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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packet

a piece of a message that is transmitted over a packet switching network.

packet loss

a measurement of the percentage of data packets that are dropped by routers and switches across a connection.

packet switching

the process in which messages are broken into pieces called packets.

page view

the event that occurs when a request is sent to a webserver to load an HTML file or a webpage.ed servers.

PAP

Password Authentication Protocol is the least secure authentication protocol because it uses plain unencrypted text passwords.

parity

a method of checking data while it is being moved from one storage location to another.

patch panel

a panel with numerous RJ-45 ports that connect cables from individual computers to the hubs or routers of a network.

pathname

is the portion of a URL that is used to locate a file on the server on which it resides. e.g. dnsnews.net/glossary/glossary_initial.html is the URL and the pathname is glossary/glossary_initial.html..

Paul Mockapetris

Designed the DNS in 1984. Paul worked for the Information Sciences Institute at University of Southern California, and thru the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) created and developed the DNS which would be a distributed database system capable of translating domain names into IP addresses for use on the Internet, or any other internet. See also DNS.

PAT

see Port Address Translation.

peak bandwidth

refers to the amount of total bandwidth that can pass through a data line at any given instant. Peak bandwidth is an instantaneous measure of data transfer and does not refer to bandwidth measurements for monthly bandwidth usage. Peak bandwidth for a shared server could be in the range of 500 Kbps to 5 Mbps, and for dedicated servers in the range of 500 Kbps to 50 Gbps.

peering

1) having multiple backbones coordinated in such a way that when one line gets to slow, the server automatically switches to the faster line. This is more than simply a redundant line because intelligence is used to switch to the faster line at all times. See also load balancing.

2) is a relationship between other ISP's it sees as peers or equals, in which they agree to exchange packets between each other as a reciprocal service.

Peering Agreements

An agreement between a host provider and their service providers but usually does not include service level type agreements.

Perl

Practical Extraction and Report Language, created by Larry Hall in 1986. Perl is an open source language and consists of both a compiler and an interpreter.

period

a separator that separates a Third-Level-Domain from a SLD, as well as, separating the domain name “name” portion or SLD from the TLD. Also more commonly referred to as a “dot”, rather than a period. It also acts as a delimiter within an address. See also “.”

PGP

Pretty Good Privacy, developed by Phillip Zimmerman and released in 1991 is a software application that utilizes encryption and a security key to protect email documents. PGP can also be used for the Guardian Authentication process for identifying registrants of domain names so the authorized owner can make changes or modifications to their domain name.

PHP

Personal Home Page created by developer Rasmus Lerdorf, is a server-based HTML embedded script language that runs on multiple platforms. PHP accesses and manipulates data in a MySQL database and creates dynamic webpages. PHP’s acronym was later renamed to PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor, to emphasize its expanded functionality.

PING

Packet Inter-Network Groper, is a basic Internet program that checks the presence of a host on the Internet. Ping can also be used to test a connection and then relay the response time of accessing a host on the Internet.

pipe

in the hosting business pipe is a term used to describe link, connection, Internet connectivity, or backbone for which the data bandwidth passes.

PIR

Public Interest Registry. See Public Interest Registry for more information on the history.

PNS

see Private Name Servers.

POE

Point of Entry, refers to the location point at the perimeter of a data center or IDC, where utility services including telecommunication lines enter the building.

Pointer Record

Also known as a PTR Records. See also “A Record”.recorda domain name record-pointer record. A PTR allows special names to point to some other location using an IP address, in the domain name space by redirection. Pointer records are used for reverse DNS, (address-to-name mappings). An “A Record” on the other hand, directs an IP address to a domain name. A Pointer:

1) redirects one IP address to a domain.

POP

Post Office Protocol is a TCP/IP protocol that defines an interface between the user’s mail client software and the email server. POP is used for receiving email messages by downloading messages from the server to the clients computer.

pop.

a POP mail server. See also POP.

portable

programs that are easily ported.

portal

an internet site that connects other services and applications to a client in a dynamic way.

port

1) an interface on a computer to connect an external device. A port number can be specified using an IP address, for example 123.123.123.123:40 where 40 would be the port number of the IP address 123.123.123.123.

2) an endpoint to a logical connection in a TCP/IP environment.

3) to move a program from one computer to another.

Port Address Translation

Also known as PAT, is a form of Network Address Translation which maps multiple unregistered IP addresses to a single registered IP address using different ports for each unregistered IP address.

Post Office

temporarily receives and stores email messages until the POP or IMAP Protocols (to receive the email messages) are ready to receive them.

PPP

Point-to-Point Protocol is an advanced version of the SLIP protocol. PPP provides full-duplex bidirectional operations between hosts.

Primary Master Name Server

Primary Master Name Server, receives its zone data from a file on its host.

Private Name Servers

an alias name to the name of the actual host Name Servers. Private Name Servers or PNS, are a way for a hosting company to privately label their own hosting product using their name servers while at the same time utilizing the actual servers of another vendor. May also be referred to as VNS. See also VNS.

Privatization Project

the project of privatizing the management of DNS and Domain Name Space to the private sector such to ICANN, and away form the U.S. DOC.

proof of concept

the introduction of new gTLD names was called proof of concept, in that if the introduction went well, the proof was in the concept that it worked.

propagation

the process of zone records being replicated to servers that are part of the DNS.

protocol

1) rule or standard that allow computers to communicate with one another as well as with any attached external devices.

2) is the http:, ftp:, or file: portion of a URL, as in http://dnsnews.net/resources.html.

protocol stack

a layered set of protocols to facilitate communication of hosts across a network.

proxy cache

attached to a firewall, a proxy will cache requests it receives from all client requests.

proxy server

a server that is located at the client side of the network which acts as a firewall, gateway, or cache server for the client. The proxy server sends requests to the webserver across the Internet on behalf of the client. It can also be referred to as a forward proxy server, to distinguish it from a reverse proxy server. See also reverse proxy server.

PSO

Protocol Supporting Organization

PSO Members

Include the IETF, (including IAB and ISOC), W3C, ITU, and ETSI.

PTR

see pointer.

PTR records

see pointer.

public key

a non-secret key that is available to anyone you choose.

public-key encryption

also known as asymmetric algorithm that uses two separate mathematical related keys, one public and one private.

Public Interest Registry

is the registry that maintains the .org TLD as of January 1st, 2003. PIR is taking over control of the .org registry from Verisign as the contract with Versign ended on December 31st, 2002 to comply with an agreement they had with ICANN and the DOC in May of 2001. Full transfer of the management responsibility of the .org TLD was completed on January 27th, 2003. New .org registrations will be processed by the new registry effective January 28th, 2003.

publish

1) the process of uploading webpages to a webserver for the purpose of creating a website.

2) a term used in Microsoft FrontPage, to mean uploading a file to a web server.