Cisco CCST Networking Preparation Exam ( Guaranteed )

A hash function turns input of any size into a fixed-size fingerprint in a way that cannot be reversed, so that the fingerprint can verify data or store a password without holding the original.

A public key infrastructure is the system of certificates, certificate authorities and revocation mechanisms that lets a party verify which identity a public key belongs to before trusting it.

Authentication is the process of confirming that a user, device or service is who it claims to be, typically by checking something it knows, has or is.

IP addressing is the scheme that gives every interface on a network a numeric address, with IPv4's four-byte addresses now supplemented by IPv6's much larger space, and with private ranges reserved for use inside networks that reach the internet through translation.

Subnetting divides an address block into smaller networks by choosing how many leading bits identify the network, written as a prefix length or a subnet mask, so that each subnet has its own range of host addresses and its own routing entry.

Routing is how packets move between networks: each router holds a table of known destinations and the next hop toward each, learned by configuration or by a protocol, and forwards each packet to the most specific match.

DNS is the distributed lookup system that turns a hostname such as getting-digital.net into the IP address a browser can connect to, by walking a chain of nameservers whose answers are then cached for a lifetime the domain's owner publishes.

SSL/TLS is the protocol that encrypts the connection between a browser and a server and, by way of a certificate signed by a certificate authority, proves the server is entitled to answer for the domain in the address bar.

A domain name is an address in the internet's public namespace that you rent through a registrar for a yearly fee, and it remains yours only while the registrar account holding it stays paid up and under your own control.