Hosting 101
The following are some terms used in the web hosting industry that we better explain in layman’s terms:
FTP
FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. FTP is used to manage the files in your hosting account, i.e. upload/download/delete your website files. You need an FTP client such as FileZilla to use FTP.
Control Panel
A control panel is a web based interface used to manage your hosting account. From your control panel you can add domain name, email user accounts, databases and much more. The most popular control panel in the web hosting industry is cPanel.
File Manager
A file manager is a web based interface that functions like FTP, but is easier to use since it has a less confusing interface.
Email Account
An email account is an account for email for your domain name, i.e. yourname@yourdomain.com.
Sub Domain
A sub domain is a sub name for your domain, i.e. subdomain.yourdomain.com. A sub domain can also be pointed to your main domain or a folder within your main domain.
Add-on Domain
An Add-on Domain is an additional domain name for your hosting account that points to the folder name of your choice. It’s like have multiple hosting accounts in one!
Parked Domain
A parked domain is an additional domain name for you main domain. It can be used to give your website multiple domain name for the same website.
Uptime
Uptime is the amount of time the server your hosting account is located on is available and properly serving your web pages for your website. Most web hosting providers provide an average uptime of 99% or better.
Downtime
Downtime is when your website is unavailable due to server or network unavailibility. Any downtime is a bad thing.
Transfer/Bandwidth
Transfer is the amount of data your website sends or receives in a given month. The pages, images downloaded/viewed and your FTP use will affect your total transfer/bandwidth.
Space
Space is the amount of disk space available to you with your hosting account. Like the hard drive in your PC, space is not unlimited.
PHP
PHP is the most popular coding language available. It is easy to use and learn and there are tons of free PHP scripts available for download to get you started.
MySQL
MySQL is a database used to store information. If you plan to run a website that saves data, MySQL is a good choice.
PHPMyAdmin
PHPMyAdmin is an easy to use interface for administrating MySQL databases. Most web hosting providers include PHPMyAdmin in their hosting plans.
TOS
TOS stand for “Terms of Service”. A TOS is a list of rules/policies you must agree to in order to use a web hosting providers services. Always try you best to read and understand a hosting providers TOS when choosing that company’s services.
Shopping Cart
A shopping cart is used for e-commerce websites to sell goods or services. Most hosts offer free shopping cart scripts that will allow you to easily setup your own e-commerce website.
SSL
SSL stands for “Secure Sockets Layer”. It is used to encrypt the data sent to and from your PC to ensure safe communication with the website you are using.
Dedicated IP Address
A dedicated IP is an option most web hosting companies offer. It allows your website to be reached by an IP address that is specific to your website
If you know of a term related to web hosting and don’t know what it means, please use our contact form and send us an email. We’ll let you know what the term means in layman’s terms.