»Web Hosting Review

A useful list of words and terms often used by hosting companies.

Apache
Apache is the most widely used server software. It normally runs on Linux operating systems but can also in conjunction with Microsoft systems. The software itself is open source, meaning that its code can be freely shared.

ASP
ASP is a web scripting language developed by Microsoft mainly for database uses. ASP stands for Active Server Pages.

Bandwidth
Bandwidth generally refers to the amount of data that can be transferred over a network.

Browser
A computer such as Internet Explorer or Netscape which allows the user to surf the world wide web.

CGI
CGI stands for Common Gateway Interface and basically allows a browser to request a script from a server.

CGI BIN
This is a place on the server where the scripts for producing dynamic content on a web site are stored.

Control Panel
The control panel comes with most hosting packages and allows the web site owner to configure domains, run scripts and view their web statistics.

Database
A database stores details in fields on a server so that they can be later recalled. An example of this might be a large shopping site such as Amazon who have hundreds of thousands of products which are stored in a database which are then retrieved on request. The two most popular server databases are either MySQL which is run on Linux servers or ASP which are run on Microsoft based servers.

Dedicated Server
A dedicated server is purchased by a company when they want more control of their server. What happens is they purchase or rent the hardware from the hosting company who then normally support and manage it.

DNS
DNS stands for Domain Name system and stores information such as domain names and more importantly provides the IP address.

Firewall
A firewall can be either hardware or software which protects a computer from attacks by monitoring what enters and leaves the computer.

FTP
FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol and is the term to describe the process of transferring from your computer to the hosting company's server and vice versa.

Hit
A hit describe an event that occurs when a web browser requests data from the server this can be text, images or multimedia elements.

HTML
HTML is Hyper Text Markup Language. This describe the language used for writing web pages. It allows text and images to be displayed in a browser and also allows the linking of web pages over the internet.

HTTP
HTTP is Hyper Text Transfer Protocol and is the process of transferring data over the world wide web.

IP Address
This is the unique set of numbers that identify entities on the internet. It consists of a series of numbers. Each of the numbers has certain properties for example the first three digits can identify where on the planet the IP address is located.

Java script
This is an easy popular script which can be read by web browser. It normally provides effects on web pages such as drop down menus.
Linux is based on the unix operating system and is the main system used on web servers.

MySQL
MySQL is an open source database it is extremely popular with people building database driven web sites and is normally supported on Linux based servers.

Perl
Perl is an open source server side scripting language. It has been around for a number of years but is still used a great deal because of the amount of free scripts available.

PHP
PHP is another open source server side programming language. Due to its relative ease of use it has gained in popularity and is easily combined with MySQL to provide numerous useful web solutions.

Reseller Accounts
Resellers accounts are normally used by web designers and developers and allow them to sell their clients web hosting without having to buy the physical hardware. This web space is normally purchased at a discount so that there is a margin for selling it on. They basically act as a middleman between the hosting company and the end user.

Shopping Cart/Ecommerce Packages
These are software programs that allow a business to create its own online store. The customer is able to browse the store, put items in a virtual basket and then proceed to a virtual checkout where payment is taken.

SSL
Stands for Secure Sockets Layer. This is a protocol that allows the safe exchange of personal data from a browser to a server such as credit card details or other sensitive financial information.

Sub domain
A sub domain allows you to create separate web addresses from just one domain, for example www.shop.com could become www.shoe.shop.com. Some hosts set a limit for the number of sub domains you can create.

URL
URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator and basically allows any document to be found on the internet.

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