25 Web Hosting Terms You Need to Know
Web hosting can get quite confusing if you’re a beginner. If you are new to web hosting and shopping around for a web host, you will come across a lot of unknown terms and concepts. Below are 25 web hosting terms that you should know.
Table of Contents
Bandwidth
Bandwidth is defined as the maximum rate of data transfer on a network or an internet connection.
Blog
A blog is a website that is updated regularly. New entries on a blog are called posts and these posts can be used to drive business to your site.
Cloud hosting
Cloud hosting is the process of outsourcing a company’s computing and storage resources to a service provider. It is also referred to as server on-demand hosting.
CDN
A content delivery network or CDN is a system of servers distributed across multiple data centers around the world. It delivers web content to end-users.
Control panel
The Control panel is the hub of your web hosting account. This is where you add new domains, install applications, and manage behind-the-scenes settings.
CMS
A content management system or CMS is an application that you install on a hosting server to make managing a website easier. A CMS like WordPress is great for people without a coding background to set up and manage a website.
Datacenter
A datacenter is a large group of networked servers used for storing, processing, and managing large amounts of data. A datacenter is typically a large building or a dedicated space within a building.
Dedicated hosting
Dedicated hosting is a type of web hosting that allows you to lease an entire server rather than share it with other users or businesses.
Domain registrar
A domain registrar is a company that helps the general public to register and manage domain names. A domain registrar is accredited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
FTP
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a way to share fils over the internet. It is a standard internet protocol used to transfer files between a computer and a server.
HTML
HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. It is a computer language that tells your browser how to display a web page.
HTTP
HTTP stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol. It is an application protocol used by the worldwide web for transferring files on the web.
HTTPS
HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure or HTTPS is the use of HTTP over a secure connection.
IP address
An IP address is a unique sequence of numbers and letters that identifies a computer, its network, and its location.
Malware
Malware is a harmful software that aims to damage, disable, or take control of your computer, website, or network. Malware is most often used to steal information.
Payment Gateway
A payment gateway is a merchant service that allows online businesses to authorize credit card payments for ecommerce.
PHP
PHP (full form: Hypertext Preprocessor) is one of the most popular and widely used web scripting languages for web development. It is freely available and most often used on Linux servers.
Plugin
A plugin is a software add-on that allows you to add a feature or function to an existing web program like WordPress.
RAM
Random-access memory (RAM) is where your server or computer stores the short-term data it needs to access regularly or quickly.
Server
A server is a type of powerful computer. In computing, a server is defined as a device that provides functionality to other devices known as clients. There are shared servers as well as dedicated servers.
Shared hosting
Shared hosting is when your website resides on a server alongside other people’s sites.
SSL
A Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is an encryption protocol designed to secure connections between computer systems. SSL allows encrypted communication between a web browser and a web server.
Subdomains
A subdomain is a domain that is a part of a larger domain system. It allows you to add a prefix to your domain name (E.g., en.wikipedia.org).
TLDs
Top-level domains are the suffixes or the last segment of a domain name, such as .com, .org, etc.
Uptime
Uptime is the amount of time a server is uninterrupted. Uptime can be measured by the number of days or as a percentage (E.g., 99 percent uptime).
