Netgear FVS114NA FVS114 Reference Manual - Page 206

Reference Manual for the ProSafe VPN Firewall FVS114 gateway then forwards the packet directly to the computer whose address is specified. Because a message is divided into a number of packets, each packet can, if necessary, be sent by a different route across the Internet. Packets can arrive in a different order than they were sent. The Internet Protocol just delivers them. It's up to another protocol, the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) to put them back in the right order. IP is a connectionless protocol, which means that there is no continuing connection between the end points that are communicating. Each packet that travels through the Internet is treated as an independent unit of data without any relation to any other unit of data. (The reason the packets do get put in the right order is because of TCP, the connection-oriented protocol that keeps track of the packet sequence in a message.) In the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) communication model, IP is in Layer 3, the Networking Layer. The most widely used version of IP today is IP version 4 (IPv4). However, IP version 6 (IPv6) is also beginning to be supported. IPv6 provides for much longer addresses and therefore for the possibility of many more Internet users. IPv6 includes the capabilities of IPv4 and any server that can support IPv6 packets can also support IPv4 packets. IP See "Internet Protocol" IP Address A four-byte number uniquely defining each host on the Internet, usually written in dotted-decimal notation with periods separating the bytes (for example, 134.177.244.57). Ranges of addresses are assigned by Internic, an organization formed for this purpose. ISP Internet service provider. L LAN See "Local Area Network" Local Area Network A communications network serving users within a limited area, such as one floor of a building. A LAN typically connects multiple personal computers and shared network devices such as storage and printers. Although many technologies exist to implement a LAN, Ethernet is the most common for connecting personal computers and is limited to a distance of 1,500 feet. LANs can be connected together, but if modems and telephones connect two or more LANs, the larger network constitutes what is called a WAN or Wide Area Network. 6 Glossary 202-10098-01, April 2005