Glossary of Terms

Web Hosting Glossary 

Alias 
ASP (Active Server Page)
CGI (Common Gateway Interface) 
Control Panel 
Data Transfer 
Disk Space 
Domain Name
E-commerce (electronic commerce) 
E-mail (electronic mail) 
E-mail Autoresponders 
E-mail Forwarding
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) 
FrontPage Extensions 
Merchant Account 
PHP
POP3 Account 
Server Side Include (SSI) 
Shopping Cart 
SMTP 
SQL (Structured Query Language)
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) 
Telnet 
Web Statistics
 
Alias 
An alternative name for an object, such as a variable, file, or device. 



 ASP (Active Server Page)
An Active Server Page is an HTML page that includes one or more script that is processed a Microsoft compatible web server before the page is sent to the user. An ASP is somewhat similar to a Server-side include or a CGI application in that all involved programs run on the server, usually tailoring a page for the user.



 CGI (Common Gateway Interface) 
The scripting language used to write gateway scripts web servers. CGI programs are the most common way for web servers to interact dynamically with users. Many HTML pages that contain forms, for example, use a CGI program to process the form's data once it's submitted. 



 Control Panel 
All VitalHost’s customer are given access to a wide range of utilities via the world wide web, such as including account administration, site performance, a web site toolbox, e-mail, server management and permissions. 



 Data Transfer 
The outward-bound traffic from a web site. Any HTML, graphic, audio or video file that is accessed by someone viewing your site is included.



 Disk Space 
In a shared web hosting environment, the amount of server disk storage allocated to your account. This space can be used to store HTML and graphics files, programs or scripts, mail messages, compressed files, or other files that make up your web site. 



 Domain Name
A Domain Name locates an organization or individual on the Internet. For example, the domain name www.vitalhost.com locates an Internet address for "vitalhost.com" at Internet point 209.235.49.2 and a particular host server named "www". The "com" part of the domain name reflects the purpose of the organization or individual (in this example, "commercial") and is called the top-level domain name. The "vitalhost" part of the domain name defines the organization or individual and can be thought of as the "readable" version of the Internet address.



 E-commerce (electronic commerce) 
The purchasing of goods and services over the Internet. 



 E-mail (electronic mail) 
A communication system that allows you to send text, files and/or graphical messages over the Internet. 



 E-mail Autoresponders 
An autoresponder will send a standard response e-mail message to anyone who sends an e-mail to your e-mail address at your domain. 



 E-mail Forwarding 
The ability to forward your e-mail to another e-mail address, possibly to your ISP's account (i.e. AOL, Freeserve, Yahoo, MSN).



 FTP (File Transfer Protocol) 
The primary method for accessing files via the Internet. 



 FrontPage Extensions
FrontPage Extensions are a set of programs that are installed on our servers, these programs support the administering, authoring, and browsing of a FrontPage created web site.



 Merchant Account 
An Internet merchant account enables a person / organisation to process credit cards online and to have the funds electronically transferred into his/her bank account. 



 PHP
PHP is a script language and interpreter, similar to JavaScript and VBScript, that is freely available and used primarily on Linux web servers. PHP is a cross-platform alternative to Microsoft's Active Server Page (ASP) technology. As with ASP, the PHP script is embedded within a web page along with its HTML. Before the page is sent to a user that has requested it, the Web server calls PHP to interpret and perform the operations called for in the PHP script.



 POP3 Account 
Storage space for e-mails delivered via the most recent version of the Post Office Protocol (POP). POP3 Accounts with VitalHost will end in @yourdomain.com. You can use a standard e-mail client, such as Internet Explorer, Netscape Mail or Eudora to download the e-mail to your computer. 



 Server Side Include (SSI) 
A server-side include (SSI) can either be a variable value that you want to appear on a web page (like the date and time that the page was loaded on the visitor’s browser – in which case it must pull this information from the server) or it can be static information that you want included on several pages.

For instance, you might have 10 pages on your site and want to use the same navigational bar on each one of these pages, like that on the VitalHost web site. Without including the same information on all the pages or using frames, you can make one file that contains the navigation bar and call to the SSI file on the 10 pages. This way if the navigation or URLs in the navigation change, then you only have to update the one file and not the same information on all 10 pages. 



 Shopping Cart 
Shopping cart software acts as an online store's catalogue and ordering process, like Miva Cart. Typically, it allows a consumer to browse the web site, select items for purchase as they browse, review what they have selected; make necessary modifications or additions, and purchase the merchandise. 



 SMTP 
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, a protocol for sending e-mail messages between servers. Most e-mail systems that send mail over the Internet use SMTP to send messages from one server to another, the messages can then be retrieved with an e-mail client using either POP3. 



 SQL (Structured Query Language)
SQL is a standard interactive and programming language for getting information from and updating a database. Many database products support SQL, queries take the form of a command language that lets you select, insert, update, find out the location of data, and so forth.  



 SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) 
Every time a customer initiates a transaction that requires a secure communications channel, an SSL server establishes a connection to your web site. Once this connection is established, the SSL server conducts the transaction or exchange of information using only encrypted data.  



 Telnet 
A method of logging onto remote computer systems using a terminal program or other applications using the Telnet protocol. You can use the Telnet application to run commands and programs on a remote server. 



 Web Statistics 
Are detailed statistics on the performance of your web site, i.e. how many visitors/ hits, total data transferred from our server to the visitors PC, web file storage status, and user information to mention a few.

Web Hosting Glossary