This glossary was written and prepared by Blair Bergum of  DNSnews.net
For additions or corrections to this glossary, please send email to glossary at dnsnews dot net

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bad faith

the term used to identify ill intentions on the part of a registrant when a registrant registers a domain name with the intent to sell it back to a more rightful would-be-domain name holder, for a profit or to disrupt the business of a rightful would-be domain name holder. The rightful domain name holder is usually one who holds a trademark for the given domain name.

backbone

the main, or top hierarchical routing layer of a network that connects multiple networks together on the Internet. See hierarchical routing.

bandwidth

a term that refers to the amount of data in kbps or mbps that is transferred across a data line, cable, or wireless medium. With respect to web servers, this is a finite amount determined by the Internet connection. See also Data Transfer.

baseband

1) refers to the communication system where data is transmitted either by analog or digital form on a single unmultiplexed channel. Ethernet is an example of this technology.

2) refers to either multiplexed or unmultiplexed information being superimposed usually on the same frequency.

BBB

Better Business Bureau

BGP4

Border Gateway Protocol, version 4, is the industry standard protocol for routers that allows the routing of packets. It is the protocol especially used when exchanging packets between gateway hosts on the Internet.

bigfoot letter

a cease and desist letter written to a domain name registrant threatening legal action unless the registrant turns over the domain name to the complainant.

Bill Atkinson

is the first person responsible for the first practical and usable implementation of hypertext described by Ted Nelson, in a software program called HyperCard, which was released by Apple in 1987.

Big 7 Peering Club

a network infrastructure club consisting of the top largest backbone providers on the Internet. The seven include: AT&T, Worldcom, Sprint, Cable & Wireless, Genuity, Qwest, and Level 3.

binary

is the numbering scheme where there are only two possible values, 0 and 1. Binary numbers represent powers of 2 beginning with the right most digit being 2 to the first power. The decimal equivalent of a binary number is found by adding the total of all the binary digits with their associated powers. A binary number of 111 is equal to the decimal equivalent of 7. Where 2 to the zero power + 2 to the first power + 2 to the second power = 1+2+4 = 7.

binary digit

see bit.

bind

the term used when a protocol is logically attached to a network card.

BIND

Berkeley Internet Name Daemon, is the DNS software used in setting up DNS servers.

biometric access

uses scanning technologies to scan fingerprints, palm prints, or retinal scans for personnel identification for security access.

bit

short for binary digit. A bit is the smallest unit of measure to denote hard disk space or bandwidth. A bit has either a single value of 1 or 0. See also byte. Note lower case b denotes bit, and capital B denotes Byte.

Blair Bergum’s DIG

Blair Bergum’s DNS Internet Glossary, created by Blair Bergum in January of 2003, to be a global resource in the DNS arena for understanding the terminology and many acronyms that make up the DNS and the Internet .

blended threat

denotes a computer threat combining the characteristics of viruses, worms, Trojan Horses, along with traditional hacking techniques, to launch or spread a computer attack.

bogon

1) refers to a query packet which is sent from a TCP/IP resolver to a root server, where the reply bit is wrongly transmitted rather than the response bit.

2) the term to refer to something or some part of the network or Internet is broken or functioning incorrectly.

bot

a bot is short for robot, to describe programs that operate automatically on a server to automate tasks such as sorting or forwarding emails, or indexing files on the WWW.

broadband

a general term to denote a telecommunications band of frequencies. Information can be sent in parallel, or multiplexed due to the broad or wide band that is available for transmission. DSL and Cable TV are considered to be broadband technologies.

BSD

operating system from Berkeley Software Design based upon the UNIX operating system which incorporates TCP/IP protocols.

browser

a software interface that allows a client to connect with the Internet and view webpage files such as HTML.

browser cache

is the cache in the browser, which saves a copy of a requested object in its memory until the cache expires.

browser hijacking

describes the event when another website or a malicous program takes control of ones browser's Internet default settings, causing one's Home page, favorite files, or links, and even one's Registry to be automatically changed so one is automatically and unwillingly redirected to another web page without consent.

buffer

a memory resource space to hold information until it is requested by the processor.

buffer-underflow

occurs when data throughput decreases or latency increases, causing less packets to fill a buffer.

burst

the amount of bandwidth that is used that is calculated at 95% to 100% of the bandwidth as described by the 95th Percentile Calculation.

burst ratio

the ratio between the burst amount of bandwidth calculated at 95% to 100% bandwidth (the highest 5% of bandwidth) relative to the peak bandwidth at 100%.

byte

a unit of measure consisting of eight binary digits. Note lower case b denotes bit, and capital B denotes Byte.