Web Hosting Dictionary

[Biotronik]

B

Bandwidth (data transfer) - Bandwidth is the total data transfer available for use by a computer. In a person's home, a dialup modem is a low bandwidth connection and a DSL or cable connection is a high bandwidth connection. On a web server, software tracks the total amount of data transferred as web site files are requested. Web hosting service providers typically limit the bandwidth to a certain number of Gigabytes per month

C

Client Server - A model of computing where part of an application runs on a centralized server and another part runs on a user's computer, called a client. The World Wide Web is built on a client server model, where web server software such as IIS or Apache is installed at the web hosting location, and client software such as the Explorer and Netscape browsers are installed on the users' computers

Control Panel (cPanel, Ensim, Plesk) - Web based application used to configure and manage web servers. Control panels such as cPanel, Ensim, and Plesk have user-friendly graphical interfaces that remotely access servers, and are easier to work with than the command line interface used with shell access

D

Data Centre - Computer facility that manages large amounts of data with a network of one or more web servers, database servers, and application servers. Examples of data centres include credit card processing facilities and weather data archives

Database (MySQL, Progress, MS SQL, Access) - Storage of data for an application on a web server, or separate database server. Scripts running on the server dynamically insert results from database queries into HTML templates

Dedicated server - A computer that hosts a single web site. Dedicated servers are used for large, high traffic sites, and can be configured with custom software and settings for those sites

Domain parking - Identifying a temporary web server for a newly registered domain name. Every active domain name requires a valid server, so when a name is obtained, the registrar will create and host a temporary web page for the domain

E

Email server (Email routing, POP3, SMTP, Email aliases) - A computer running software to route email messages over the Internet. When an email is sent, the SMTP protocol is used to retrieve the message from the user's client and send it to its destination. Messages that are received are stored on the email server and can be accessed by the user's email program with a protocol such as POP3

F

FrontPage Extension - On a Windows server, a configuration option that enables certain advanced features of a web site developed using FrontPage

FTP (File Transfer Protocol, Anonymous FTP) - The most common method of uploading web site files to a server. An FTP connection requires a hostname and usually a username and password. Some servers allow anonymous FTP, which is a connection that doesn't require a password so anyone can connect and upload a file

H

Hosting Platform (Windows hosting, Linux hosting, MAC, Free BSD) - The Operating System running on the web server. Features available in a web-hosting package depend on the hosting platform. ASP.NET, for instance, is a Windows only solution

I

Internet Compatible Files (html, .jpeg, .gif) - Files that can be viewed in a web browser, such as HTML coded pages or jpeg and gif images. They should contain no spaces or special characters except for the dash and underscore

IP Address (Dedicated IP address, Shared IP address, IPV6) - The four-part numerical address of a computer connected to the Internet. IP addresses have the form 256.256.256.256. Communications between computers with different IP addresses on the Internet are routed in the way phone numbers are used to route telephone calls. The domain name system translates IP addresses of web servers into names that can be easily remembered by site visitors. A dedicated IP address is used for a single web site. A shared IP address is used by many web sites on a single server. IPV6 is a future Internet protocol that will increase the number of available IP addresses and improve security

S

Server Side Scripts (Cgi, Perl, PHP, ASP, JSP, Java, JavaScripts, ColdFusion) - Programs that are written by a web site developer and interpreted by the web server when a page is requested. Scripts have special extensions such as .php, .asp, and .jsp. When the server finishes processing a script, it usually sends a page of HTML code that can be viewed in the browser

Shell Access (SSH, Telnet) - The ability to open a window and remotely log into a web server. After logging into a Linux server, Unix commands can be entered at the command prompt. Shell access is commonly used to unzip files for installation on a server, to change permission and ownership of files, and to run custom scripts. Two programs used for shell access are SSH and Telnet

SSI ( Mod_Perl) - Server Side Includes (SSI) are a method of embedding the content of a file on the server into an HTML web page. The content of the files can be text, HTML code, or scripts. Mod_Perl allows Perl code to be used in server side includes
U

Uptime - The time, usually specified as a percentage, when a web site can be accessed over the Internet. Downtime, periods where web sites are unavailable, can occur because of scheduled maintenance or problems with the server or Internet connection at the web hosting service provider

V

Virtual server / virtual hosting - A computer that hosts multiple web sites. Often, hundreds of web sites will be located on the same server and share the same IP address. Virtual or shared hosting is used for small, low-traffic web sites

Visitor logs (hit tracking, statistics, Webalizer, raw logs) - Every time a web page, image, or file is requested by a site visitor, a log entry is added to the web server. The files containing those entries are called raw logs. Software programs such as Webalizer analyze the logs and display graphs and charts summarizing the activity of web site visitors

W

Web hosting - The storage of web site files on a computer, called a server, so pages can be accessed over the World Wide Web