Hosting Definitions
Learn what Hosting words mean and how to use them
Bandwidth
Bandwidth refers
to the amount of data transferred to and from your web site. It
is normally measured in gigabytes. So if you had a web page that
is 5Kb in size 200,000 people could view that page for 1 Gb of Bandwidth.
T1 Line
A T1 connection is line that connects a computer to the internet
it is capable of carrying around 1,544,000 bits per second.
T3 Line
As above but capable of around 45 million bits per second.
Protocol
A set of rules that computers use to communicate across networks
on the internet.
SMTP
Simple Mail Transport Protocol It is the technical name for
the way that email messages are sent.
Packet
A single sequence of digital data which has a distinct digital
marker which is sent through the network.
Telnet
A method of establishing a direct terminal connection to a server.
In other words it is as if you are actually a keyboard connected
to the server. The most common language used here is UNIX which
is somewhat like going to a computer running DOS. You type in commands
and the server carries them out.
GigaBytes
A gigabytes is equal to 1,000 Mb
Colocated
This would be when you own the server and rent rackspace and buy
bandwidth for the server at a datacenter, this can generally be
the most costly of your choices.
Dedicated Hosting:
Is when you host your site on a whole server, and you are the sole
user of this box, this is far superior to shared hosting of course
because then you know how much strain you are putting on the server.
And most importanly you don't own this server you lease it on a
month to month basis.
Semi-Dedicated Hosting
An added twist, is when you share half a server or a quarter of
a server, generally the host limits the number of users on the server,
some places I have seen this as high as 6, and as low as 2. Of course
this doesn't mean that the server is going to perform any better.
POP3
A term for a type of email account that is the standard type that
can be used with modern email programs.
Log File
A collection of raw data that websites can use to determine
the activity of a site as far as most accessed pages, busiest hours,
IP's of its visitors, and often referral url's to determine the
source of a site's traffic.
Webtrends
A popular program for analyzing log files that outputs results in
an easy to read graphical format.
MYSQL
A type of database that is often used by webservers for programs
such as message boards and adserving programs.
PHP
A server side embedded html script language that allows for interactivity
and dynamic content.
CGI-BIN
Term for common gateway interfaces or programs that create webpages
online dynamically online according to user input and data. Many
message boards use CGI-BIN programs to create content for example.
FTP
An acronym for file transfer protocol
Counter
A term for a basic graphical element that keeps track of the number
of visitors a website. Newbie pages usually use free counter services
which run ads in exchange for their free counters. More advanced
internet users use log files rather than counters to gather information
about their visitors.
VB
An abbrieviation for VBulletin a type of message board software
that is very popular online.
UBB
Term for the Ultimate Bulletin Board software which is not quite
as popular as Vbulletin.
ARIN
Organization that is responsible for Ip allocation. Webhosting companies
sometimes can not get a large number of Ip's for customers because
ARIN does not wish to issue them except when they are absolutely
needed.
IP
An acronym for Internet Protocol and it refers to the numerical
addressing system in use on the internet that is used to route internet
users to webservers and internet sites.
Linux
Term for a type of Unix variant that is freely available and commonly
used in webhosting because of its reliability and the fact that
its free.
Apache
Term for a popular webserver software package that runs under Linux
that is used to do tasks such as email, DNS, and the serving of
http page request among other things.
Cobat Raq
Term for a type of easy to use webserver appliance made popular
with webhosting companies in the past because of its energy efficiency,
compact size, and bundled software.
Rackmount
Term for a type of webserver that can be mounted on standard racks
at a webhosting facility. Standard home PC's which are minitowers
or desktops are not rackmountable. Machines that are not rackmountable
are harder for webhosts to accomodate and hence they cost more to
house. This is why people want rackmountable computers. The main
difference between a regular pc and a rackmountable computer is
the special type of case and configuration for parts that rackmountables
have.
1U
Term for a size of webserver that can fit in 1U of a rack at a webhosting
facility. Larger rackmountable computers can be 2U to 4U and desktop
PC's may require the equvalent of 5u or more to be fit on the rack
by laying it down.
Server
Term for a computer meant to host websites or host data for a corporate
network. Many webservers are less powerful than the average home
PC being manufactured today but specialized software and often a
rackmountable nature distinguishes servers from regular PC's.
Name Based
Hosting
This is way of hosting websites in which many sites share a single
IP. This is done to save money and conserve IP's that are getting
harder for webhosts to obtain from ARIN.
Domain Name
A term for a unit of the web that is owned privately for periods
from one to ten years. Domain names includes all dot com, dot org,
dot net, and all other international domain extensions including
.de for germany and so on.
Website
Term for an active in use live web domain. The term website is also
used loosely to refer to webpages not hosted on their own domain
via free services such as geocities.
Domain Registrar
A company licensed to register domains and grant ownership rights
for periods from one to ten years.
DNS and DNS
Server
Term for a webserver that looks up the IP used by a given site or
collection of sites and routes visitors to the appropriate location
for the website domain or domains.
Round Robin
DNS
Process by which one sets up multiple DNS primary and secondary
DNS servers such that different webusers will be directed to different
DNS servers. This is done to allow one to balance a website's load
among multiple computers without costly load balancing software
or hardware.
Domain Forwarding
Term for a procedure in which the typing of a given website url
will automatically redirect the user to another site or url.
Denial Of
Service Attack
This is an attack in which a webserver or network is greatly slowed
by a tremendous amount of fake requests for data packets. Often
a series of hacked machines are coordinated to overwhelm the webservers
of a popular site or entire webhosting network.
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