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Toggit's Encyclopedia of Networking Terms and Computer Dictionary.

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K See kilo-.

Search Alphabetical Listings for the letter 'K' K See kilo-. K56Flex A modem technology from Rockwell Semiconductor Systems and Lucent Technologies that provides up to 56Kbps downstream and up to 40Kbps upstream. Replaced by the V.90 standard. See also V.90; X2. Kb See kilobit. KB See kilobyte. Kbit See kilobit. Kbps See kilobits per second. Kbyte See kilobyte. KCC See Knowledge Consistency Checker. keep-alive signal A signal transmitted to maintain a communications circuit during periods of idleness and to prevent the circuit from timing out and terminating the connection. Kerberos A network security system developed as a part of Project Athena at MIT. Kerberos is used to authenticate a user who is asking for permission to use a particular network service. Kerberos can be used to control the initial connection to a server or to authenticate every single request between a client and the server. It grants tickets to a client to allow the use of a specific service and is secure even on a nonsecure network. Kerberos takes the following precautions: _ Passwords are never sent over the network unencrypted, making it impossible for network snoopers to capture passwords. _ All Kerberos messages are timestamped so that they cannot be captured and then replayed at a later time; Kerberos does not accept old messages. _ When you request access to a service, to access a file server, for example, Kerberos gives you a “ticket” that is valid for access to the file server but not valid for any other service. When you try to connect to the server, you send your ticket with the request. Once the server knows who you are, the server decides whether to grant you access. Tickets also expire, and if your session lasts longer than the predefined limit, you will have to reauthenticate yourself to Kerberos to get a new ticket. Kerberos is named after the three-headed dog Cerberus, who guards the gates of the underworld in Greek mythology. See also authentication; certificate; digital signature. Kerberos Distribution Center Abbreviated KDC. In Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, a Kerberos function that runs on every domain controller and controls the distribution of Kerberos keys and tickets. See also Kerberos. KDC See Kerberos Distribution Center.   kilo- Kermit A file-transfer protocol developed at Columbia University and placed in the public domain that is used to transfer files between PCs and mainframe computers over standard telephone lines. Data is transmitted in variable-length blocks up to 96 characters in length, and each block is checked for transmission errors. Kermit detects transmission errors and initiates repeat transmissions automatically. See also Xmodem; Ymodem; Zmodem. kernel The fundamental part of an operating system. The kernel stays resident in memory at all times, often hidden from the user, and manages system memory, the file system, and disk operations. The kernel also runs processes and provides interprocess communications between those processes, including synchronizing events, scheduling, passing messages, managing input and output routines, and managing memory. See also Linux; Mach, microkernel, shell. key 1. An entry in the Microsoft Windows Registry that contains an element of configuration information. A key may also be empty and have no value set. 2. In encryption, a mechanism used to encode a message. 3. In a database system, a unique value used to identify data records. Also known as a primary key. See also public key encryption; sub-key. keyboard buffer A small amount of system memory used to store the most recently typed keys, also known as the type-ahead buffer. Some utilities or shells let you collect a number of keystrokes or commands and edit or reissue them. keyboard template A plastic card that fits over certain keys (usually the function keys) on the keyboard as a reminder of how to use them. These templates are specific to an application, and they can be a useful reminder for new or occasional users. key combination In menu-driven and graphical user interfaces, some menu commands can be executed by certain combinations of keystrokes, also known as shortcut keystrokes. By using key combinations, users can bypass the menus and so speed up operations. keypass attack See brute-force attack. keyspace attack See brute-force attack. key redefinition The ability of an application to assign different functions to specific keys. keystroke The action of pressing and then releasing a key on the keyboard to initiate some action or enter a character. keyword Any of the words, sometimes known as reserved words, that make up the vocabulary of a particular programming language or set of operating system commands and utilities. kilo- A prefix indicating 1000 in the metric system. Because computing is based on powers of 2, kilo usually means 2 10 , or 1024. To differentiate between these two uses, a lowercase k is used to indicate 1000   kilobaud (as in kHz), and an uppercase K is used to indicate 1024 (as in KB). See also mega-. kilobaud One thousand baud. A unit of measurement of the transmission capacity of a communications channel. See also baud. kilobit Abbreviated Kb or Kbit. 1024 bits (binary digits). See also gigabit; megabit. kilobits per second Abbreviated Kbps. The number of bits, or binary digits, transmitted every second, measured in multiples of 1024 bits per second. Used as an indicator of communications transmission rates. See also megabits per second. kilobyte Abbreviated K, KB, or Kbyte. 1024 bytes. See also exabyte; gigabyte; megabyte; petabyte; terabyte. kluge Pronounced “klooj.” A program that doesn’t work as well as it should, is not carefully designed, and is not well written. A kluge may also be a program that works, but for all the wrong reasons, or only under very specific, highly unrealistic conditions. See also hack. Knowledge Consistency Checker Abbreviated KCC. In Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, an Active Directory function that monitors and configures replication connection objects between domain controllers. Korn shell An upward-compatible extension to the original Unix shell, written by David Korn and released as part of System V. The Korn shell is now the default shell on many Unix systems, particularly those based on System V, including UnixWare and many others. Because the Korn shell is an extension of the Bourne shell, everything that works in the Bourne shell also works in the Korn shell. The Korn shell also adds the following: _ Interactive editing of the command line with either vi or emacs _ Better function definitions providing local variables and the ability to create recursive functions _ Extensive pattern matching for filenames, similar to regular expressions Several features were adapted from the C shell, including: _ Command history allowing retrieval and reuse of previous commands _ Job control and the mechanism for moving jobs between the background and the foreground _ Aliases for abbreviated command names _ The tilde (~) used as a shorthand for the name of the home directory See also Bash shell; Bourne shell; C shell; Unix shell.   LAN Emulation L