R

Rate Adaption The conversion of non-ISDN data traffic to a format compatible with ISDN 64-Kbps transmission.

RBCS Remote Boot and Configuration Service

RBOC RBOC stands for Regional Bell Operating Company. The companies (the Baby Bells) are the seven regional telephone companies that were spun off as part of the AT&T divestiture in 1984. Examples of a RBOC are Bell Atlantic, Bell Northern, Pacific Bell, US West, Nynex.

Redirector Software that intercepts requests for resources within a computer and analyzes them for remote access requirements.

Remote bridge Bridge that connects physically dissimilar network segments across WAN links.

Remote Networking Extending the logical boundaries of a corporate LAN over wide-area links to give remote offices, telecommuters, and mobile users access to critical information and resources.

Remote Office Internetworking Connecting LAN-based remote offices to the corporate LAN.

Remote User A telecommuter, individual contractor, business traveler, or nomadic user who needs client access to a corporate enterprise LAN over dial-up WAN links.

Repeater Device that connects 802.3 network cable segments. Regeneration and retiming ensure that the signal is clearly transmitted through all segments. (The functionality is defined in detail in the IEEE 802.3 specification.)

Reverse ARP Reverse Address Resolution Protocol

RFC Request For Comments from the IETF

RFC 822 The document containing the original specification for the format of Internet email messages.

RHA Resilient Home Architecture (3Com)

RIF Routing Information Field

Ring latency Time required for a signal to propagate once around a ring in a Token Ring or IEEE 802.5 network.

Ring Topology Network topology in which a series of repeaters are connected to one another by unidirectional ransmission links to form a single closed loop. Each station on the network connects to the network at a repeater.

RIP (Routing Information Protocol) A routing protocol for TCP/IP networks.

RISC Reduced Instruction Set Computing

RMON (Remote Monitoring) Subset of SNMP MIB II allows flexible and comprehensive monitoring and management capabilities by addressing up to 10 different groups of information.

Root bridge Appointed by the spanning tree and used to determine which managed bridges to block in the spanning tree topology.

Router Protocol-dependent device that connects subnetworks together. It is useful in breaking down a very large network into smaller subnetworks. Routers introduce longer delays and typically have much lower throughput rates than bridges.

Routing The selection of a communicatinos path for the transmission of information from source to destination.

Routing bridge MAC-layer bridge that uses network layer methods to determine a network's topology.

Routing Protocol Protocol that accomplishes routing through the implementation of a specific routing algorithm.

Routing Table Table stored in a router or some other internetworking device that keeps track of routes (and, in some cased, metrics associated with those routes) to particular network destinations.

Routing Update Message sent from a router to indicate network reachability and associated cost information. Routing updates are typically sent at regular intervals and after a change in network topology.

RPC Remote Procedure Call

RPL Remote Program Load

RPS Redundant Power System (3Com)

RTFM Read The Fine Manual. Though often the "F" is taken to mean something more obscene. RTFM.MIT.EDU is an anonymous ftp site that maintains a copy of almost every FAQ produced.