• Apache: A popular open source web server software. It is characterized by excellent performance and reliable security. We use the Apache web server on our hosting machines.

  • ASP: ASP stands for Active Server Pages. It is a server-side technology developed by Microsoft. It is not available on our servers.

  • Autoresponder: A program that automatically sends a predefined response message to incoming email messages.

  • CGI: CGI stands for Common Gateway Interface. It is a generic way to execute scripts on a web server. A CGI script is usually a program that processes data taken from the visitor of the page (for example from a form).

  • Client: A client is a computer program that runs on the local computer. It connects to servers on the network. Examples of clients include web browsers and email programs. See also Server.

  • Client-side: Running on the computer of the client. For example, a client-side scripting language is JavaScript. The JavaScript code in a web page is executed by the web browser, and is independent of the server that hosts the website. See also Server-side.

  • Control Panel: The Control Panel of your hosting account is a web-based application on the hosting server. It allows you to administer your hosting account via a web browser.

  • Cookie: A text file sent by the web server to a user's web browser. Cookies are usually used to track and facilitate a visitor's session on a website.

  • Data Transfer: The total amount of Internet traffic of a website.

  • Disk Storage: The amount of hard drive space on the server that is available to a hosting account.

  • DNS: DNS stands for Domain Name System. It is a distributed hierarchical database used to translate domain names into IP addresses. Most ISPs keep local DNS servers with replicated information about the DNS records of domain names. This way DNS queries are served faster, at the expense of slow updates when changes are made to the global DNS (e.g., when changing the nameservers of a domain name).

  • DNS A Record: An A Record, short for Address Record, is a DNS record that translates a domain name or a subdomain into an IP address. For example, the domain name example.com translates to the IP address 93.184.216.34.

  • DNS MX Record: An MX Record, short for Mail Exchange Record, is used to define the email server that handles email for the domain name.

  • DNS Propagation: This is the process of updating the global DNS records. This process can take up to 24 hours.

  • Document root: The contents of the document root directory will be displayed to a visitor when they open your site. For example, if your domain is yourdomain.com, and the document root is /home/yourusername/www/www/, the contents of that directory will be available at http://yourdomain.com/. Respectively, you should place the files of your website into that directory.

  • Domain name: A domain name is a human-readable name that is used to identify a host, or a network of hosts, on the Internet. Domain names are translated into IP addresses by means of the DNS system. An example of a domain name is example.com (without 'www.').

  • Domain name registrant: The individual or organization that has registered a domain name. This individual or organization has the right to use the domain name in question for the registration's period of validity.

  • Domain name registrar: A company that registers domain names. A registrar is responsible for registering and updating the DNS information of the domains it registers.

  • Domain Parking: A parked domain name is a domain name that is added to your hosting account. A parked domain name has no hosting account of its own, and points to the same website as the main domain name of the account.

  • Dynamic web page: A dynamic web page interacts with the visitor, and changes the information that is displayed on it based on the visitor's input. Examples of dynamic web pages are news sites where the visitor can choose the article they want to read.

  • Email Client: A software application that is used to handle email messages. Commonly used email clients are MS Outlook, Outlook Express, Mozilla Thunderbird, and Eudora.

  • Email Forwarding: When email forwarding is created for an email account, messages sent to its address are automatically forwarded to another address. For example, if you have set up forwarding for [email protected], so that it forwards to [email protected], email messages sent to [email protected] will be delivered to [email protected].

  • Email message headers: Email message headers are the lines at the beginning of each email message that contain technical information about the message itself. The email client program usually does not display them together with the body of the message. For example, the Subject, From, To, Cc, and Bcc fields of an email message are contained in headers.

  • Firewall: A firewall is a software system that blocks unauthorized access to a computer or a network. A firewall can be running either on another computer on the network, or locally. Examples of local firewalls are ZoneAlarm and Windows Firewall. Anti-virus programs often feature firewall software, too.

  • FTP: FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. This protocol is used to transfer files between a client and a server across the Internet.

  • FTP Client: An FTP client is a program that connects to an FTP server, and is used to upload and download files. Examples of FTP clients are FileZilla, CuteFTP, WS_FTP, and Fetch.

  • FTP Session Log: An FTP Session Log is a record of an FTP connection. It contains the history of commands sent to the server and the response. Such logs are very useful in debugging problems with FTP connections.

  • Host: A host is a computer on a network that hosts services available to other computers on the network. Usually, one host provides several services at the same time. For example, a web server, a mail server, an FTP server, etc. can all be running simultaneously on the same host machine.

  • HTML: HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. This is the language that is used to create hypertext documents on the web. It controls how web pages appear in a browser.

  • HTTP: HTTP stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol. This protocol is used to transfer data across the Internet. HTTP is the most commonly used protocol on the Internet, because websites are usually transferred over HTTP.

  • IIS: IIS stands for Internet Information Services. It is a web server software by Microsoft that is required to run ASP and ASP.NET. It is not available with our hosting service.

  • IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol): IMAP is a protocol for accessing and handling email directly on the mail server. See also POP.

  • IP: stands for Internet Protocol. Along with TCP, this protocol is used to control data transmission over the Internet.

  • IP Address: An IP address is used to identify a computer on a TCP/IP network (such as the Internet). IP addresses are extensively used in communication between computers and devices. An example of an IP address is 64.14.68.138.

  • ISP: ISP stands for Internet Service Provider. ISPs are companies that provide access to the Internet.

  • JavaScript: A client-side scripting language developed by Netscape. JavaScript code can be included within an HTML document, and is executed by the web browser. Since it is executed by the browser, it depends on the specific browser a visitor is using, not on the hosting server.

  • JSP (Java Server Pages): A server-side scripting language developed by Sun Microsystems. It is not available on our servers.

  • Local: Running on or pertaining to the same computer. See also Remote.

  • MySQL: MySQL is a database server engine which provides fast access to the information stored in databases. It is usually used with PHP.

  • Nameserver: A nameserver maintains a database of host names and IP addresses. It translates domain names to IP addresses.

  • Perl: Perl stands for Practical Extraction and Report Language. It is a very powerful and popular scripting language, often used in CGI scripts.

  • PHP: PHP stands for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor. It is an open-source, server-side scripting language. It is often used to create dynamically generated Web pages.

  • POP: POP stands for Post Office Protocol. It is an email protocol that mail clients use to download email messages from the remote email server. The main difference between POP and IMAP is that IMAP manages email messages directly on the server, while POP downloads them locally. See also IMAP.

  • Protocol: a protocol is a set of rules that define the format for communication between computers on the network. Examples of protocols are HTTP, FTP, SMTP, IMAP, etc.

  • Remote: Running on or pertaining to another computer on the network. See also Local.

  • Server: A server is a computer program that runs on a host and provides services to other computer programs running on the same or other computers on the network. An example of a server is the Apache Web Server, and an example of a client is the Firefox Web Browser. The term can also be used to denote a computer that provides services accessible across the Internet. These services can include a web server, an FTP server, an email server, etc. See also Client.

  • Server-side: Running on the server, independently of the client. For example, a server-side scripting language is PHP. PHP programs run on the server, and it does not matter what browser the client is using. See also Client-side.

  • Shopping cart: A shopping cart is a web-based application designed to handle the e-commerce section of a website. Shopping cart software lets visitors browse for and purchase products online from the site.

  • SMTP: SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. It is used by mail servers to send email messages to each other.

  • SQL: SQL stands for Structured Query Language. A specialized language for sending queries to database engines which then return the matching entries from the database. The database engine available with our service is MySQL.

  • SSH: SSH stands for Secure Shell. It is a protocol for secure access to a remote computer. See also Telnet.

  • SSL: SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. It is an encrypted protocol designed to enable secure communication between two computers across the Internet. For example, URLs that begin with 'https' indicate that the connection will be over SSL. Online shopping sites frequently use SSL in order to safeguard private and sensitive information about orders, payments, etc.

  • Subdomain: A subdomain is an individual address that can be defined within a domain. For example, subdomain.yourdomain.com is a subdomain of the domain yourdomain.com.

  • TCP/IP: A widely used suite of protocols that controls communication over the Internet. TCP/IP defines how data is transmitted between hosts.

  • Telnet: An insecure protocol for remote access to a host machine on the Internet. Telnet is not supported on our servers. See also SSH.

  • TLD: TLD stands for Top Level Domain, the last part of a domain name. For example .com, .net, and .org are TLDs.

  • URI: URI stands for Uniform Resource Identifier. It is a general form of identification for a resource. URI is a more general term than URL, as it includes URLs and other identifiers which are not URLs. For example, isbn:1594740232 can be interpreted as an URI; however, it is not a URL. See also URL.

  • URL: URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. It is a specific type of URI which is typically used to refer to a resource (a file, for example) on the Internet, including the means to get it (usually, a protocol name). For example, http://www.example.com/ is a URL. See also URI.

  • WAP: WAP stands for Wireless Application Protocol. It is a technology designed to provide access to the Internet for wireless devices, such as mobile phones and smartphones.

  • Web-based application: an application program running on a remote server which can be accessed by means of a web browser. For example, the Control Panel of your hosting account is a web-based application.

  • Web Browser: A program that interprets the HTML code of a web page, and displays the final result. For example, Internet Explorer, Safari, and Firefox are web browsers.

  • Web Server: A program running on a network host that serves requests by clients, typically web browsers such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, etc. The term can also be used to denote the machine on which the web service runs. See also Server.

  • Webalizer: A web-based application for analysis of the log files on a web server. It displays easily readable and detailed statistics about the visitors of a website over a given period.

  • Webmail client: A web-based email client application. It can be used to access the email service on our servers from a web browser. It uses IMAP to connect to the mail server.

  • WHOIS database: A database of information on domain name registrations. It is maintained by the registrars, and contains technical and registration information about domain names.

  • WHOIS query: A WHOIS query, or lookup, is used to look up the domain name registration information and the domain name status in the global WHOIS database.