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Develop
Your Host Vocabulary
Understanding all the terms associated with web hosting can be a difficult
task. Here at TheHostingStop.com, we strive to provide the most educational
resources. This dictionary has been designed to help webmasters of
all levels of education. |
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-Choose a letter for quick results-
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| A |
| ADO: (ActiveX Data Objects)
A component object model designed for accessing various data sources.
ActiveX Data Objects facilitate the communication between specific
programming languages and data sources. A Windows based technology
that can be utilized with most Windows web hosting plans. |
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| Anonymous FTP: An FTP
option that allows users to download files without having to establish
and account. |
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| Apache: Open source web
server software. |
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| Applet: A Java application
that can be embedded onto a website page. The applets are generaly
used for showing statistics, graphs, or news tickers. |
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| Asp Hosting: Web hosting
that supports Active Server Pages (a server-side scripting environment
from Microsoft). |
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| AUP: (Acceptable Use Policy)
A document that defines the non-appropriate and appropriate uses for
specific web hosting services. |
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| Autoresponder: A program
that sends a designed, automatic, response to incoming emails. |
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| B |
| Backbone Network: A network
connecting different networks to each another. |
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| Bandwidth: The amount
of data that can be transmitted, in a time period, through a individual
communications channel. Recorded as kilobits per second (kbps). |
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| Browser: A software program
used to surf the Internet. Examples of browser software programs are;
Internet Explorer, Netscape, Opera and Firefox. |
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| Burstable Bandwidth: A
domain hosting option that allows web sites to use the networks full
capacity to handle periods of peak usage. |
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| Business Hosting: Web
hosting developed to provide the essential functions demanded by business-class
customers. |
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| C |
| Catch-All: An email address
that is setup to receive any email sent to email addresses that are
no longer available on the same domain. |
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| CGI: (Common Gateway Interface)
A server-side communication standard supported by most web servers.
It allows for access to external programs from another web page. Ready-made
CGI scripts are offered by most host providers. |
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| CGI-BIN: The standard
name for a directory where CGI scripts and programs are stored. BIN
stands for binary. |
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| CMS: (Content Management
System) A software application designed to store, manage and present
data. This system uses database repositories to store data. Data gets
presented to the end user, using server-side scripting & programming. |
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| Cold Fusion Hosting: Web
hosting that supports ColdFusion, a web application language designed
by Allaire & currently owned by Macromedia. |
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| Co-Located Hosting: Best
described as a client housing their web server at another company's
location for Internet connectivity. |
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| CPanel: The standard control
panel for Linux & UNIX operating systems. CPanel is a web based, easy-to-use,
web hosting administration tool. |
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| D |
| Database: Used to describe
the collection of data and the software tool used to manage this data.
All databases use a common programming language called SQL (Structured
Query Language), for managing connecting data. |
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| Data Transfer: The total
amount of outbound traffic from a web domain. Generally referred to
in terms of GB (GigaBytes) |
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| Dedicated Hosting: Web
hosting service where the host provides an entire server to an individual
or company. The host is responsible for maintaining equipment. |
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| Dedicated IP: An individual
IP address dedicated to a single website. |
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| Disk Space: The total
amount of hard drive space on a server, designated for a single web
site. |
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| DNS: (Domain Name System),
a common directory used to translate between IP addresses and domain
names. |
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| Domain Name: The name
that distinguishes a specific web site. A name that can only be used
by one person or company. |
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| Domain Parking: A nameserver
for domains that have not obtained hosting. A temp position until
hosting is established. |
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| Domain Transfer: The act
of transferring a domain name from one domain register to another. |
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| E |
| Ecommerce Hosting: A hosting
package option that provides merchants the ability to accept product
or services orders online. |
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| Email Forwarding: Will
automatically send e-mail messages from one e-mail address to another
e-mail address. |
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| Email Hosting: Web host
plan that allows users to store & send email messages. |
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| Ensim: A company that
offers hosting control panels for both Windows & Linux. |
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| F |
| Firewall: A security system
that protects from unauthorized access to a network. |
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| Free Web Hosting: Basic
web hosting that is offered at no cost. |
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| FrontPage: User-friendly
software for publishing and developing web pages. Developed by Microsoft
and uses a WYSIWYG web editor. The editor allows clients to preview
the page that is being worked. |
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| FrontPage Extensions:
A set of server add-on scripts and programs that will enable the special
functions of Microsoft FrontPage. |
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| FrontPage Hosting: A hosting
package that supports FrontPage, a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You
Get) website building tool from Microsoft. |
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| FTP: (File Transfer Protocol)
A protocol used to transfer files over the Internet. |
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| G |
| Gateway: This is a network
node. It is used for communication between networks that use different
network protocols. |
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| GBPS: (Gigabits Per Second)
A measurement of data transmission speed. GBPS is equivalent to billions
of bits per second. |
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| GIF: (Graphic Image Format) A format
used for images. Has a limitation of 256 colors. |
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| Gigabyte: A digital data
measurement. One Gigabyte is equivalent to 1024 Megabytes or 1,073,741,824
Bytes. |
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| Gopher: A menu-based system
for browsing Internet resources. |
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| H |
| High Bandwidth Hosting:
Web hosting that provides the capacity to handle above average traffic
volumes. |
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| Hosting: Data
storage and data connectivity to a web site. This is the act
of getting a website online. |
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| HTML: (HyperText Markup
Language) HTML is a language used to design hypertext documents that
are not dependent on a platform.. |
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| HTTP: (HyperText Transfer
Protocol) The primary protocol used when transmitting files over the
Internet. |
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| I |
| IIS: (Internet Information
Services) Microsoft web server software. |
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| IP Address: (Internet
Protocol) Address, a number used to identify a computer or hardware
on the internet or internal network. |
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| ISP: (Internet Service
Provider) Provides access to the Internet and numerous web services
for individuals and businesses. This service is offered as a dial-up,
Cable Internet or DSL connection service. |
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| J |
| Java: A classic object-oriented
programming language developed by Sun Microsystems. Language for creating
network applications and applets. |
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| JavaScript: This script
interacts with HTML source code, allowing for dynamic interactive
content. JavaScript IS NOT connected to the Java programming language.
All up-to-date browsers support JavaScript. |
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| JPEG: (Joint Photographic
Experts Group), is a file format that is designed for compressing
full color images. Higher quality compared to GIF full-color images. |
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| K |
| KBPS: (Kilobits Per Second)
A measurement of data transmission speed. KBPS is equivalent to thousands
of bits per second. |
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| Kilobyte: A digital data
measurement. One Kilobyte is equivalent to 1024 Bytes. |
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| L |
| Linux Hosting: Web hosting
that supports Linux platforms, an open source operating system that
is derived from Unix. |
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| Load Balancing: Seperating
the load of a single web site or service over several web servers.
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| Log Analyzer: A program
that takes the raw log file data and summarizes it into easily-to-understand
reports. |
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| Log File: A file that
keeps records of the activity on a individual web server. |
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| M |
| Multi-Domain Plan: A hosting
option that allows multiple domain names to share the resources of
a single hosting account. |
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| MBPS: (Megabits Per Second)
A measurement of the data transmission speed. MBPS is equivalent to
millions of bits per second. |
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| Megabyte: A digital data
measurement. One Megabyte is equivalent to 1024 Kilobytes or 1,048,576
Bytes. |
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| MIME: (Multipurpose Internet
Mail Extensions) A protocol for allowing e-mail messages to hold multiple
types of data. e.g simple text, audio, video & images. |
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| MySQL: An open source
database management system. Available on multiple platforms; Windows,
Linux , UNIX, and Mac. MySQL offers both free and paid variations.
Considered a low cost system, and offered by most hosting providers. |
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| N |
| Name Server:
Server software used to translate domain names into IP addresses. |
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| .NET Hosting: (dot net)
Web domain hosting that works with .NET, an application framework
by Microsoft. |
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| NIC Handle: (Network Information
Centre) A unique alphanumeric character string representing an entry
in the databases maintained by Network Information Centers. When a
new domain name is registered with a registrar, a NIC handle is assigned
by the registrar. They set the data related to the domain name. |
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| Node: Any individual computer
or digital tool connected to a network. |
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| O |
| OC1: A Fiber Optic Connection
with the ability to transfer data at 51.85 Mbps. |
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| OC3: A Fiber Optic Connection
with the ability to transfer data at 155.52 Mbps. |
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| OC12: A Fiber Optic Connection
with the ability to transfer data 622.08 Mbps. |
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| OC24: A Fiber Optic Connection
with the ability to transfer data at 1.244 Gbps. |
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| OC48: A Fiber Optic Connection
with the ability to transfer data at 2.488 Gbps. |
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| OC192: A Fiber Optic Connection
with the ability to transfer data at 9.952 Gbps. |
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| ODBC: (Object Database
Connectivity) A standard API for accessing a database from specific
computer programs. |
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| P |
| Perl: (Practical Extraction
and Report Language) Designed for text processing and uses a very
advanced text-processing format. Known for a powerful regular expression
engine, and for writing CGI scripts. Mainly used for developing dynamic
web sites, and domains with a database backend. |
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| PHP Hosting: Website hosting
that supports PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor), an open source server-side
scripting language. |
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| Primary Name Server: The
server that houses all the authoritative information regarding the
domain & IP address. |
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| R |
| Raw Logs: Records the
line-by-line activity of a server. It does not summerize the activity.
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| Reseller Hosting: When
a company selling hosting to consumers uses the datacenter and equipment
from another provider company. |
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| Resolve: Matching a domain
name with its IP address. The DNS servers convert domain names to
IP addresses. |
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| Root: Root directory of
a file system or the top of the Domain Name System hierarchy. Root
is also a UNIX client account |
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| S |
| Secondary Server: A backup
server in case of possible problems with the primary servers |
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| Second Level Domain: The
next level in the DNS hierarchy under the top-level web domains. |
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| Setup Fee: The fee issued
by a host providers to cover the cost of setting up a customers domain
online. This is usually a one-time fee only. |
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| Shared Hosting: Hosting
that places several client websites on a single server. Multiple web
domains sharing server space to save on cost. |
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| Shared IP: An IP address
shared by multiple website domains. |
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| Shopping Cart: Internet
software used to make a web site's product catalogue available for
online ordering. Needed to sell goods and services online. |
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| Site Monitoring: A service
that regularly checks a web site, and alerts the administrator when
problems arise. |
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| SQL: (Structured Query
Language) SQL is a relational database query language. It was designed
for creating, managing, querying, and updating RDBMS. SQL is standards
for ANSI and ISO. |
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| SQL Hosting: A host service
that allows websites the ability to have a database backend. It is
offered on both Windows and Linux. SQL hosting provides the ability
to use various databases and flexibility for web developers to created
top end, well structured websites. |
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| SSI: (Server Side Include)
Most often utilized when data is common on multiple pages. They have
specific syntax that tell the web server to generate specific data,
when added to a website page. |
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| SSL: (Secured Sockets
Layer) A protocol that allows encrypted, authenticated communication
over the Internet. |
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| T |
| T1: A transmission line
with the ability to transfer data at 1.544 Mbps. |
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| T3: A transmission line
with the ability to transfer data at 44.746 Mbps. |
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| Template: A pre-developed
part of a webpage that is used as a blueprint for the entire website.
A set outline of images, text space and other editable tables. |
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| Terabyte: A digital measurement
of data units. A SingleTerabyte is the equivalent of 1,024 Gigabytes
or 1,099,511,627,776 Bytes. |
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| U |
| Unix Hosting: Domain web
hosting that supports Unix platforms. |
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| Unlimited Bandwidth: A
marketing term that offers users a hosting plan that will not charge
for extra fees on very high levels of data transfer. Read the fine
print! |
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| UPS: (Uninterruptible
Power Source) This source is used as a back-up power source for web
host servers and PC networks. Secures uninterupted services through
municiple power outages. |
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| Uptime Guarantee: The
assurance from a hosting provider, that the host company's uptime
will meet the agreed-upon percentage. |
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| URL: (Uniform Resource
Locator) The standard identifying address for locating specific websites,
webpages, or other documents online. |
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| V |
| VBScript: (Visual Basic
Scripting) A sub-set of Visual Basic programming language.This script
can be embedded onto web pages and can be used for client-side scripting
on Internet Explorer. It can also be executed on the Web Server IIS,
using ASP applications and ASP pages. |
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| VPN: (Virtual Private
Network) Allows for the secure transmission of data over a public
TCP or IP network by encrypting all the traffic between different
networks. This network uses tunneling protocols to encrypt IP level
information. |
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| W |
| WAN: (Wide Area Network)
A PC network covering a sizable geographical area. The largest WAN
is the Internet. |
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| Web Hosting: The online
service of providing the storage, connectivity, and services necessary
for websites to be placed online. |
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| Web Hosting Control Panel:
( Backend ) A web interface provided by most hosting companies that
allows customers to administer their account. |
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| Web Mail: Email that is
accessed through a web browser. |
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| Web Server: A large scale
computer that stores and delivers web pages when requested by the
web browsers of client computers. |
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| Whois: Acentralized database
tracking all domain names and IP registrations. |
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| Windows Hosting: Domain
web hosting that supports windows platforms. |
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| WWW: (World Wide Web)
A collection of information on PC's and data servers located anywhere
around the world, connected by links. |
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| WYSIWYG: (What You See
Is What You Get) Editor software with graphical interface. This software
will show what the document will look like when displayed with the
proper viewer. |
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| X |
| XHTML: (Extensible HyperText
Markup Language) The XHTML documents are XML based. This is an extension
of HTML 4. |
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| XML: (Extensible Markup
Language) A document file format that represents structured information.
It contains both content and information about how to interpret the
content. |
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| Z |
| Zone File: A reference
to a DNS entry. These files contain all the IP address, mail server
address, and sub-domain data about a single domain. |
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