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services » hosting & domains » hosting glossary
website hosting glossary
This Glossary does not attempt to give precise definitions, just basic understanding of common terms you may come across when choosing a hosting provider.
Access (database)
Database software package by Microsoft. If your site uses Access database, hosting plan must include Access support. In some cases it is an option provided by the hosting company for additional fee or involves change of the hosting plan.
ASP (Active Server Pages)
Scripting (sort of a programming language) proprietary to Microsoft used to create dynamic web pages - pages where user input can be taken from the page using a form and processed on the web server, for instance. Websites connected to a database (e-commerce sites etc.) can be created with the use of ASP.
If your site is built with the use of ASP you would need hosting plan supporting it.
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Byte
Measure of size of a digital data file: how much "space" a file occupies in the computer memory or on the disk. As applied to a text file, one byte is a space required to store one text character. See also Megabyte, Gigabyte Gigabyte.
CGI (Common Gateway Interface)
CGI programme commonly does something with the data taken from the web server, for instance turns this data into database query or puts data from the form into an e-mail message (in this respect it is comparable to ASP). CGI is also a set of rules, which defines how CGI script interacts with a web server.
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Disk space
A website is a collection of files (html files, image files, database files etc.) stored on the hard disk of a computer. As such it requires disk space. Hosting company usually limits disk space per one account. Disk space is measured in Bytes.
It is a good idea to assess possible disk space requirement before you choose hosting provider.
We can take as an example size of our home page being … KB. Having a website consisting of, for instance, 10 pages of the same size we would need about 600 KB of disk space to store it.
This is generously covered by most of the hosting plans.
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Domain
Naming space assigned to a website on the Internet. Domains are hierarchically organized: top level domains have .com, .net, .org type of extension. Google.com is an example of top level domain. Subdomains can be created as well: support.google.com is an example. Domain branching can go further down: asia.support.google.com or japan.asia.support.google.com etc.
While top level domains must be registered with an international Registrar, a domain owner can create any number of sub-domains at their discretion.
Domain name
Unique name identifying a website on the Internet. Domain names are registered with International registrars. Many hosting companies are also providing registration service.
A domain name commonly consists of three parts: part referring to the type of the server domain is using (www for web server), actual name (google) and domain extension indicating what place in the hierarchy this domain occupies (.com for top level International domain).
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DNS (Domain Name System)
System and associated software, which allows to translate (resolve) user-friendly computer and domain names to IP addresses (see IP address), this same system contains information about the location of each website on the internet.
DNS server
Server responsible for (among other things) locating websites. DNS servers keep records of the websites acting as an "address book" of the Internet. Each website needs a DNS server, which keeps a record of it, in order to be found on the Internet. Transferring a website from one hosting company to another commonly involves changing DNS servers.
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Front Page (Extensions)
Front Page is a software programme for web page development proprietary to Microsoft.
Some features of a web page created by Front Page (Front Page Extensions) may require that a web server hosting this page supports Front Page technology. Some hosting plans include Front Page support as a standard feature, some - for additional fee.
FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
Network protocol (“language” used by networked computers) used for transferring files over the network. FTP is commonly used for uploading files to the web server.
Three things are needed to transfer website files to the server via FTP:
FTP server (commonly it is the same web server machine with additional software on it);
FTP client computer;
FTP utility which provides user-friendly interface for accessing directories and files on the remote computer (web server, for instance) and transferring files to/from the remote computer. One of the popular FTP utilities is WS_FTP with many other utilities available.
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GB (gigabyte)
Measure of size of a digital data file. One Gigabyte approximately equals a billion Bytes or a thousand Megabytes. Traffic through-put limit set by a hosting provider is commonly represented in Gigabytes of data downloaded/uploaded over a period of month. See Byte.
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Host
Computer; can be referred to any PC.
Company providing hosting service. See Hosting.
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Hosting
Service of storing a website on the web server to make this site accessible by the public.
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IP address
Unique number assigned to a computer when it is networked with other computers. This number is used to uniquely identify each computer on the network. When packet of data is sent over the network (local company network or the Internet) it finds destination computer by its IP address. User-friendly Computer Name is associated with the IP address. The role of the DNS server (see DNS) is to translate (resolve) user-friendly name, entered into the browser address line, to the IP address.
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(Dedicated) IP address
IP address unique on the Internet assigned exclusively to a specific computer.
A customer of the commercial hosting provider does not always need a dedicated IP address to resolve their domain name, IP address of the web server shared by several customers (websites) is generally sufficient. Some web based applications may require dedicated IP address assigned to the domain name.
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(Shared) IP address
IP address assigned to the web server, which is shared by several domains (websites, customers). If a website is hosted exclusively on the dedicated web server, this server and this domain (website) accordingly will have dedicated IP address. Dedicated (exclusive) IP address can also be assigned to the domain (website) hosted on the shared web server.
Linux hosting
Hosting a website on the web server, which is installed with Linux operating system (as opposed to other operating systems, for example Windows). Having chosen Linux hosting you will commonly be lead to using a set of Open source technologies, such as PHP scripting for the database driven sites or mySQL server for running a database.
Linux hosting is generally less expensive, as it often uses free (Open source) software.
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MB (megabyte)
Measure of size of a digital data file. One Megabyte approximately equals a thousand Bytes. Storage space on the web server is commonly limited by the hosting provider and represented in Megabytes of data. See Byte.
POP account, server
E-mail service and associated account responsible for delivering mail to you. What is usually perceived as one e-mail service is a combination of two services: delivery of mail to the customer (POP service) and from the customer (SMTP service). Both services are commonly work together on the same mail server computer.
Pop account requires e-mail client software to be used, such as Outlook, Eudora, Pegasus etc. It can not be accessed via the Internet browser as webmail can (unless your hosting provider has special browser-based form for it).
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Registrar
Company accredited to register Domain names.
SMTP account, server
E-mail server and associated account responsible for delivering mail from you. What usually is perceived as one e-mail service (and account) is a combination of two services: delivery of mail to a customer (POP service) and from the customer (SMTP service). Both services are commonly work together on the same mail server computer.
SMTP account requires e-mail client software to be used, such as Outlook, Eudora, Pegasus etc. It can not be accessed via the Internet browser as webmail can (unless your hosting provider has special browser based form for it).
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SQL (server)
SQL - scripting language used to create and maintain databases. SQL server is a database server based on SQL scripting technology. If a web site uses SQL database connection, appropriate support is required on the web server. SQL support is commonly an optional feature of the hosting plan involving additional fee.
Storage
See Disk space.
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TLD (Top Level Domain)
In the domain tree - the highest level of hierarchy. Top Level Domains are represented by the last string of characters in a domain name, following the rightmost "dot". .Com, .net, .org etc. are the examples of the TLDs. Google.com is a second level domain, which belongs to the Top level domain of .com.
TLDs are administered by the International organisations. Second level domains can be purchased by the businesses and individuals.
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Traffic
Amount of data coming out/ going in to the web server. Traffic is made up of downloaded web pages and other documents accessed by browsing public and is commonly limited by the hosting provider.
Web server
Computer dedicated to storing and administering websites; this computer runs a software, which enables public to find and access over the Internet a website stored on this computer.
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(Dedicated) web server
Web server exclusively used by one customer to host their website.
Possible advantages are:
performance (hardware resources are not shared among several customers);
flexibility of configuration.
Possible disadvantages:
cost – it is more expensive than shared hosting plans;
administration overheads – customer not the hosting provider is usually responsible for the configuration and administration of the server. A customer needs IT expertise to administer a dedicated web server.
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(Shared) web server
Web server used to host more than one site of different customers
Advantages are (as compared to a dedicated server):
simplicity of the administration and maintenance (done by the hosting Company) combined with reliability and performance of the commercial server.
Disadvantages are (as compared to a dedicated server):
less control over server configuration and changes on the part of client;
possibly some performance loss.
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Windows hosting
Hosting a website on the web server, which is installed with Windows operating system and web server software by Microsoft (as opposed to other operating systems, for example Linux).
Choosing Windows hosting you will commonly be lead to using other related Microsoft technologies, such as ASP scripting for the database driven sites or SQL server for running database.
Windows hosting is generally somewhat more expensive due to higher cost of the underlying software.
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