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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