B
Backups
This is vital for disaster recovery, and should be performed regularly.Hard disks to a safe external resource, such as another server or a tape backup system.
Bandwidth
This is the “speed limit” of a particular data pipeline, Different types of data connections, such as T1s and OC48s, support different amounts of bandwidth. The greater the amount of bandwidth available, the more data can be moved across the connection per time frame, generally measured in seconds.
Billing Cycle
This is the period for which payment of services is made.If you were to pay for 1 year of hosting, on a recurring basis, then you have a billing cycle of 1 year.
Blog
This is common parlance for weblog, these website whereby an individual may post journal entries which are then viewable by visitors to the site, ordered from the most recent to the eldest entries.
Browser
This is kind of client software with which a user can access resources on the internet. Although all browsers perform the same basic functions, additional capabilities vary widely from browser to browser. The most common browsers in use today are Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Netscape, Mozilla’s FireFox, and the much respected Opera.
Business Hosting
Business hosting provides for a range of features and a level of performance and reliability that is suitable for commercial websites.
C
CGI (Common Gateway Interface)
This enables the passage of data between a web server and a CGI program, permitting HTML pages other applications to interact, and perform functions that HTML is incapable of on its own.
Chat
Chat rooms, using nicknames to identify themselves. These have waned in popularity over the years, This generally refers to a service on the internet wherein people may communicate in real-time
CMS (Content Management System)
This is a kind of web application.These are also known as “portals” and are database-driven applications usually developed in PHP or ASP. Popular examples of these are Joomla, Drupal, e107, PHPNuke, and Movable Type.
Cold Fusion Hosting
Web hosting supports the parsing of Cold Fusion code, a server side scripting language originally developed by Allaire.
Colocated Hosting
This is similar to dedicated hosting, except that instead of leasing the server as well as space in the facility. Colocation is the practice of leasing space at a facility which provides connectivity and security
Cookie
This is a tool used to store important information about a client for a web server. An example of this might be a weather site. If provide your zip code so as to see the weather in your area, the web server might place a cookie in your browser with this information stored in it, and when you visit the weather site again, the server will attempt to access the cookie.
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)
Cascading style sheets are essential repositories of directives which work in the absence of explicitly coded html variables.For example, if you have a CSS file that specifies that all H1 tags adopt a particular font, color, size, etc., any use of the H1 tag will adopt these settings from the CSS file.This makes site-wide changes to, say, text color, very simple to implement.
D
Data Center
Data center are tooled specifically for the purpose of housing equipment that must maintain high-bandwidth connectivity to the internet, and experience a minimum of downtime for such reasons as power failure network syems administrators are on hand to attend to any issues that might arise immediately.
Data Transfer
This is the sum of total data transferred through a particular account on a per-month basis. When a web page, or any form of data, is accessed with a browser, that data must be transferred to the visitor’s machine before it can be used or viewed in a browser. Data transfer is currently measured in megabytes or gigabytes, and in some cases terabytes, per month.
Database
This is a structured collection of information.. Databases come in a variety of flavors, such as MySQL, MS SQL, Access, and PostgreSQL.. In the web world, databases are used to drive online stores, search engines, bulletin boards, content management systems, and other dynamic web applications
Dedicated Hosting
A form of hosting whereby a customer leases a server from a dedicated hosting provider. This is the opposite of shared hosting, many times numbering in the hundreds, are hosted on a single server, but the server itself is completely under the control of a single customer. Multiple sites may be hosted on a dedicated server, however they choose to use it.
Dedicated IP
An IP address which is assigned to one specific resource, such as a website or home computer, which does not change, and which is not shared amongst multiple resources. Dedicated IPs are necessary for certain features, such as SSL, to function properly dedicated IPs in a shared hosting environment is considered a premium feature. Due to the finite number of IP addresses currently available
Disk Space
The amount of hard drive space on a server that is allotted to a particular hosting account, generally includes email storage ,database storage as well as web storage.
DNS (Domain Name System)
Analogous to a phone book, which resolves names to phone numbers. Correct DNS settings are necessary for services dependant on hostnames on the internet to function.DNS is a distributed directory system which allows for the resolution of hostnames/domain names to IP addresses.
Domain Name
Domain names consist of 2 distinct parts: the top level domain and the second level domain. Using domain.com as an example, the top level domain would be com, These are human-friendly alphanumeric addresses that are resolved to the IP address of the resource the domain name serves.
Domain Name Registration
Domain name registration occurs through what is called a registrar. Many hosting companies have the capacity to register domain names, sometimes the host themselves are a registrar, although this is quite rare. Registration is paid for in 1 year increments, in advance. Registration must be kept current by renewing the domain names prior to their expiration in order that the domain remains functional.
Domain Parking
Registered domain names must have at least 2 name servers provided for it at the time of registration.In these instances an individual will “park” the domain on a par of temporary nameservers, which serve as placeholders until real nameserver information is available to replace them with.
DoS (Denial of Service) Attack
This is the act of preventing access to a service by congesting, the data connections involved. These actions are considered computer crime, and are illegal.
Dream Weaver
This is the web development product created by Macromedia, and now owned by Adobe. Nothing special is needed to use Dream Weaver to build and publish websites. Dream Weaver is considered one of the best html editors on the market, and has become a popular development environment amongst webmasters.
E
Ecommerce Hosting
A hosting SSL support, database access, and often times even the shopping cart software is included in the hosting account’s feature set.
Email Client
This is an application which is specifically designed to access remote mail servers Popular examples of these are Microsoft Outlook, Thunderbird, and Eudora. Mail clients must be configured to access particular email accounts.
Email Forwarding
This is an email address that points to an email address elsewhere, For example, a forward setup as This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it might forward all mail sent to it to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . The forward will not store any mail, but will only forward received mail to the remote address.
Email Hosting
Although there are many companies who provide email hosting, independent of web hosting, the vast majority of users on the internet use email accounts provided by their ISP or web host provider. Given that virtually all web hosts provide email capabilities within their web hosting accounts.
F
Firewall
This is used to disallow unauthorized kinds of traffic, traffic from specific IP addresses, or any other such form of traffic. A security measure whereby all IP traffic can be managed in as much detail as is necessary.This can be thought of as a virtual security gate that controls all traffic into.
Flash
This is a multimedia format and application created by MacroMedia, now owned by Adobe. Flash allows a person to create highly functional and visually appealing web content. It is known to be rather difficult to learn, but its capabilities are impressive. It provides capabilities for audio, streaming,video and vector animations, and is able to communicate with PHP and with databases.
FrontPage
This is a web design and development application developed by Microsoft, and distributed as both a standalone application and as a component in Microsoft’s Office suite of applications, many of its functions require the presence of FrontPage Server Extensions on the web server. Although FrontPage can work just fine on its own as an HTML editor
FrontPage Hosting
A web hosting has FrontPage server extensions installed, allowing for the functionality of many of FrontPage’s advanced features. It’s an extension of standard hosting.
FrontPage Server Extensions
A suite of server add-ons which allow FrontPage to communicate with the web server in a manner necessary for the proprietary features of FrontPage to function. , but many of FrontPage’s features rely on them, such as FrontPage forms. These are not necessary in order to use FrontPage
FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
An acronym for File Transfer Protocol.This is distinct from, say HTTP, which is another protocol altogether. Although some browsers, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, have built in FTP capabilities, the most common, way to use FTP is by way of an FTP client, such as WS_FTP, CuteFTP, or even a command line.
G
Guestbook
This is a small web application which visitors to a site have the option to leave small notes, including some form of identification.
H
Hosting
The provision of infrastructure necessary to make services available to remote users.The term is commonly used this way. You can think of a mall, for instance, as a “store host.” This includes web hosting for websites, email hosting for email, database hosting for databases, and so forth. The term “hosting” does not solely refer to web hosting,
HTML (HyperText Markup Language)
This is the standard markup language used in web pages. HTML contains the text of a web page, as well as an extensive range of code which instructs the browser as to how the web page should be displayed, the background image to be used, tables, hyperlinks, and the like. HTTP (HyperText Transport Protocol) HTTP is the standard protocol used to transfer documents, particularly HTML documents. This is the protocol used to access and, thus view, web pages in your browser, for instance.
I
IIS (Internet Information Services)
IIS is Microsoft’s proprietary web server software, and is included with their Windows NT-based operating systems. It also provides FTP functionality, and an easy-to-use management console for administrators. It is free, and is required for the use of ASP code in a website
IMAP (currently Internet Message Access Protocol)
This is a remote mail box protocol, which is much more advanced than the much more common POP method of retrieving email.
IP Address
This is a numeric address which identifies a particular resource on an IP network such as the internet. The format of an IP address is xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx, with each xxx representing a number between 1 and 254, the decimal representations of the underlying 8-bit “octets.” It must have an IP address assigned to it, and no 2 devices can have the same publicly accessible IP address.
ISP (Internet Service Provider)
ISPs are entities who provide points of access to the internet. These may be universities, corporations, or any other entity. The means of connecting to an ISP include dial-up through a modem, broadband access via cable or DSL, or corporate networks with internet connectivity.
J
Java
Created by Sun Microsystems, this is a programming language similar to C and C++. It is platform-independent, small mini-programs that run within a web page client-side, or “servlets,” applications that run server-side and pass information to the browser through the web site.
JavaScript
This is a scripting language that draws influence from C programming language, and is commonly used to incorporate advanced client-side functionality into web pages, such as roll-over effects and animations forms.
L
Linux Hosting
Linux is an open-source operating system which is based on Unix, and is available in a wide variety of flavors commonly referred to as “distributions.” This is web hosting that is hosted on a Linux-based server.
Log Analyzer
An application which reviews the contents of log files, and arranges that data in a way that can be easily read and understood by humans. This usually involves graphs and charts to assist in making the information accusable, , what kind of browser they were using, and covers everything from when visitors came to a website the IP address they visited from, and so forth.
Log File
A text file in which entries are placed whenever any web server activity, such as a visitor to a web page, occurs.
M
MSSQL (MicroSoft Structured Query Language)
This is Microsoft’s SQL database system. It is a proprietary system, and must be run on a Windows platform. MS SQL is more commonly used in business and enterprise environments than on the internet.
Multi-Domain Hosting
A kind of hosting which allows multiple independent domains, pointing to separate web sites with completely separate file structures, to be hosted in one single hosting account. With better hosting companies, which is considered a prerequisite for “true” multi-domain hosting.
MySQL
This is a database management system, and is arguably the most commonly used database model on the internet. It is free, and has earned a reputation for performance.
N
NET Hosting (“dot net”)
Hosting in which sites build on .NET, an application framework developed by Microsoft, can function. which is necessary for ASP and .NET code to be processed. This generally means Windows hosting with IIS.
O
ODBC (Open Database Connectivity)
This is an API that allows the usage of SQL queries with data sources such as Access. It is necessary, for instance, to use an ODBC connection to communicate with an Access database from a website hosted on a Windows platform. It uses drivers for particular data sources to communicate and interact with them.
P
Payment Gateway
This is an application service provider which is comparable to a point of sale system, These involve the encryption of sensitive information like credit card information, and the handling of transactions between the issuing and acquiring banks involved. A payment gateway is essential to processing credit card payments through an online store.
PHP (Hypertext PreProcessor)
PHP is a server-side scripting language. Like ASP and Cold Fusion, its instructions are interpreted by the web server, which renders the output as HTML.PHP allows for dynamic sites capable of communicating with databases.
PHP Hosting
Virtually all hosting these days provides this capability. Web hosting capable of parsing PHP code.
POP (Post Office Protocol)
The current version is 3, and is sometimes referred to as POP3. This is the standard protocol used by mail clients to connect to and retrieve mail from mail servers.
PostgreSQL
This is a very powerful, database system which is free, and which is considered a free alternative to larger relational database systems like Oracle.
R
Raw Logs
Also known as server logs, these are records of web server activity and used for such purposes as troubleshooting.
Registrar
This is an entity which to sells manages domain name registrations, and renews. These are the ultimate agencies for domain registration, who are not, registrars , and are often assisted in their efforts by resellers and who lack many of the capabilities of the registrar itself.
Reseller Hosting
Customers are usually unaware that they are hosting through a reseller. This often involves rebranding, and relates more to the reseller/resold relationship than to the customer/reseller relationship This is a scenario whereby one entity sells hosting that resides in the infrastructure of another.
S
Server
A computer or piece of software which provides some sort of service to other computers. For example, a DHCP server is a server which provides dynamic IP addresses to client machines on request. The term “server” can be used to describe a wide range of functions, or services, that other machines depend on, even other servers.
Setup Fee
A one-time fee, usually charged in conjunction with the initial hosting fees.
Shared Hosting
A form of hosting wherein multiple clients, are all hosted on a single server. This is distinct from dedicated hosting, where multiple websites may be present, If dedicated hosting is like buying a mansion, shared hosting is like renting an apartment.
Shared IP
An IP address which is assigned to multiple resources (domain names). The web server is responsible for determining which resource (web site) assigned to that IP is being requested, Resources on a shared IP must be requested by URL, as this is what tells the web server which of the resources at that IP is being requested.
Shell Accounts
These are accounts which allow an individual to connect to a remote machine, by way of a Unix shell, a command line interface with which a user can run commands on the remote machine.
Shopping Cart
This is a kind of software which in conjunction with a database, allows products to be browsed and ordered online, and usually involves the implementation of a 3rd party payment gateway to complete credit card transactions, you will most likely use a shopping cart to facilitate this.
Site Monitoring
A service that monitors a web server on a regular basis, and alerts specified individuals of any problems that are encountered.
SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)
SMTP provides a standard for how the sending and receiving computers should interact.This is the protocol used to distribute electronic mail on the Internet.
SPAM
This is slang for junk email. These are emails that are sent to large numbers of recipients trying to sell them on everything from weight loss products to loans. Spam has become a big problem on the internet, and most ISPs and web hosts are constantly taking measures to reduce the amount of spam that is received by their customers.
SSH (Secure SHell)
This is secure shell access, a secure way of connecting a client machine and a server. It incorporates, authentication, and can be used for more than just shell access, encryption, and message authentication,
SSI (Server Side Includes)
These are blocks of code, usually HTML, and which can be called into a document, allowing for the centralization of commonly used code, such as for the header and footer used in all pages on a website.Especially for sites which reuse the came code amongst a number of different pages.
SSL (Secured Sockets Layer)
This requires the use of an SSL certificate, which is issued by a SSL authority, such as Verisign or Thawte. This is a protocol that provides for encryption and authentication of traffic between a web server and a client’s machine. This is a necessary tool whenever sensitive information, such as credit card information.
Streaming (Media)
Advanced streaming services offer options such as providing a media stream that is appropriate for the visitor’s bandwidth, providing a media stream to a large number of visitors at the same time, real-time content. Media streaming is a technique whereby a media file, is played back on a client’s machine while the file is being downloaded.
T
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol)
This is a suite of protocols used to facilitate services on an IP-based network, such as the internet.
U
UNIX
The most common operating system for servers on the Internet, and is available in a vast range of flavors, from the Linux family of operating systems to FreeBSD. A server-oriented multitasking and multi-user operating system, with a reputation for stability and versatility.
UNIX Hosting
Web hosting that is housed on a UNIX-based server, such as Linux or FreeBSD. This is easily the most popular and commonplace platform for web servers and web hosting, the primary alternative being Windows based hosting.
URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
The standard addressing format used for HTTP requests. URLs resolve the protocol to be used for the request, and the location on that host where the resource is located.
Unlimited Bandwidth
Technically, there is no such thing as “unlimited” bandwidth, and in practical terms simply indicates that there is not a hard limit on bandwidth usage. This is a policy wherein additional charges are not incurred on account of “excessive” bandwidth usage.
Uptime Guarantee
Uptime guarantees of 99.9% per month have become common. A guarantee that provides for compensation in the event that the up-time of a server does not meet a predefined percentage of time in a set time frame, usually on a per month basis.
V
VBScript
This is a scripting language based loosely on Visual Basic, and is developed by Microsoft. Its functionality in a web environment is dependent upon either an ASP engine or the Windows Scripting Host.
W
Web Hosting
This is the service whereby the infrastructure and connectivity necessary for a website to be available on the internet.
Web Hosting Control Panel
These control panels have become an indispensable tool for hosting customers, and are now offered by the vast majority of web hosts. A web interface that enables the management and control of one’s web hosting account.
Weblog
Also known informally as a “blog,” this is a kind of website or component within a website whereby an individual may post journal entries which are then viewable by visitors to the site.
Webmaster
Webmasters can be thought of as website administrators, as opposed to network and systems administrators, who handle the infrastructure behind the website. This is an individual who builds, publishes, maintains, and updates websites. Webmasters do not necessarily handle all of the processes involved in the creation and maintenance of a website.
Web Mail
This is commonly used to access mail when not at a computer setup to retrieve their email through an email client. This is a manner of accessing your POP mail by way of a web-based interface.
Web Server
This is a server which is setup to serve documents, usually built in HTML or server side scripting languages.This may refer either to the machine itself, such as IIS or Apache, that is running on the machine for this purpose.
Web Site
These are usually written in HTML, but commonly also use CSS, scripts, Flash, and other components that expand the capabilities of the site beyond that provided by HTML alone. This is a structured collection of documents and associated files which contain everything necessary to instruct a web browser on how to render a site and what content it contains.
Windows Hosting
Web hosting that is based on IIS, usually Windows NT or Advanced Server. Windows hosting is necessary for the functionality of ASP-based websites, and Windows hosting is generally more expensive than UNIX-based hosting on account of licensing costs associated with Windows.
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