ACK
/æk/
n. “The TCP nod that says ‘I got it.’”
ACK, short for Acknowledgment, is a flag in the TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) header that confirms receipt of data or the successful completion of a step in the TCP handshake. Whenever a device receives data, it sends an ACK packet back to the sender to indicate that the information was received correctly, helping ensure reliable, ordered communication.
Key characteristics of ACK include:
SYN
/sɪn/
n. “The TCP handshake’s polite ‘hello’.”
SYN, short for Synchronize, is a flag in the TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) header used to initiate a connection between two devices on a network. It signals the beginning of the TCP three-way handshake, allowing both the client and server to synchronize sequence numbers and prepare for reliable data transfer.
Key characteristics of SYN include:
RST
/ˌɑːr-ɛs-ˈtiː/
n. “The TCP reset signal that ends a connection abruptly.”
RST, short for Reset, is a flag in the TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) header that indicates an immediate termination of a TCP connection. When a device sends a packet with the RST flag set, it signals that something went wrong or that the connection should be closed immediately without following the usual graceful teardown process.
Key characteristics of RST include:
Discover, Offer, Request, and Acknowledge
/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:
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
/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.
SLAAC
/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:
IPv6
/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.
Internet Protocol version 4
/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.
Google Remote Procedure Call
/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:
SIP
/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: