Network

/ˈdɔːrə/

n. “The four-step handshake that gets your device an IP address.”

DORA is an acronym that describes the sequence of steps in the DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) process, which allows a device to obtain an IP address and other network configuration parameters automatically. The four steps are: Discover, Offer, Request, and Acknowledge.

Key steps in DORA include:

/ˈdiː-eɪtʃ-siː-piː/

n. “The network service that hands out addresses so devices don’t have to argue about who is who.”

DHCP, short for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, is a network management protocol used to automatically assign IP addresses and other essential network configuration parameters to devices on a network. Its primary purpose is to eliminate the need for manual IP configuration while ensuring that each device receives valid, non-conflicting network settings.

/ˈsliː-æk/

n. “When your device gives itself an IPv6 address without asking permission.”

SLAAC, short for Stateless Address Auto-Configuration, is an IPv6 mechanism that allows devices to automatically configure their own IP addresses without requiring a DHCP server. As soon as a device connects to an IPv6-enabled network, it can generate a valid address and begin communicating almost immediately.

SLAAC works by combining two main pieces of information:

/ˌaɪ-ˌpiː-viː-ˈsɪks/

n. “The internet’s answer to running out of room.”

IPv6, short for Internet Protocol version 6, is the successor to IPv4 and was designed to solve the problem of IP address exhaustion while improving efficiency, scalability, and modern networking capabilities. It defines how devices are addressed and how data packets are routed across networks, just like IPv4, but on a vastly larger scale.

/ˌaɪ-ˌpiː-viː-ˈfɔːr/

n. “The original numbering system of the internet.”

IPv4, short for Internet Protocol version 4, is the fourth version of the Internet Protocol and the foundational addressing system that made the modern internet possible. It defines how devices are identified and how data packets are routed across networks so they arrive at the correct destination.

/ˌdʒiː-ɑːr-piː-siː/

n. “The high-speed messenger between services.”

gRPC, short for Google Remote Procedure Call, is an open-source framework that enables fast, efficient, and strongly-typed communication between distributed systems. It allows a client to directly call methods on a server as if they were local functions, abstracting away the complexities of network communication.

Key characteristics of gRPC include:

/ˌpiː-eɪ-ˈtiː/

n. “The magic that lets many devices share one public IP.”

PAT, short for Port Address Translation, is a type of network address translation (NAT) that allows multiple devices on a private network to share a single public IP address for outbound traffic. It achieves this by mapping each private device’s IP address and port to a unique port on the public IP, enabling the router to direct return traffic correctly.

Key characteristics of PAT include:

/ˌɛs-ˌaɪ-ˈpiː/

n. “The protocol that makes voice and video calls over the internet possible.”

SIP, short for Session Initiation Protocol, is a signaling protocol used to initiate, manage, and terminate real-time communication sessions over IP networks. These sessions can include voice calls, video calls, instant messaging, and multimedia conferences. SIP is widely used in VoIP (Voice over IP) systems, unified communications, and video conferencing platforms.

Key characteristics of SIP include:

/ˌɛn-ɛf-ˈɛs/

n. “Sharing files over a network as if they were local.”

NFS, short for Network File System, is a protocol that allows a computer to access files over a network as though they were stored on its own local disk. Originally developed by Sun Microsystems, NFS enables file sharing across different systems and operating environments, making distributed storage seamless for users and applications.

Key characteristics of NFS include:

/ˌeɪ-ˈɛs/

n. “The low-level assembly language that talks directly to the CPU.”

AS, in the context of computing, commonly refers to an assembler or assembly language. Assembly language is a low-level programming language that provides symbolic representations of machine code instructions, allowing humans to write programs that directly control a computer's CPU. The assembler (AS) converts these human-readable instructions into executable machine code.