the received copies to correctly decode the received signal. Space-Time Block coding combines all the copies of the received signal to extract as much information as possible.

TCP interprets frame/packet loss as sign of network congestion and cuts the transmission rate to half whenever thoese error events occur. STBC essentially presents a smoother transmission to TCP, allowing for a more reliable wireless communication with a minimal throughput impact.
SWAG Scientific Wild ass Guess :D
sysadmin SysAdmin (systems administrator). Knows the answer to life, the universe and everything.

...and how to fix a server.

On a more serious note, a SysAdmin is a person whose responsibility is the integrity and security of a network. The job often includes maintaining networked computers and peripherals as well.
Term Description
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