Web Hosting Dictionary

Hosting terms explained in detail

Explanation of the most important hosting-related terms
Explanation of the most important hosting-related terms
In our hosting reviews and web hosting articles, there are the same technical terms over and over again. We can not assume that everybody knows what they all mean. This web hosting dictionary is intended to explain the most frequent terms to our readers.


ASP:
ASP (Active Server Pages) is a scripting language used to create dynamic web pages, mainly on Windows servers.

Bandwidth:
The amount of data (in Megabyte or Gigabyte) that is transmitted through an internet connection in a certain amount of time (usually per month). Some websites need more bandwidth, e.g. if they offer video streams than others. The number of page views and the kind of content determines mainly how much bandwidth is needed.

Blog:
Short for "weblog". A website with contents that are written regularly (mostly daily).

Carrier:
A service provider that connects a data center to the internet, usually via high-performance fibre optic connections.

Control Panel:
A software for the administration of a web hosting account.

cPanel:
A certain, industry leading control panel software.

Data Center:
A place where all the web hosting infrastructure of a provider is located. Usually, data centers are high-security places with tons of computer hardware.

Dedicated Server / Dedicated Hosting:
A dedicated server is used only by one single client. Mostly the hardware is owned or rent by the client.

Domain:
The web address of a site, e.g.: www.something.com - The second part (after the www) specifies the name (something), the third part the country-specific suffix (.com = international suffix)

Drupal:
A very popular content management system

Fantastico:
A wide-spread one-click-installer software. The package contains more than 50 usual forums, content management systems, online shops, blogs, galleries and other applications. With one click, one of these can be installed conveniently at a web server.

FrontPage:
A Software created by Microsoft to build web sites.

FrontPage Extensions:
A set of files that are installed at a web server. They enable FrontPage-created web sites to perform dynamic standard tasks, without the use of programing languages.

Green Hosting:
A web hosting provider, that uses certified renewable energy only, like wind or solar power.

Host / Hosting Provider:
A company that offers servers for their clients to store data (e.g. websites, files for download) and make it available through the internet.

ISP / Internet Service Provider:
A company that offers internet access, mostly through telephone lines, DSL, cables and even satellites. Users can browse the internet and request data through ISP's connections.

Joomla:
A famous, wide-spread content management system. With Joomla, dynamic web sites can be easily administered.

JSP:
A server-side scripting language that derived from Java.

Linux:
A free, stable and advanced operating system. A majority of web sites deployed today run on Linux-powered web servers.

Managed Hosting:
A web hosting, where the administration of the hosting account or the complete server is not done by the client himself, but as a service by the hosting provider's staff.

mySQL:
A heavy-duty, powerful (yet free) database management system.

PHP:
The most-used scripting language for creating dynamic content on web sites.

Reseller Hosting:
Resellers buy large hosting quantities (storage space and bandwidth) from primary hosting providers and sell it to their clients. Often web design companies make extra revenues with reseller hosting.

SSH:
A secure shell access to a server. The connection is encrypted and can even act to upload files through SFTP. With SSH, server administration can be done in a convenient way.

Shared Hosting:
At a shared hosting provider, many clients' web sites are hosted on one server.

Server:
A computer that holds data, other computers can request. A web server is a server in a data center, that contains web sites, that are sent to the browsers of the clients on request, e.g. when calling the domain www.something.com.

Storage:
The amount of hard disk space, that a web hosting package contains at a provider's data center.

SSL:
SSL (Secure Socket Layer) is an encrypted way to transfer sensitive data (like credit card numbers) through the internet. SSL is vital in online shops and ecommerce transactions.

URL:
URL (Uniform Resource Locator) - please see "Domain"

VPS:
VPS (Virtual Private Server) servers are something in between shared hosting and dedicated hosting. A VPS server is only used by a small and limited number of customers, e.g. 10 customers. Every VPS account has a granted amount of memory, harddisk storage space and processor power percentage.

Windows:
An operating system not only for PCs, but as well for web servers, created by Microsoft.

WordPress:
A wide-spread blogging application.
Michael Lederstatter
Written by
Michael Lederstatter
Editor  |  Founder
Web Designer & Webmaster since 1998
Crazy about reviewing Web Hosts
Husband, Daddy and Tech-Weirdo