Glossary of Web Hosting Terms

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- B -

Bandwidth

The amount of data that can be transmitted through a connection in a fixed amount of time. Bandwidth is usually measured in BPS (bits per second).

Bit

Binary DigIT -- A single digit number in base-2, in other words, either a 1 or a zero. The smallest unit of computerized data. Bandwidth is usually measured in bits-per-second.

BPS

Bits-Per-Second -- A measurement of how fast data is moved from one place to another. A 56k modem can move 56,000 bits per second.

Browser

Client software that is used to look at various kinds of Internet resources.  Examples include Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Netscape Navigator, and FireFox.

Byte

8 bits

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Catch-all Email Account

A type of email account designed to catch any email messages addressed to your domain (@yourdomain.com) but not addressed to an actual POP3 email account or   email alias. The account can also catch misspellings of your email address and redirect the email to your account. Every hosting plan comes with one catch-all account as well as a certain number of POP3 email accounts.

CGI

Common Gateway Interface -- A set of rules that describe how a Web Server communicates with another piece of software on the same machine, and how the other piece of software (the 'CGI program') talks to the web server. Any piece of software can be a CGI program if it handles input and output according to the CGI standard. Usually a CGI program is a small program that takes data from a web server and does something with it, like putting the content of a form into an e-mail message.

CGI Script

CGI scripts are just scripts which use CGI. Hit counters, guest books, order forms and many other useful features can all be programmed with CGI scripts.

CGI-bin

The most common name of a directory on a web server in which CGI programs are stored. The 'bin' part of 'cgi-bin' is a shorthand version of 'binary', because once upon a time, most programs were referred to as 'binaries'. Today most programs found in cgi-bin directories are text files -- scripts that are executed by binaries located elsewhere on the server. While most programs using CGI are stored in this directory, it is not a requirement for using CGI.

Client

A software program that is used to contact and obtain data from a server software program on another computer, often across a great distance. Each client program is designed to work with one or more specific kinds of server programs, and each server requires a specific kind of client. A web browser and an FTP program are specific kinds of clients. See Also: Browser, Server.

Co-located Hosting

This hosting option gives webmasters complete control over their server. You are   responsible for providing the physical hardware and network administration; the   hosting company will provide you with the rack space and Internet connection.

Content

Often referred to as 'web content'. By definition, content is the 'stuff' that makes up a web site. This could be words, pictures, images or sounds. In essence it is the "information" contained in a web site.

Cookie

A text file sent to a user's Web browser from a Web server. Cookies are typically exchanged back and forth between the two in order to prepare custom content for users, and to exchange data like registration information.

CSS

Cascading Style Sheet -- A simple mechanism for adding style (e.g. fonts, colors, spacing) to Web documents. Not all browsers (or specific versions) implement the full specification of CSS.

- D -

Data Transfer per Month

Your amount of information, allotted by your hosting plan, which can be uploaded and/or downloaded from your site each month.

Dedicated Hosting

A hosting feature that allows a Web site to have its own server. This is more flexible than shared hosting as webmasters typically have full control over the back end of the server, including choice of OS. Administration, however, is still handled by the hosting company.

Diesel Generator

A diesel-powered generator used by hosting companies as a back-up source to generate electricity in the event of a power outage.

Directory

A database edited manually by Humans. Sites are indexed by category making this feature the main difference to a Search Engine. Users can navigate through the categories to locate documents or information. Most directories offer searching options within its database.

DNS

Domain Name System -- the system responsible for translating domain names into numeric IP addresses. The DNS maintains a list of all the domain names and distributes them throughout the world. See also IP address.

Domain Name

A name (yoursite.com, for example) used to reference your web site's IP address. The domain name system was introduced as an easier way to navigate around the web. Domain Names are much easier for a user to remember (e.g.yourdomain.com) than a long IP address such as: 101.40.233.68.

Disk space

The amount of storage space, provided by your hosting plan, allowed for your website's files.

Domain Alias

A type of domain forwarding, domain aliases allow you to access the same page for many sites. This is useful when registering .com, .net, and .org domains at the same time. You only have to provide one account with hosting, and the other two will reference the same page, regardless of whether the user typed .com, .net, or .org.

Domainer

A speculator who buys domain names in the hope of reselling them at a profit.

Domain Name

The unique label that identifies a specific Web site, such as Web-Host-Watch.com.  Typically, domain names convey information about a site and are easier to remember than the associated numeric IP address. When a user types a domain name in a browser, the DNS locates the registered domain name and translates that into a numeric IP address.

Domain Parking

The practice of letting a registered domain sit until you have need for a site. Domain parking is useful for people who want to register their domain idea and make sure no one else gets it before they are ready to host a site.

Domain Name Registration

The process of registering a recognizable address by which users can find your site. Although the domain registration provides you with an address, you still need hosting in order to build a site.

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E-Commerce

Electronic Commerce -- transactions include the buying and selling of goods and services online.

Email

Electronic Mail -- messages, usually text, sent from one person to another via computer.

Email forwarding

Allows a user to consolidate email into one account for easy access. A typical forwarding account can forward mail received at you@yourdomain.com to an address at your ISP, or even your free email account through Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, etc.

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Flash

Web development tool created by Macromedia that enables you to provide dynamic content for your Web visitors, complete with the latest in streaming and audio technology.

Frames

An HTML technique for combining two or more separate HTML documents within a single web browser screen. A web site using frames often causes great problems for search engines, and may not be spidered and indexed correctly.

FrontPage

Microsoft web page design tool that provides users a What You See is What You Get (WYSIWYG) HTML editor, includes a ‘publish’ feature that enables users to transfer files to and from the Web server and supports advanced features such a guest books and hit counters.

FTP

File Transfer Protocol -- a method used to transfer files across the Internet. FTP is typically used to upload and download files between your own computer and the Web server hosting your site. FTP requires a valid user name and password.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions -- FAQs are documents that list and answer the most common questions on a particular subject.

Fire Wall

A combination of hardware and software that create an electronic blocking mechanism that will not allow unauthorized access to a computer system.

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Gigabyte

1024 Megabytes

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Hit

A single request from a web browser for an individual item from a web server; thus in order for a web browser to display a page that contains 3 graphics, 4 'hits' would occur at the server: 1 for the HTML page, and one for each of the 3 graphics.

Home Page (or Homepage)

The default starting page of a web site, usually named yourdomain.com/index.html

Hosting

A service by which a web site, domain name, or email is stored on a server and is accessible via the Internet.

HTML

HyperText Markup Language -- the coding language used to create documents for use on the World Wide Web. With HTML you can specify that a block of text, or a word, is linked to another file on the Internet. HTML files are meant to be viewed using a Client Program, such as Netscape, Internet Explorer, Mozilla, or FireFox.

HTTP

HyperText Transport Protocol -- The method for moving hypertext files across the Internet. Requires an HTTP client program on one end, and an HTTP server program on the other end. HTTP is the most important protocol used in the World Wide Web.

Hyperlink (or Link)

Words or phrases in the document that can be chosen by a reader and which cause another document to be retrieved and displayed.  ICANN is the organization responsible for certifying companies as domain name registrars.

- I -

IIS

Internet Information Server -- Microsoft's server software for Windows NT/2000/XP.

Image Map

An image that has several links geographically mapped onto it.

IP address

The unique number assigned to every computer linked to the Internet. Your ISP provider assigns you an IP address each time you connect to the Internet. The DNS converts your numeric address to your domain name.

Interactive

A Web page is said to be interactive when it prompts a response from the user or in some way can interact with the user dynamically (e.g. filling out a form).

Internet

(Upper case I) The vast collection of inter-connected networks that all use the TCP/IP protocols and that evolved from the ARPANET of the late 60's and early 70's.

internet

(Lower case i)  Any time you connect 2 or more networks together, you have an internet - as in inter-national or inter-state.

Intranet

A private network inside a company or organization that uses the same kinds of internet protocol, but that is only for internal use.

IP Number

Internet Protocol Number -- sometimes called a ‘dotted quad’. A unique number consisting of 4 parts separated by dots, e.g.128.116.220.2. Every machine that is on the Internet has a unique IP number.

IRC

Internet Relay Chat -- a popular text-base multi-user chat network.

ISDN

Integrated Services Digital Network -- a high-speed solution to moving data over phone lines. It can transfer data at approximately 128,000 bits per second over a standard land line.

ISP

Internet Service Provider -- an internet access provider. Examples include AOL, Earthlink, and MSN.

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Java

A network-oriented programming language invented by Sun Microsystems that is specifically designed for writing programs that can be safely downloaded to your computer through the Internet and immediately run without fear of viruses or other harm to your computer or files. Using small Java programs called 'Applets', Web pages can include functions such as animations, calculators, and other fancy tricks.

JavaScript

An object-based, client-side scripting language developed by Netscape. Embedded in the head section of a web document, it can produce interactivity to a web page dynamically.

JSP

Java Server Page -- a technology similar to ASP that enables you to embed small programs, called ‘servlets’, in your Web pages. These programs run on the Web server and modify the content of your pages before the page is sent to the user.

- K -

Kilobyte

One thousand bytes. (Actually, 1024 bytes).

- L -

LAN

Local Area Network -- a computer network limited to the immediate area, usually the same building or floor of a building.

Link (or Hyperlink)

Words or phrases in the document that can be chosen by a reader and which cause another document to be retrieved and displayed.

Load Balancing

Distributing data across a network of servers to ensure that a single Web server does not get overloaded with work, thereby affecting performance.

Login (noun)

The account name used to gain access to a computer system. Not a secret (contrast with Password).

Login (verb)

The act of entering or gaining access to a computer system, e.g. Login to the WELL and then go to the GBN conference.

- M -

Managed Hosting

A dedicated server accompanied by a full suite of technical support, maintenance, and monitoring services. This differs from dedicated hosting, where customers are provided with their own servers but are still responsible for virtually all administrative and maintenance duties.

Megabyte

1024 bytes.

MIME

Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension -- the standard for attaching non-text files to standard Internet mail messages. Non-text files include graphics, spreadsheets, formatted word-processor documents, sound files, etc. An email program is said to be MIME-compliant if it can both send and receive files using the MIME standard. When non-text files are sent using the MIME standard they are converted (encoded) into text - although the resulting text is not really readable.

Mirror Site

An exact copy of another FTP site or Web site. These are used to offset/spread traffic load on busy Web sites or provide backup in case of a site failure.

Modem

MOdulator/DEModulator -- a device that you connect to your computer and to a phone line, or cable connection, that allows the computer to talk to other computers through the phone system. Basically, modems do for computers what a telephone does for humans.

MS Index Server

An add-on for Microsoft Internet Information Server that indexes documents on Web or Intranet servers running IIS. The information is then presented to users in a searchable format.

MX Record

Mail Exchange Record -- a part of the zone file used to designate which mail server machine should process email for a specific domain.

Merchant Account

A type of bank account that enables you to accept and process credit card payments online.

Meta tag

Hidden code within your HTML code that describes some aspect of your site. When someone uses a search engine to find a Web site that provides information on a particular subject, the search engine uses the information contained in your pages' meta tags to determine if your site is a 'match'.

MIME Types

Different file types and formats transferred between computers over the Internet using Multi-Purpose Internet Mail Extensions.

Mouseover

A JavaScript element that triggers a change on an item (typically a graphic change, such as making an image or hyperlink appear) in a Web page when the mouse pointer passes over it.

MySQL

A freeware database program that adheres to SQL standards.

- N -

Name Server

A computer that helps to map domain names to their respective IP addresses.  

Netscape Navigator®

A web browser alternative to Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Netscape Navigator was one of the most popular browsers in the mid-1990s.

Network

Created whenever you connect 2 or more computers together so that they can share resources.  Connect 2 or more networks together and you have an internet.

Newsgroup

An Internet-based discussion group (see USENET).

NOC

Network Operations Center -- a hosting company's 'home base', the NOC is where most administration, technical support, and physical server storage takes place.

- O -

OC

Optical Carrier -- representing the speed of fiber-optic networks. OC speeds can range anywhere between 1 and 48. Most hosting companies have OC3 connections, which allows for the transfer of data at a rate of up to 155.52 Mbps.

- P -

Packet Switching

The method by which most data is exchanged throughout the Internet. Most data is broken down in to smaller 'packets' prior to transfer, and then reassembled at the destination.

Parking (or Domain Parking)

All domain names have to be stored on a server in order to be purchased. Most domain registration services will therefore temporarily place (park) a newly purchased name on their servers until a hosting plan is purchased or until the owner points the DNS to a different site.

Password Protected Directory

A directory on your site that requires the viewer to enter a username and password before accessing.

Perl

Practical Extraction and Report Language -- one of the most popular languages for creating CGI scripts.

PHP

Hypertext Preprocessor -- An open-source scripting language and interpreter.  PHP is used primarily on UNIX Web servers and is an effective alternative to Microsoft Active Server Pages (ASP) technology.

Pixel

PICture ELement -- refers to how monitors divide the display screen into thousands or millions of individual dots to display an image. A pixel is one dot.

POP / POP3

Post Office Protocol 3 -- a method for retrieving email through an email client, such as Outlook or Eudora.

PPP

Point to Point Protocol -- is the Internet standard for dial-up modem connections. PPP is a set of rules that defines how your modem exchanges packets of data with other systems on the Internet. If you connect to your ISP with a dial-up modem, you are most likely using PPP.

Propagation

The process of updating name servers around the world when your IP address, name servers, or zone record changes. Propagation can take anywhere from 24 to 72 hours to fully update.

Plug-in

A small piece of software installed into your browser that allows you to view content of differing formats. Common Plug-ins include QuickTime and Windows Media Players, Shockwave players, and Real Audio/Video players.

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- R -

RAID

Redundant Array of Independent Disks -- a method of data protection and backup. Data is stored over a number of servers so that information will still be accessible if a piece of hardware or software crashes.

Ranking

The sequence in which a web site is listed for a specific search term in a search engine. Search engines such as Yahoo and Google utilize proprietary algorithms to determine a site's ranking for a particular keyword or keyword phrase.

Raw Log Files

Files that contain detailed information about your site's activity in raw Web server format. Log files can help you find out how popular your site currently is.

RealAudio®

The Internet streaming audio delivery system developed by RealNetworks. Both the browser and the server must have RealAudio components installed in order to work.

RealVideo®

The Internet streaming video delivery systems developed by RealNetworks. Both the browser and the server must have RealVideo components installed in order to work.

Registrar

A company that has been certified to register domain names. There are a limited number of registrars permitted to access and modify the master database of domain names maintained by InterNic. The organization ICANN is responsible for certifying companies as domain name registrars. A registrar is not the same as a Web host.

Register (Domain Name)

Since every domain is unique, registries have been set up to assign ownership of domains to individuals and organizations. When a domain is registered with the appropriate registry, it is ‘assigned’ and becomes no longer available for anyone else to use.

Registrant (Domain Name)

The person or entity that will be using the registered domain name.

Registry (Domain Name)

An organization responsible for assigning domain names for the TLD that they manage.

Reseller

A reseller operates components of a Web hosting operation using services, infrastructure, and equipment provided by another Web hosting service. Some resellers operate full-fledged businesses using the hardware, software, network and logistical support of another Web hosting firm, while others simply operate as sales agents for other Web hosting companies, offering discounts and providing low-level technical support.

Resolution

The resolution of an image describes how fine the dots are that make up that image. The more dots, the higher the resolution. When displayed on a monitor, the dots are called pixels. A 640 x 480 screen (resolution) is capable of displaying 640 distinct dots on each of its 480 lines, or about 300,000 pixels.

- S -

Scalability

The ability of a piece of software or hardware to expand or grow as necessary.

Script

An executable list of commands created by a scripting language.   Scripts that are executed on a web server (e.g. Perl, PHP) are said to be 'server’ side scripts. Scripts that execute on a client computer (e.g. JavaScript) are said to be 'client side' scripts. Scripts can be embedded within HTML to produce a web page with dynamic actions.

Scripting Language

A simple programming language used to write an executable list of commands, called a script. JavaScript, Perl, VBScript are scripting languages rather than general-purpose programming languages.

Search Engine

A server (computer) or, commonly, a collection of servers dedicated to indexing Internet web pages, storing the results in a giant database and returning lists of pages which match particular searched queries from within its database. The indexes are normally and automatically generated using spiders.

Shared Hosting

The most basic of web hosting types. With shared hosting, numerous web sites are shared on one server. While an economical solution, they typically cannot handle large amounts of storage or traffic.

Shopping Cart

A program designed to handle the e-commerce section of a Web site. Shopping cart software lets users browse for and purchase products online.

SSI

Server Side Includes -- tell a server to include information (sourced from a separate file) in a document before sending it to the browser. A very effective method of producing identical information over many pages as one file can be altered to produce the changes over the many the pages that includes the SSI file.

SSL

Secure Sockets Layer -- A protocol designed by Netscape Communications to enable encrypted, authenticated communications across the Internet. SSL is most commonly used in online stores for credit card transactions. URL's that begin with ‘https’ indicate that an SSL connection will be used.

Spam

The term for unsolicited mass email, also known as Unsolicited Commercial Email.

Spider

An automated software robot that continuously crawls hyperlinks and pages on the Internet and collects data that is returned to its database for indexing. This is how Search Engines function. The process of crawling the web, storing URLs and indexing keywords, links and text, is the act of spidering.

SMTP

Simple Mail Transport Protocol -- The most common method used to send electronic mail on the Internet. SMTP consists of a set of rules for how a program sending mail and a program receiving mail should interact. Almost all Internet email is sent and received by clients and servers using SMTP, thus if one wanted to set up an email server on the Internet one would look for email server software that supports SMTP.

Statistics Report

Detailed information regarding your Web site, including the number of hits, the source of those hits, most popular pages and amount of data transferred, as well as other useful information.

Subdomain

Also known as a third-level domain. Domain names are composed of at least two levels, a top-level domain and a second-level domain. The top-level domain is the suffix or extension attached to Internet domain names (for example, .com, .net and .org). The second-level, recorded in front of the suffix, consists of your web site’s name such as yourdomain.  An optional third-level domain reside in front of the second-level and would be represented, e.g. as warrantyinfo.yourdomain.com.

Server

Usually refers to a computer that provides a specific kind of service to client software running on other computers. The term can also refer to a particular piece of software, such as a WWW server, or to the machine on which the software is running.

Shockwave

Shockwave, produced by Macromedia, allows you to view new forms of entertainment on the Web such as games, music, rich-media, chat, interactive product demos, and e-merchandising applications.

SQL

Structured Query Language -- is a specialized programming language for sending queries to databases. Most industrial-strength and many smaller database applications can be addressed using SQL. Each specific application will have its own version of SQL implementing features unique to that application, but all SQL-capable databases support a common subset of SQL.

- T -

T1 Connection

A phone or data connection that can support the transfer of up to 1.544Mbits of data per second. T1 connections are popular among businesses and ISPs. Most T1s are connected to T3, which can handle up to 43Mbits per second and are actual Internet backbone connections.

Tag

A formatting command written into a document that specifies how it should be formatted. A web browser interprets these tags and outputs the intended command (action).

Tape Back-up

A popular and inexpensive way to back up Web sites. Contents of a site are periodically stored on cartridges that look similar to cassettes. Some cartridges can store several gigabytes of data.

TCP/IP

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol -- the suite of protocols that defines the Internet. Originally designed for the UNIX operating system, TCP/IP software is now available for every major computer operating system.

Telnet

The command and program used to login from one Internet site to another. The telnet command/program gets you to the login: prompt of another host.

Template

Skeletal HTML pages with the main content left out. Templates provide an effective solution in creating many pages with an identical look or navigational structure but with different content.