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APOP
Secure e-mail protocol. See POP.
ASP / .ASP (Active Server Pages)
ASP has come to have numerous meanings in the
technology/computing/internet world. ASP is a term for
application service provider, and is a new term meaning to
provide a hosted application. An application might be to run
a virus application from a website which in turn scours your
local hard drive. The application is never installed on your
machine. Another might be to provide accounting or billing
or warehouse software from a remote location.
".asp" can also refer to active server pages, an outgrowth
of server side includes and tag-based HTML extensions
created by Microsoft and used almost exclusively on Windows
NT machines. A scripting language which allows you to design
Web pages that can make displaying, manipulating and editing
databases simpler.
Backbone
A high-speed line or series of connections that forms a
major pathway within a network. On the Internet there are
several major backbone providers like BBN Internet , MCI/SprintLink,
and US West.
Bandwidth
Amount of data you can send through a connection. Usually
measured in bits-per-second (bps). A 56K modem transfers
data up to 53Kbps, or 53,000 bits-per-second. Terms is also
sometimes used in place of "data transfer."
CGI (Common Gateway Interface)
A set of rules that describe how a Web Server communicates
with another piece of software on the same machine
CGI-Bin Access
Ability for the customer to write custom programs to
manipulate data on their Web site.
Client
Any software application (and sometimes used to describe the
computer itself) connected to the server and run to
send/retrieve data to a server is called a client, such as a
web browser. This relationship between the "client" and the
"server" is often referred to as a "client server
relationship."
Co-location
Refers to having a server that belongs to one group
physically located on an Internet-connected network that
belongs to another group. Usually done because the server
owner wants their machine to be on a high-speed Internet
connection and/or they do not want the security risks of
having the server on thier own network.
Custom Error Messages
Refers to the ability to create custom pages on a hosting
account to replace default 404 and other error pages.
Datacenter
See NOC.
Data Transfer
This is the amount of data that you are allowed to transfer
with your account. Data is this case usually referrs to
images and text. Typically refers to a data transfer
allotment, most often in GB (gigabytes). Thus, a hosting
plan might come with, "3GB of data transfer." 500 MB of data
transfer is equivilant to about 25,000 page views.
Dial-up Account
To access and update a Web site, hosting customers need
dial-up access to the Internet (see ISP). Techically, xDSL
would still be considered a dial-up account since you don't
have a dedicated wire for data transfer.
Disk Space (Storage Space)
Amount of hard disk space available for storage of all Web
pages, HTML, CGI-bin programs, e-mail, log files, images,
sound clips, audio, video clips, etc. 1MB equals one
megabyte, or approximately milllion bytes. A 100K file would
be 100,000 bytes.
Domain Name
The unique name that identifies an Internet site. Domain
Names always have 2 or more parts, separated by dots. The
part on the left is the most specific, and the part on the
right is the most general.
Domain Name Registration
Refers to registering a name which can be used for hosting a
domain name, such as www.yourname.com.
DS-3
Connection to Internet Backbone favored by most medium-size
Web hosting providers. More than 28 times the bandwidth of a
T-1 connection.
Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce)
Allows Website customers to sell products and services
online and accept payment at the same time, usually through
a cgi-script of some kind.
E-Mail Aliases/Forwarders
E-mail forwarders and aliases are e-mail addresses such as
billing@yourdomain.com which do not have a username/password
as a "POP" account would. Instead, you would set up billing@yourdomain.com
to forward to a real POP account such as customerservice@yourdomain.com.
The only real distinction between an alias and a forward, is
than an alias will likely forward to another existing
account at the same domain, whereas a forward might be sent
to another e-mail account with an ISP: such as cs@yourdomain.com
being forwarded to cs@gte.net or similar.
E-Mail Autoresponders/Vacation Messages
Allow customers to set up an automatic message to respond to
anyone who sends email to the customer.
File Extensions
In the DOS/Windows computer world, and UNIX as well, almost
every file (anything on your computer that isn't a folder is
a file in this context) must have some kind of extension.
Example: index.htm would be a filename, where ".htm" is the
file extension. On a PC in particular the operating system
needs an extesion in order to determine what kind of file it
is, and what to do with it when it is activated. With the
internet, you may see extensions like .exe, .cgi, .asp, .htm,
.jsp, .cfm, .tam, .php, .shtml, .pl, and many others. It is
important to note that in some cases you have to be aware of
the proper extension to use for a file depending on the
environment in which the file will be used.
File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
FTP is a method for transferring data to/from web servers
via a slightly different method than used by web browsers
(which use the http method). FTP software is used to upload
files to your virtual, shared, or dedicated web server site.
FTP can also be used for direct downloads of files and
images from a web server without being served from the
public html directory (anonymous FTP). FTP access to a web
server requires a password and username in order to gain
access to the file/folder directories of a virtual domain.
FrontPage2000
Microsoft's FrontPage 2000 software is a Web site
development software package. It uses unique Microsoft file
types (often referred to as "Microsoft extensions"). A Web
server and virtual domain must be configured to accept these
extensions.
FTP Client
Software needed by the customer to upload content files to
their Web site.
FTP Site/Anonymous FTP
Anonymous FTP is a dedicated area on a virtual or dedicated
hosting domain for download of files, and even upload of
files to an "incoming" folder. FTP is a special way to login
to another Internet site for the purposes of retrieving
and/or sending files.
Home Page
The first page in the public directory of a domain, usually
index.php.
Hosting Provider
An institution that provides Web space to companies or
individuals, usually for money.
HTML
Hyper-Text Markup Language. The basic page instruction
language used to create web pages. Far easier for basic
pages to use than some might think because many commands are
simple such as "" for bold text. It can be more complex as
you get into newer versions which allow for floating layers,
tables, style sheets, and features which don't work across
all web browsers.
HyperText
Text which links to other content by being an in-context
link. The basis of the original text-only internet page
structure. Any word can be a link to another page, idea,
image or internet site, thus the "hyper" in the term. The
actual link is called a "hyper link."
IP Address
Internet Protocol address. A number analagous to a street
address on the Web. See IP Number. When the internet was
invented many years ago, there needed to be a way to
identify one computer from another. The "IP" or "internet
protocol" address has been used since then. In fact many
corporate networks assign IPs to desktop computers without
the employee knowing that they've been using Internet
related technology for years, whether connected to the
internet or not. When a Web server is setup, it has its own
IP address to identify itself on the local network. Each
virtual server is given its own static (non-changing) IP
address as if it were its own machine.
IP Number (Internet Protocol Number)
Sometimes called a dotted quad. A unique number consisting
of 4 parts separated by dots, e.g. 64.65.58.113
IPP
Internet Presence Provider. Another name for a hosting
provider.
ISP
Internet Service Provider (see Dial-Up access). An ISP is a
service provider who creates the connection from your home
or office to the Internet. It's how you connect. Your ISP
does not need to be your hosting provider, or vice versa.
This generally refers to how you access the internet with
your computer. Specifically, it is the company you signed up
with and where you "dial in" to connect to the web. If you
have an account with Earthlink, then your ISP will be
Earthlink.
Majordomo
An open-source server-based mailing list system, sometimes
called a "reflector" or "list server" (ListServ is actually
a similar product) because any message sent by a member to
the list is re-sent ("reflected") to all the other list
subscribers.
Megabyte (MB)
A million bytes. (Technically, actually 1024 kilobytes).
NOC (Network Operation Center)
Sometimes called a Datacenter. This is the term for a
secure, managed network environment which may house tens or
thousands of Web servers with power backup and high-speed
connections to the Internet Backbone. NOCs usually have a
mixture of OC-3 and DS-3 connections, or higher (i.e.,
OC12).
NT/WINDOWS NT
The name used by Microsoft for its business class operating
system, called Windows NT (for "new technology"). Windows NT
includes a rudimentary web server system, and other tools
used to create local networks. Windows NT is useful for
creating low-cost websites because NT will run on
inexpensive hardware and has familiar tools to Windows 95/98
users. However, in practice, it has been found to be about
as buggy as Windows itself, and is shunned by many web
hosting purists because of its unreliablity relative to the
more expensive UNIX hardware/software platform. Neotrope no
longer offers WindowsNT hosting services, although we can
recommend dedicated hosting providers who do.
OC-3
Ultra-fast connectivity for their mission-critical Internet
needs, ranging from 60- 155 Mbps of service. Up to 3 times
more bandwidth capability than a T-3.
POP (E-MAIL)
A protocol used to retrieve e-mail from a mail server. Most
e-mail applications (sometimes called an e-mail client) use
the POP protocol, although some can use the newer IMAP
(Internet Message Access Protocol) or APOP. POP stands for
"post office protocol" not your dear old dad. A "pop"
account is any real e-mail account which uses a password and
username to retrieve mail from a virtual server. The
username would be yourname@yourdomain.com and the password
would usually be a mixture of letters and numbers.
Primary DNS
The Primary Domain Name Server for the customer's domain.
These are the DNS IP numbers, usually preceeded by "ns.name.com"
and "ns2.name.com" and a domain must point at a DNS for it
to "resolve" to a local virtual location.
Secure Server (SSL)
Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol. Requires use of a
certificate for secure access. A Secure Socket Layer does
not provide for credit card clearing or any other form of
payment processing. It only provides a facility for secure
transactions across the Internet. Some hosting providers
allow use of a "shared" certificate.
Server
In a modern computing environment there are usually two
kinds of computer classifications when more than one is
connected together to create a network. The server is the
computer which provides data and is the central repository,
and/or gatekeeper between multiple "client" computers. A
server can also be called a "host" because it hosts the data
"served" to "clients."
Server Side Includes
Server side includes (or SSI) is a set of tags which can be
used within HTML pages to be replaced by something else,
added ("included") by the server. An example might be that
you have one file with copyright information which goes on
the bottom of every page. By using a SSI tag, you could tell
the server to replace every tag on every page with the
copyright information. The benefit is that you could have
one file containing the copyright information that gets
placed on hundreds of pages on your site. By updating the
single page, all the others are instantly updated when
loaded by the server. On most servers you must use a
filename extension of ".shtml" in order for SSI tags to
operate.
Shell Account
A UNIX shell account to their shared server Web site, allows
a customers to update their Web site content using Telnet.
T-1
A leased-line connection capable of carrying data at
1,544,000 bits-per-second. At maximum theoretical capacity,
a T-1 line could move a megabyte in less than 10 seconds.
That is still not fast enough for full-screen, full-motion
video, for which you need at least 10,000,000
bits-per-second.
T-3
A leased-line connection capable of carrying data at
44,736,000 bits-per-second. This is more than enough to do
full-screen, full-motion video.
Telnet
The command and program used to login from one Internet site
to another. The telnet command/program gets you to the
login: prompt of another host.
Transfer
Total amount of data transferred from the customer's Web
site to clients. Includes all HTML, Web pages, images,
sounds, videos, etc. See Data Transfer.
UNIX
An operating system used on business-class computers
typically used as "servers" which serve databases, websites,
or other corporate applications. UNIX has numerous variants
including IRIX (SGI), Solaris (Sun), and derivitives
including Linux, Apple OSX, and others.
URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
The standard way to give the address of any resource on the
Internet that is part of the World Wide Web (WWW). A URL
looks like this: http://www.NeotropeHosting.com/index.shtml
Virtual Hosting
Virtual hosting describes a remote web server which is
"host" to numerous domain names, where each domain name
owner has all of the features of having a dedicated (on
site) server. Virtual hosting provides for most of the same
features of a dedicated server but is located in a high
speed dedicated data center costing millions of dollars. The
cost to maintain a virtual server for each site owner is a
fraction of the cost of a dedicated server, with most of the
benefits.
Web Server
A computer, or a software package, that provides a specific
kind of service to client software running on other
computers. The term can refer to a particular piece of
software (such as Apache or WebStar) or to the machine on
which the software is running.
Web Site
A Web site is a collection of Web pages that reside together
on the World Wide Web and are connected. Web site also
refers to the server space allocated to a specific customer
in a shared "virtual" server environment.
NeotropeHosting.com would be a "Web site," while the page
you are reading now would be a "Web page."
Web Site Traffic Reporting
Reporting software to provide information such as the
frequency of hits, page views, amount of data transfer, and
total transfer sizes. Popular reporting tools include
Analog, Webalizer, and WebTrends
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