Terms
Due to the technical nature of this documentation, it is impossible to avoid using computer-specific terminology. Understanding the following terms beforehand will make the whole guide much more accessible.
NSIT Accounts and Passwords
CNetID – Your username for all NSIT services.
CNet Password – Formerly known as the "Directory," "Unix," or "Ph" password, the CNet password authenticates you for all common NSIT services.
DNS
IP Address – Internet Protocol (IP) addresses are the computer world's equivalent to a postal address: they allow information meant for a specific computer to be routed to the right location.
DNS – Domain Name System (DNS) servers convert easy to remember names (such as www.uchicago.edu) into IP addresses (for example, 128.135.12.53).
Hostname – The hostname is the name assigned to a computer in DNS. For example, harper is the hostname of the computer that resides at 128.135.12.7.
FQDN – a Fully-Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) is the full name of a computer in DNS. Starting with its hostname, a FQDN includes information about the domains of which it is a member. For example, harper is a part of the uchicago domain, which is in turn part of the edu domain, meaning its FQDN is harper.uchicago.edu.
Networking
DHCP – Dynamic Host Control Protocol (DHCP) is a method for automating the assignment of IP addresses and other networking information. It is used in residence halls and libraries, as well as over the wireless network.
Static IP Addressing – In contrast to DHCP, static IP addressing involves manually configuring a unique IP address for each computer. Static IP addressing is used in most University offices.
Wireless Networking – The University has implemented wireless networking in many campus buildings. Connectivity Package software works seamlessly over these connections; however, the installer will not create a wireless configuration.
The Internet
Internet – Often confused with the World Wide Web (below), the term Internet actually refers to the combined collection of academic, commercial, and government networks connected over international telecommunication backbones and routed using IP addressing.
URL – A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is an address that points to a specific resource on the Internet. It consists of three basic parts: a transport protocol, a fully-qualified domain name, and a file location. For example, the URL:
http://support.uchicago.edu/docs/index.html
tells a network client (such as a web browser) to use the HyperText Transport Protocol (http) to contact the computer named support on the uchicago.edu network and request a file called "index.html" that resides in a directory named "docs."
World Wide Web – The Internet's most commonly used resource, the web is a collection of files residing on computers called web servers, rendered in programs called web browsers, and transported via http over the Internet. The term "web" derives from the files? ability to be easily interlinked together through the use of URLs.
Email Protocols
IMAP – Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) is a protocol that allows mail to be accessed from multiple locations by leaving all messages on the mail server. IMAP is the recommended method for checking your NSIT email account.
POP – Post Office Protocol (POP) is an older email protocol that, by default, downloads mail to a single computer and removes it from the server.
SMTP – Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is a protocol for mail delivery. SMTP is used to send messages, in contrast to IMAP and POP, which are used to download them.
Last updated: 8/30/06
