Ruankao Information System Management Engineer (Intermediate) study materials
Ruankao Information System Management Engineer (Intermediate) study resources

Ruankao Information System Management Engineer (Intermediate) key terms

Ruankao Information System Management Engineer (Intermediate) · Get comfortable with the vocabulary.

Incident management

Coordinating the restoration of acceptable service after a disruption, while communicating status and managing relevant impacts. Complete root-cause investigation can continue separately through problem-management work.

Configuration item

A component or other managed element whose state and relationships are relevant to delivering a service. Accurate ownership, versions and dependencies support impact analysis and controlled change.

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)

A system that collects, aggregates, and analyzes log data from various sources to detect security incidents and support compliance reporting.

Related: Log Management, Incident Response
Incident Response

A structured approach to handling security incidents, typically including preparation, detection, containment, eradication, recovery, and lessons learned.

Related: Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), Business Continuity Plan
Server roles

Discrete functions installed on a server operating system, such as web, mail, file, or directory services. Separating roles limits attack surface, and each role needs its own ports, storage, and update plan.

Related: Virtualisation, Backup and recovery
Virtualisation

Running multiple isolated guest systems on shared physical hardware through a hypervisor, improving utilisation and enabling snapshots and live migration. It also changes network design, adding virtual switches and overlays.

Related: Server roles, VLAN
TLB miss

A failed lookup in the translation cache, requiring the processor’s defined translation procedure. It does not alone establish that the target virtual page is absent from physical memory.

Page fault

An architectural exception caused by an absent or disallowed page translation or access under the platform model. Handling depends on mapping, protection and residency rather than always reading a disk.

IPv4 addressing and subnetting

Dotted-decimal 32-bit addresses split into network and host parts by a prefix length or mask. Subnetting borrows host bits to create smaller networks, and correct mask and gateway planning is fundamental to routing design.

Related: CIDR, Default gateway
CIDR

Classless Inter-Domain Routing expresses prefixes as address plus length, such as 192.168.10.0/24, and allows route aggregation. It replaced fixed address classes and is the notation used throughout routing configuration.

Related: IPv4 addressing and subnetting, Longest prefix match
Default gateway

The router address a host uses when the destination is outside its own subnet. A wrong or missing gateway, or one on a different subnet, is a common cause of partial connectivity.

Related: IPv4 addressing and subnetting, Static route
ARP

Address Resolution Protocol maps a known IPv4 address to a link-layer MAC address by broadcasting a request and caching the reply. Stale or spoofed ARP entries cause intermittent loss or man-in-the-middle attacks.

Related: MAC address, ICMP
ICMP

Internet Control Message Protocol carries error and diagnostic messages between IP nodes, powering ping and traceroute. Many networks filter selected ICMP types, so blocked replies do not always mean a host is down.

Related: ARP, Traceroute
Traceroute

A diagnostic technique that sends packets with increasing time-to-live values and collects ICMP time-exceeded replies, revealing each router hop. It helps locate where paths diverge or where filtering begins.

Related: ICMP, TTL
TTL

Time To Live is an IPv4 header counter decremented at every router; reaching zero discards the packet and triggers an ICMP message. It limits looping packets and is exploited by traceroute.

Related: Traceroute, ICMP
Longest prefix match

The rule that a router chooses the most specific matching route when several entries fit a destination. It explains why a host route overrides a summary and why default routes are used only as a last resort.

Related: CIDR, Static route
Static route

A manually configured path to a destination network, with a next hop or outgoing interface. Simple and predictable in small networks, but it does not adapt to failures unless paired with tracking or dynamic routing.

Related: OSPF, Default gateway
OSPF

A link-state interior gateway protocol that floods link information, builds a common topology database, and computes shortest paths with Dijkstra's algorithm. Areas limit flooding, and neighbour adjacency requires matching parameters.

Related: RIP, BGP
RIP

A distance-vector interior protocol using hop count as its metric and periodic updates, with a maximum usable count of 15. Simple to configure but slow to converge, which limits it to small or lab environments.

Related: OSPF, Static route
BGP

The path-vector protocol that exchanges routes between autonomous systems on the Internet, selecting paths using attributes such as AS path and local preference. It scales by policy control rather than link-state flooding.

Related: OSPF, Autonomous system
Autonomous system

A group of networks under one administrative authority and routing policy, identified by an AS number. Interior protocols run inside it; exterior protocols such as BGP connect it to other autonomous systems.

Related: BGP, OSPF
NAT

Network Address Translation rewrites addresses and often ports as packets cross between private and public addressing realms. It conserves public IPv4 space but complicates inbound access and protocols carrying addresses in payloads.

Related: IPv6, IPv4 addressing and subnetting
IPv6

The 128-bit successor to IPv4 with a vastly larger address space, built-in neighbour discovery, and no broadcast. Transition techniques include dual stack and tunnelling, and prefix delegation is common on access links.

Related: NAT, ICMP
Fragmentation

Splitting an IP packet into smaller pieces so it fits a link's MTU, with reassembly at the destination. It adds overhead and risk of loss; IPv6 moves the decision to the source instead of routers.

Related: MTU, PDU
Encryption

The process of converting readable data into an encoded form that unauthorized people cannot easily understand. A key is used to encrypt and typically to decrypt the data.

Related: Authentication, Malware
Authentication

The process of verifying a user's or system's claimed identity, often through passwords, tokens, biometrics, or multi-factor methods. It answers whether the identity is genuine.

Related: Encryption, Malware
Phishing

A social-engineering attack that tricks people into revealing sensitive information or clicking malicious links by impersonating a trustworthy organization or person.

Related: Malware, Authentication
Malware

Software designed to harm, disrupt, or gain unauthorized access to a computer system. Examples include viruses, worms, ransomware, spyware, and trojan horses.

Related: Phishing, Encryption
Digital divide

The gap between people who have effective access to digital technologies and those who do not, often due to cost, location, skills, or infrastructure.

Related: Intellectual property
Intellectual property

Legal rights that protect creations of the mind, such as inventions, artistic works, software, and trademarks. These rights control use, copying, and distribution.

Related: Digital divide, Malware