Network Protocol Terminologies Part 1

LAN: LAN stands for “Local Area Network” and refers to a network that is not publicly accessible by the internet. Examples of this are home or office network.

WAN: WAN stands for “Wide Area Network” and generally refers to large dispersed networks and, more broadly, the internet.

ISP: ISP stands for “Internet Service Provider” and refers to the company responsible for providing you access to the internet.

NAT: Network Address Translation allows requests from outside your local network to be mapped to devices within your local network.

Firewall: A firewall is a piece of hardware or software that enforces what type of network traffic is and is not allowed. This is generally done by establishing rules for which ports should be externally accessible.