Broadcast

How it is used

Used as a noun and an adjective: broadcast traffic, broadcast address, broadcast domain. DHCP and ARP rely on broadcasts. Engineers keep broadcast domains small with VLANs, because too many broadcasts, or a broadcast storm caused by a loop, can slow down or stop a LAN.

Example sentences

1. The loop caused a broadcast storm that took down the whole floor.

2. Each VLAN is its own broadcast domain, so broadcasts from the cameras don't reach the PCs.

Common collocations

• broadcast domain
• broadcast storm
• broadcast address
• broadcast traffic

Related terms

• ARPShort for Address Resolution Protocol: the protocol a device uses on a local network to find the MAC address that belongs to a known IPv4 address.
• DHCPShort for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol: a protocol that automatically gives devices an IP address, subnet mask, default gateway and DNS servers when they join a network.
• VLANShort for virtual LAN: a separate logical network created on a switch, so that devices plugged into the same hardware, for example staff PCs, guests and cameras, can be kept apart.
• spanning tree protocolA protocol that stops switches from forming loops by blocking extra paths between them, and opens a blocked path again if an active link fails.
• switchA device with many ports that connects computers, phones, printers and other equipment inside the same local network and forwards each frame only to the port where its destination is.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

• broadcast · Software Engineering
• broadcast · Journalism & Media

More terms: Network Fundamentals

• network
• LAN
• WAN
• packet
• port
• OSI model
• topology
• host