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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LAC

Latin American and Caribbean region, is the area that LACNIC administers on behalf of the Internet community.

LACNIC

Latin American and Caribbean Internet Address Registry, is a regional registry for Latin America and Caribbean Islands. http://lacnic.net

LACTLD

Latin American and Caribbean cc TLD Organization, that manages the ccTLD’s. http://www.lactld.org

lame delegation

an instance when a server in DNS has been listed as authoritative for a domain, but responds to the request from its cache rather that out of its zone data.

LAN

Local Area Network, is a network of computers and resources that share resources with each other and are locally connected. Also known as a stub domain.

Lanham Act

Lanham Act of 1947 also known as the Trademark Infringement Act. U.S. Code Title 15. Protects the four types of intellectual marks: trademarks, service marks, certification marks, and collective marks.

latency

a measurement of how long it takes individual packets to

1) propagate across a connection.

2) complete a roundtrip route over the Internet.

Layer 1

Open Systems Interconnection, is a communications reference model of seven layers and specifies the Physical Layer: which includes the physical cabling media. This layer specifically is at the mechanical electrical, and hardware level. See also OSI.

Layer 2

Open Systems Interconnection, is a communications reference model of seven layers and specifies the Data Link Layer: which includes SLIP, PPP, 802.2 SNAP, or Ethernet II. This layer is specificaly performs things like bit-stuffing, and protocol management. See also OSI.

Layer 3

Open Systems Interconnection, is a communications reference model of seven layers and specifies the Network Layer: which includes Internet Protocol ver 4 or ver 6. This layer specifically controls the routing of data of both incoming and outgoing transmissions at the packet level. See also OSI.

Layer 4

Open Systems Interconnection, is a communications reference model of seven layers and specifies the Transport Layer: which includes TCP or UDP Protocols. This layer specifically controls the error-checking to ensure that all packets have been sent and received. See also OSI.

Layer 5

Open Systems Interconnection, is a communications reference model of seven layers and specifies the Session Layer: which includes POP/25, 532, 80, 20/21, 23, 53, 161/162, and RPC Portmapper. This layer initiates the session itself, i.e. setting up the session connection and terminating the session connection. See also OSI.

Layer 6

Open Systems Interconnection, is a communications reference model of seven layers and specifies the Presentation Layer: which includes POP/SMTP, Usenet, HTTP, FTP, Telnet, DNS, SNMP, and NFS. This layer specifically converts incoming and outgoing data to the proper format or "presentation". i.e. text stream into a pop-up window. See also OSI.

Layer 7

Open Systems Interconnection, is a communications reference model of seven layers and specifies the Application Layer: which includes E-mail, Newsgroups, Web Applications, File Transfers, Host Sessions, Directory Services, Network Management, and File Services. This layer specifically controls the security aspects of the communication. It handles the identification of hosts, quality of service, user authentication, and privacy. (NOTE: This layer is not the application itself). See also OSI.

LCR

Least Cost Rating, a method of determining the best route to send Internet traffic with CDN technology using topological proximity techniques.

Least Cost Rating

see LCR.

legacy orders

are domain names registered prior to 06/02/1999 through the registrar Register.com. The actual registrar for these domain name orders was Network Solutions.

legacy root servers

a term to acknowledge the Authoritative Root Servers approved by ICANN.

Linux

a freely distributable and open implementation of UNIX that runs on several hardware platforms. Developed by Linus Torvalds of Finland. A very popular operating system for web servers.

LIR

Local Internet Registries, assign IP addresses to end users for use in operational networks. May include ISP’s for example, who provide this service.

Lisbon Agreement

the Lisbon Agreement of 1958 provides the protection of appellations of origin. Which means in the country or geographic area of origin which designates the origin of a product.

listserv

an interactive email list system that allows users to send email messages to everyone at once by only sending one email message. The people in the email group are called subscribers, since they subscribe to the mail list program.

live streaming

content is distributed and delivered by CDNs and is not stored or cached.

load balancers

hardware devices that monitor the server response time and availability and appropriately directs the requests to the faster and available server. This enhances the reliability and performance of the webserver.

loading

the term to describe the pulling up of a web page that is on a website from a computer or workstation remotely attached to the network, or the Internet.

Local Area Network

See LAN.

Local Internet Registries

see LIR.

lookup

a software tool that will return a domain name from an IP address.