Glossary
Network Administrator Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential network administrator terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key network administrator vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in network administrator training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Bandwidth
- The maximum data transfer rate.
- Change management
- A process for planning and approving changes to reduce risk.
- CIDR notation
- A way to express IP ranges, such as /24.
- DHCP
- Automatically assigns IP addresses.
- DNS
- Resolves names to IP addresses.
- Firewall
- Controls traffic based on security rules.
- IP address
- A unique network address for a device.
- LAN / WAN
- Local area network (one site) and wide area network (connecting sites).
- Latency
- Delay in network communication.
- OSI model
- A seven-layer model describing network communication.
- Router
- Directs traffic between networks.
- Subnet
- A segment of an IP network.
- Switch
- Connects devices within a network.
- VLAN
- Virtual LAN, logically separates network traffic.
- VPN
- An encrypted connection across untrusted networks.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Network Administrator practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Network Administrator training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.