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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failover

is the term used to describe the mode or process of a redundant system taking over the control of a primary system once the primary system has failed for whatever reason. The redundant or secondary system then automatically assumes the operations of the failed component or server.

FFRDC

Federally Funded Research and Development Center.

fiber optic

refers to the technology of transmitting data over glass fiber or plastic cables with light impulses. A transmitter, optical regenerator (for distances over one kilometer), and an optical receiver are required along with the fiber optic cable itself, inorder to transmit the data signal.

finger

a program that displays information about a user on the Internet, by typing finger followed by the person’s email address.

firewall

a hardware or software system or appliance that prevents unauthorized access to or from a computer network.

FNC

Federal Networking Council, a coordinating body for several networking federal agencies including, DOE, DARPA, DOC, NASA, NIH, NSF, and others. http://www.fnc.gov

forward proxy server

See proxy server.

FrontPage Extensions

These are a set of server-side scripts that enable users of MS FrontPage to uses special components called Web bots that function similarly to CGI programs. The web author must also have FrontPage installed on their workstation, in order to publish directly to the web server. These extensions are also known as FrontPage server extensions.

FTC

Federal Trade Commission, is a federal investigatory agency that investigates violations of business laws including those in Internet commerce.

FTDA

Federal Trademark Dilution Act of 1996.

FTP

1) File Transfer Protocol, a TCP/IP protocol method for transferring files, or accessing an FTP archive.

2) the name of the program for transferring the files using the FTP protocol.

FTP access

allows users to upload or download files from their server via their workstation with the use of a login name and password for each session.

FTP provider

software provider who provides the FTP software used in facilitating the uploading and downloading of files to and from the client and the web server.

FQDN

Fully Qualified Domain Name is an absolute domain name which is written relative to the root. In other words it is the complete URL that identifies the TLD, SLD and any other subdomains to fully identify the website.