The entire process of website hosting can be intimidating for the beginners if they are not well-versed with hosting or website jargon. In this article you will be introduced to the commonest and also the most confusing terms in web hosting lingo. This will certainly improve your understanding of different aspects of web hosting and help you choose the right hosting option for an informed decision.
Server
A server or a web server is a powerful machine that is built to perform explicit task of hosting web applications or websites. Web hosting servers are designed to serve content through the medium of internet and therefore the content is also termed as web content. In order to make the machines leaner for the purpose of hosting, the unused hardware is usually removed such as keyboard, monitors, and video cards to name a few.
Data center
A data center is a secured facility that has ability to house a multitude of servers with assured uptime
Bandwidth
This refers to the highest amount of data that is allowed to be transferred from and to your website at any given time.
RAM
RAM is a short form for Random Access Memory and is associated with the space on a server that is used for storing short term information. This information is usually required to be accessed on a frequent basis.
CPU
All vital functions that could be associated with running your website including I/O calculations, command execution, and decision making are performed by Central Processing Unit or CPU.
Control panel
You can consider a control panel as the main command center of your web hosting account. Control panel facilitates adding new domains, new email addresses, and new applications. It enables an overall control of your website and its settings.
Web hosting services
In order to help visitors access your website in the Internet medium, a web hosting service provider offers sufficient space on web servers to store website data and provides seamless connectivity with bandwidth availability.
Shared hosting
If your website is allocated a part of the server along with other websites the entire server is called as a shared server and the hosting services that are available in this arrangement are known as shared hosting services.
Virtual Private Server
If a server is compartmentalized to offer isolated hosting services to host multiple websites by providing independent hosting environment to every individual website, then each partitioned server is termed as a Virtual Private Server and the hosting arrangement is called as VPS hosting.
Dedicated hosting
As the name suggests, dedicated hosting arrangement facilitates use of an independent physical server for operating website. In dedicated hosting environment, there are no neighboring websites sharing resources of server which is exclusively designed for a single website.
Cloud hosting
In order to provide redundancy to mission critical data, it is mirrored across remotely positioned storage facilities for easy access via internet. This facility is known as cloud hosting and is sought after for improved availability of data.
Uptime
Uptime is the period for which a server can perform without any interruptions for seamless accessibility of a website. It is usually denoted as percentage value such as 99.99 percent.
HTML
The markup language used for communicating with a browser to inform the way a web page must be displayed is called as Hyper Text Markup Language.
HTTP
HTTP refers to Hyper Text Transfer Protocol since it is used for transferring files over internet. The protocol of HTTP is rightly referred to as the very foundation of internet.
HTTPS
Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure or HTTPS is the actual application of Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) over any secured connection. It is usually in association with TLS or Transport Layer Security.
Blog
This refers to the frequently updated content that is served to visitors in the form of a web page.
CDN
Content Delivery Network or CDN is a networked collection of geographically dispersed web servers to boost content distribution and content availability across desired regions. CDN helps faster page loading as the content is readily available at physically closer POP locations.
Content Management System (CMS)
This intuitive software platform is the backbone of your web content. A CMS application resides inside a server and helps any user who may not have any exposure to coding languages create web content or manage entire website content as required.
Domain name
Your website or a specific web page on the website is provided with a domain name such as go4hosting.com. It relates to the address of your website in the World Wide Web.
Domain registrar
In order to manage and assign domain names to websites, the services of domain registrar are offered by certain organizations, which are approved with ICANN accreditation.
DNS
A Domain Name System or DNS is a numerical representation of domain names in the form of IP addresses.