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Network Ethernet and IP Basics

10BaseT - The "10" in the media type designation refers to the transmission speed of 10 million bits per second (Mbit/s). The "Base" refers to baseband signaling indicating the signals are transmitted at their original frequency (there are no communication tricks like modulation performed). Finally, the "T" represents twisted-pair cabling.

100BaseTX ’Äì Like 10BaseT, the "100" refers to the transmission speed of 100 million bits per second (Mbit/s), the "Base" refers to baseband signaling, and the "TX" represents twisted-pair cabling. The X was added to distinguish this Fast Ethernet from other less prevalent standards (e.g., T4, SX, and BX).

ARP ’Äì (Address Resolution Protocol) The portion of Internet Protocol that resolves the logical IP address to the physical network’Äôs MAC addresses.

Cat5e ’ÄìCategory 5 Enhanced cable is 8 conductor cable (4 pairs) suitable for networks up to 1000BaseT (Gigabit Ethernet) for distances up to 100m (328 ft).

Class A Networks - A very large network which can have almost 17 million devices connected. For private user networks, the first octet is reserved as a 10 and addresses can vary from 10.0.0.0 through 10.255.255.255 (10/8 prefix).

Class B Networks - A fairly large network which can have over 1 million devices connected. For private user networks, the first octet is reserved as 172 while the second octet can vary from 16 through 31. Addresses can vary from 172.16.0.0 through 172.31.255.255 (172.16/12 prefix).

Class C Networks ’Äì A typical medium sized network which can have over 65,000 devices connected. For private user networks, the first octet is reserved as 192 while the second octet is reserved as 168. Addresses can vary from 192.168.0.0 through 192.168.255.255 (192.168/16 prefix). Typically, standalone drive.web networks will be Class C types.

DHCP ’Äì (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) On most networks, there is a DHCP Server that automatically assigns IP addresses when requested by user’Äôs computers to join the network. A possible negative side effect of dynamically assigning IP addresses is that devices may have different IP addresses from one session to another. The drive.web technology uses static IP addresses to facilitate peer-to-peer connections between drive.web-ready devices.

drive.web ’Äì The technology developed by Bardac Corporation for real-time control of motor controllers and industrial machinery. The physical transmission media is 10BaseT or 100BaseTX Ethernet while the drive.web protocol ensures timely delivery of data between peers on the network.

Ethernet ’Äì The wiring and signal standards associated with the physical media for creating the most popular type of local area network (LAN). Ethernet hardware complies with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Standard 802.3. Rather than using proprietary hardware, the drive.web technology uses standard Ethernet hardware as the physical media.

Firewalls ’Äì Firewalls provide protection to LAN’Äôs from attacks originating on a WAN (such as the Internet). A firewall can be implemented in either hardware or software (or both), and by default, typically blocks ports and protocols which the drive.web technology uses for communications. You may have to grant access to these ports and protocols, refer to the forum at http://www.driveweb.com/ for details.

ICMP - (Internet Control Message Protocol) The portion of Internet Protocol which reports problems and other network specific information. The ping command uses this protocol.

IP Address ’Äì An Internet Protocol (IP) Address in the form of #.#.#.# where each # is an octet. For example, and IP Address of 192.168.1.20 is referred to as one-ninety-two DOT one-sixty-eight DOT one DOT twenty.

The IP Address is a logical address to the hardware and can be changed using the drive.web savvy software tools.

LAN ’Äì A local area network is a data network very limited in the geographical area it serves. A few square kilometers at most.

MAC Address - (Media Access Control) Each device on an Ethernet device has a peculiar physical address in the form of ##:##:##:##:##:## (where each ## field is two hexadecimal digits 0-f (base 16)). Any drive.web-ready device manufactured by Bardac Drives will have MAC addresses in the form 00:04:bb:##:##:## which is also the drive.web serial number.

Multihoming - A technique used to increase the reliability of the Internet which includes having multiple IP addresses for the same Network Interface Card (single link, multiple IP addresses).

Octet -An eight bit number in the range 0 to 255.

Port 48556 - (0xbdac) Bardac Corporation’Äôs registered port (com-bardac-dw) with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). This port may have to be opened in your firewall to allow the savvy tools to work properly.

8P8C/RJ-45 ’Äì The modular connector with eight positions, eight conductors (8P8C) used to terminate both ends of a typical Cat5e cable. The RJ-45 (Registered Jack-45) misnomer is a holdover from an older telcom connector with the same form factor but a different pin out. The male connector is similar to, but slightly larger, than standard modular phone line connector.

Subnet Mask ’Äì When used in conjunction with the IP address, limits the addresses which are logically considered to be on the same network. The subnet mask allows users to logically divide a range of IP addresses into multiple standalone networks.

Switched Hubs ’Äì Ethernet hubs are devices which allow the user to build a network using standard cables. In general, hubs have no intelligence and simply maintain the required wiring configuration to keep the network valid. In addition to maintaining the proper electrical connections, switched hubs have inherent intelligence to route data between its ports without affecting transmission on other ports effectively increasing the available bandwidth of the network.

Another benefit of using switched hubs is their filtering ability. Network traffic not destined to the devices connected to its ports is not transmitted to its local ports thereby preventing unnecessary traffic on local network. A properly designed drive.web system uses switched hubs to ensure timely delivery of data between peer devices.

To ensure reliable performance, switched hubs MUST be used.

savvy ’Äì The software tools designed and supported by Bardac Corporation to configure, design, and monitor drive.web systems.

UDP/IP - (User Datagram Protocol) The portion of Internet Protocol that allows users to send packets of data very fast, but provides no error checking or resending of data (is handled by the drive.web protocol). Used by drive.web-ready devices to send packets of data at the rate specified by the user.