Understanding Web Hosting Service Technical Terms
A Web Hosting Article Contributed by Frances Rhea
Technical Terms of Web Hosting Service
New Web site owners often are not sure of the technical terms used by their Web Hosting service. This article will address some of these terms to help you understand what some of they mean.
Web Hosting Service Scripting Terms
CGI, the Common Gateway Interface, permits interactivity between a browser and the Web host. This allows a Web page visitor to implement a program on the server to perform a specified task. One of these tasks is submitting a form to collect information supplied by the visitor.
The difference between having CGI forms and CGI access is the ability to run any script you choose or only having specific forms pre-installed. Sometimes, rather than full CGI access, the hosting service will provide some popular CGI forms, such as a guestbook or formmail. With CGI access, you can upload and customize any CGI scripts.
Design services can cover anything from creating or changing the layout of your Web site to the creation of a logo.
Real server is software that allows streaming of audio and video with the Real Networks format.
An NT server is needed if you use Active Server Pages (ASP).
PHP needs a Unix host. Unix refers to any of the servers that use the Unix protocols such as Apache, Solaris, BSD, and Linux.
Microsoft FrontPage is a web-editing tool. To make full use of its features, your host must have FrontPage Server Extensions installed. It is possible to use FrontPage without these extensions, but you will lose access to some features.
Database support is usually SQL or MySQL. This is used for PHP, ASP and ecommerce Web sites.
There is a difference between traffic logs and traffic reports. The file that contains the record of every visitor is a traffic log. This file is a series of numbers that must be processed by log analysis software. The generated file is the traffic report.
Web Hosting Service Domain Terms
Multi-homing is when the same Web site is the home for more than one domain name.
DNS, Domain Name Server, is the global system browsers use to find Web sites. When DNS is hosted, it means the domain name is pointing to the correct Web site. When DNS is parked, it is a temporary place to point the domain name until the completed Web site is ready.
Web Hosting Service Email Terms
Email forwarding is the automatic transfer of email to an email you indicate. This can be used to hide your personal email address.
An email auto responder is an automatic message sent to an incoming message.
Email list processing is used to send newsletters or announcements to a list of email names. You must collect your own names and use the list processor to send to everyone on the list.
Email POP SMTP processing is email account hosting. It requires the DNS for email be configured to receive incoming email (POP). You would need this service if your Web site is your main business.
