Below are a few important terms we need to know in networking:
Network: A set of computers or devices connected together with a communication path to share data.
Networking: The design and construction of a network are termed as networking.
Link: The physical medium or the communication path through which the devices are connected in a network is called a Link.
Node: The devices or the computers connected to the links are named as nodes.
Router/Gateway: A device/computer/node that is connected to different networks is termed as a Gateway or Router. The basic difference between these two is that Gateway is used to control the traffic of two contradictory networks whereas the router controls the traffic of similar networks.
The router is a switch that processes the signal/traffic using routing protocols.
Multicasting: Sending one copy of data from a single sender to multiple clients or receivers (selected clients) of the networks which are in need of such data.
Protocol: A set of instructions or rules or guidelines that are used in establishing communications between computers of a network is called Protocol.
Unicasting: When a piece of information or a packet is sent from a particular source to a specified destination then it is called Unicasting.
Anycasting: Sending the datagrams from a source to the nearest device among the group of servers that provide the same service as the source is termed as Anycasting.
Broadcasting: Sending a packet to each device of the network is termed as broadcasting.
