MeshLinx MWI-5000 User Guide
MESHLINX CONFIDENTIAL
9
with a copy of the TCP/IP program just as every other computer that you may send
messages to or get information from also has a copy of TCP/IP.
TCP/IP is a two-layer program. The higher layer, Transmission Control Protocol,
manages the assembling of a message or file into smaller packets that are
transmitted over the Internet and received by a TCP layer that reassembles the
packets into the original message. The lower layer, Internet Protocol, handles the
address part of each packet so that it gets to the right destination.
Telnet:
Telnet is the way to access someone else's computer, assuming they have
given permission. (Such a computer is frequently called a host computer.) More
technically, Telnet is a user command and an underlying TCP/IP protocol for
accessing remote computers. On the Web, HTTP and FTP protocols allow you to
request specific files from remote computers, but not to be actually logged on as a
user of that computer.
TKIP:
The Temporal Key Integrity Protocol, pronounced tee-kip, is part of the
IEEE 802.11i encryption standard for wireless LANs. TKIP is the next generation
of WEP, the Wired Equivalent Privacy, which is used to secure 802.11 WLANs.
TKIP provides per-packet key mixing, a message integrity check, and a re-keying
mechanism, thus fixing the flaws of WEP.
WEP:
Wired Equivalent Privacy is the built-in baseline security protocol that is
rolled into the 802.11b protocol. WEP is disabled by default in most shipping
WLAN hardware, showing that vendors have never particularly had confidence in
WEP and have assumed security would be deployed as a basic WLAN
functionality by customers. WEP inhibits raw throughput at a ratio of about 50%.
WiFi:
WiFi is another name for IEEE 802.11b. It is a trade term promulgated by
the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA). "WiFi" is used in place of
802.11b in the same way that "Ethernet" is used in place of IEEE 802.3. Products
certified as WiFi by WECA are interoperable with each other even if they are from
different manufacturers. A user with a WiFi product can use any brand of access
point with any other brand of client hardware that is built to the WiFi standard.
Contrary to popular belief, “WiFi” does not stand for “wireless fidelity.” WECA
chose the term WiFi as a catchy term similar to the term HiFi. Unlike HiFi,
however, WiFi has no parent phrase.
WLAN:
A Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) is one in which a mobile user can
connect to a LAN through a wireless (radio) connection. The IEEE standard, 802.11,
specifies the technologies for WLANs. The standard includes an encryption method, the
WEP algorithm.