Web Hosting Glossary

The amount of data that can be transferred between your website and visitors over a period of time.

Content Delivery Network. A distributed network of servers that delivers web content based on user geographic location.

Domain Name System. The system that translates human-readable domain names into IP addresses.

The address people type to access your website, like example.com.

File Transfer Protocol. A method for uploading and downloading files to and from a server.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. A secure version of HTTP that encrypts data between browser and server.

A unique numerical address assigned to every device connected to the internet.

A digital certificate that authenticates a website and enables encrypted connections.

A website with fixed content that displays the same for every visitor, built with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

A prefix added to your domain name, like blog.example.com, often used to organize different sections.

The percentage of time a server is operational and accessible. Higher is better.

Software or hardware that stores website files and serves them to visitors upon request.

A permanent redirect that tells browsers and search engines a page has moved to a new URL, passing most SEO value to the destination.

An HTTP status code meaning the requested page was not found on the server.

An additional domain hosted on the same hosting account as your primary domain.

A widely used open-source web server software that serves websites over HTTP and HTTPS.

Application Programming Interface. A set of rules that lets software applications communicate with each other.

A copy of your website files and data stored separately so you can restore them if something goes wrong.

Temporary storage of frequently accessed data to speed up website loading times.

Hosting that uses a network of virtual servers to provide scalable, flexible resources on demand.

Content Management System. Software like WordPress that lets you create and manage website content without coding.

A popular web hosting control panel for managing domains, files, email, and databases.

Distributed Denial of Service. An attack that overwhelms a server with traffic to make a site unavailable.

A physical server used exclusively by one customer, offering maximum performance and control.

A platform for packaging applications in containers that run consistently across different environments.

A company accredited to sell and manage domain name registrations.

A service that hosts email accounts on your domain, such as [email protected].

A company that provides server space and services to make websites accessible on the internet.

The latest version of the Internet Protocol, providing a vastly larger address space than IPv4.

A modern web architecture using JavaScript, APIs, and Markup, often with static site generation and CDNs.

An open-source system for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications.

Distributes incoming traffic across multiple servers to improve reliability and performance.

Hosting where the provider handles server maintenance, updates, security, and technical support.

A popular open-source relational database used by many websites and applications.

A server that translates domain names into IP addresses, directing traffic to the correct host.

A server-side scripting language commonly used for dynamic websites and WordPress.

An in-memory data store often used for caching and session management to speed up web apps.

Hosting where multiple websites share resources on a single server, typically the most affordable option.

Secure Shell. An encrypted protocol for securely accessing and managing remote servers.

Transport Layer Security. The protocol behind HTTPS that encrypts data between browser and server.

Virtual Private Server. A virtualized server with dedicated resources, bridging shared and dedicated hosting.

The world's most popular CMS, powering blogs, business sites, and e-commerce stores.

A file listing all pages on your site to help search engines discover and index your content.

A DNS record that maps a domain or subdomain to an IPv4 address.

A physical server dedicated to a single tenant with no virtualization layer.

A DNS record that aliases one domain name to another canonical hostname.

Renting space in a data center to house your own servers with power, cooling, and connectivity.

Managed hosting service that runs and maintains database servers for your applications.

Moving data from one database system or host to another with minimal downtime.

A copy of database contents stored separately so data can be restored after failure.

Security measures that filter malicious traffic floods before they overwhelm your server.

The time it takes for updated DNS records to spread across global nameservers.

Configuration entries that control how a domain resolves email, web traffic, and verification.

A service that hides your personal WHOIS contact details from public domain lookups.

Moving a registered domain from one registrar to another.

Processing data closer to users at network edge locations to reduce latency.

Outbound data transferred from your hosting server to visitors or external services.

A security tool that blocks IP addresses after repeated failed login attempts.

Network security that controls incoming and outgoing traffic based on defined rules.

Software used to upload, download, and manage files on a remote server via FTP or SFTP.

A method to compress web files before transfer so pages load faster.

Prevents other websites from embedding your hosted images and draining bandwidth.

A web interface for managing domains, files, databases, and email on your hosting account.

A newer HTTP protocol that multiplexes requests over one connection for faster page loads.

The latest HTTP version built on QUIC for improved speed and connection reliability.

An Apache configuration file in a website folder for redirects, security, and URL rules.

Internet Information Services. Microsoft web server software for hosting sites on Windows.

Inbound data sent to your server from visitors, APIs, or external services.

The delay between a user request and the server response, measured in milliseconds.

A high-performance web server and cache stack often used for WordPress hosting.

Web hosting that runs on Linux operating systems, common for PHP and open-source stacks.

Automated checks that detect malicious code or infected files on a hosted website.

Hosting optimized and maintained specifically for WordPress with updates and security handled.

A DNS record that directs email for your domain to the correct mail servers.

Popular open-source web server and reverse proxy known for handling high traffic efficiently.

Hosting environment configured to run JavaScript applications with the Node.js runtime.

Scalable storage for files and media accessed via URLs, often used with static sites and backups.

The primary server where your website files live before a CDN serves cached copies.

A registered domain that shows a placeholder page instead of a full website.

A web-based tool for managing MySQL and MariaDB databases on shared hosting.

The live server setup that serves real visitors and must stay stable and secure.

A transport protocol that powers HTTP/3 with faster handshakes and better mobile performance.

A hosting plan that lets you sell sub-accounts to clients under your own brand.

A server that sits in front of your app, handling SSL, caching, and load distribution.

A file that tells search engine crawlers which pages they may or may not index.

The base domain without subdomains, such as example.com.

Continuous tracking of server health, uptime, CPU, memory, and response times.

Secure File Transfer Protocol. Encrypted method to upload and manage files on a server.

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. Standard protocol for sending email from your domain.

A private copy of your site for testing changes before pushing them live.

Hosting for HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files without server-side processing.

A DNS record used for domain verification, SPF email policies, and other text metadata.

Automated checks that alert you when your website becomes unreachable.

A server configuration that hosts multiple websites on one machine with separate domains.

Web Application Firewall. Filters malicious HTTP traffic targeting web applications.

The service that stores website files and makes them accessible on the internet.

A public lookup database showing domain registration details and ownership contacts.

A DNS setup where any subdomain automatically resolves, such as *.example.com.

Web hosting on Windows Server, often used for ASP.NET and MSSQL applications.

Hosting tuned for WordPress with one-click installs, caching, and PHP optimization.