Web Hosting Glossary And Terms

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Access
Microsoft's advanced database creation and maintenance software. It is very popular among developers who maintain online databases with Windows NT.

Active Server Page - ASP
ASPs are HTML documents embedded with scripts (typically Microsoft's VB Script or Jscript). These scripts are processed by the server prior to being transferred to the user.

Asynchronous Transfer Mode - ATM
International sandard for cell relay in which multiple service types (such as voice, video, or data) are conveyed in fixed-length (53-byte) cells. Fixed-length cells allow cell processing to occur in hardware, thereby reducing transit delays. ATM is designed to take advantage of high-speed transmission media such as E3, SONET, and T3.

ActiveX
A set of properties that define how applications are to share information with each other. These properties are known as controls.

ADSL
Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line - A method for moving data over regular phone lines. An ADSL circuit is much faster than a regular phone connection, and the wires coming into the subscriber's premises are the same (copper) wires used for regular phone service. An ADSL circuit must be configured to connect two specific locations, similar to a leased line.

Aliased Nameservers
An aliased nameserver is a nameserver that has been labeled as yours (the reseller's) despite the fact it actually belongs to your Web hosting provider. This ensures that domains located on your server are listed as "ns.yourservername.com" instead of "ns.yourprovidersname.com". Also see NAMESERVER below.

Anonymous FTP
Anonymous File Transfer Protocol allows the public to log into an FTP server with a common login (usually "ftp" or "anonymous" and any password (usually the person's e-mail address is used as the password). Anonymous FTP is benefitial for the distribution of large files to the public, avoiding the need to assign large numbers of login and password combinations for FTP access.

Apache
One of the world's most popular Web server programs, Apache was built by a group of open-source programmers and is often used because of its outstanding performance, strong security features and the fact that it is free.

Applet
A small Java program that can be embedded in an HTML page. Applets differ from full-fledged Java applications in that they are not allowed to access certain resources on the local computer, such as files and serial devices (modems, printers, etc.), and are prohibited from communicating with most other computers across a network. The current rule is that an applet can only make an Internet connection to the computer from which the applet was sent.

ASCII
American Standard Code for Information Interchange - This is the de facto world-wide standard for the code numbers used by computers to represent all the upper and lower-case Latin letters, numbers, punctuation, etc. There are 128 standard ASCII codes each of which can be represented by a 7 digit binary number: 0000000 through 1111111, plus parity.

Backbone
A high-speed line or series of connections that forms a major pathway within a network. The term is relative, as a backbone in a small network will likely be much smaller than many non-backbone lines in a large network.

Bandwidth
The difference between the highest and lowest frequencies available for network signals. The term is also used to describe the rated throughput capacity of a given network medium or protocol. In short, bandwidth is a loose term used to describe the throughput capacity (measured in Kilobits or Megabits per second) of a specific circuit.

Baud
Unit of signaling speed equal to the number of discrete signal elements transmited per second. Baud is synonymous with bits per second (bps). In common usage the baud rate of a modem is how many bits it can send or receive per second. Technically, baud is the number of times per second that the carrier signal shifts value - for example a 1200 bit-per-second modem actually runs at 300 baud, but it moves 4 bits per baud (4 x 300 = 1200 bits per second).

BBS
Bulletin Board System - A computerized meeting and announcement system that allows people to carry on discussions, upload and download files, and make announcements without the people being connected to the computer at the same time. There are many thousands (millions?) of BBS's around the world, most are very small, running on a single IBM clone PC with 1 or 2 phone lines. Some are very large and the line between a BBS and a system like CompuServe gets crossed at some point, but it is not clearly drawn.

Binhex
(BINary HEXadecimal) -- A method for converting non-text files (non-ASCII) into ASCII. This is needed because Internet e-mail can only handle ASCII.

Bit
(Binary DigIT) -- A single digit number in base-2, in other words, either a 1 or a zero. The smallest unit of computerized data. Bandwidth is usually measured in bits-per-second.

BITNET
(Because It's Time NETwork (or Because It's There NETwork)) -- A network of educational sites separate from the Internet, but e-mail is freely exchanged between BITNET and the Internet. Listservs, the most popular form of e-mail discussion groups, originated on BITNET. BITNET machines are usually mainframes running the VMS operating system, and the network is probably the only international network that is shrinking.

Bps
Bits-Per-Second - A measurement of how fast data is moved from one place to another. A 28.8 modem can move 28,800 bits per second.

Browser
Client software that is used to look at various kinds of Internet resources. Examples include Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Netscape's Navigator.

BTW
By The Way - A shorthand appended to a comment written in an online forum.

Byte
A set of Bits that represent a single character. Usually there are 8 Bits in a Byte, sometimes more, depending on how the measurement is being made.

CGI
Short for Common Gateway Interface, a small script that processes data taken from the user (such as from a form application).

Cgi-bin
The directory on a Web server where CGI scripts are stored.

Client
A software program that is used to contact and obtain data from a server software program on another computer, often across a great distance. Each client program is designed to work with one or more specific kinds of server programs, and each server requires a specific kind of client. A web browser and an FTP program are specific kinds of clients.

Co-located hosting
This hosting option gives webmasters complete control over their server. You are responsible for providing the physical hardware and network administration; the hosting company will provide you with the rack space and Internet connection.

Cold Fusion
Cold Fusion is a scripting language for web designers that want wish to do advanced development and/or database interfacing. Cold Fusion supports MS Access, dBASE, FoxPro, and Paradox databases.

Cookie
A text file sent to a user's Web browser from a Web server. Cookies are typically exchanged back and forth between the two in order to prepare custom content for users, and to exchange data like registration information.

Cyberspace
Term originated by author William Gibson in his novel Neuromancer the word Cyberspace is currently used to describe the whole range of information resources available through computer networks.

DNS
Domain Naming System - The DNS is a distributed, replicated that allows nameservers to map easily remembered domain names to an IP number.

Dedicated hosting
A hosting feature that allows a Web site to have its own server. This is more flexible than shared hosting (see below), as webmasters typically have full control over the back end of the server, including choice of OS. Administration, however, is still handled by the hosting company.

Diesel Generator
A diesel-powered generator used by hosting companies as a back-up source to generate electricity in the event of a power outage.

Domain names
Domain names are the word sequences users enter in their URL bar to visit your site. They are attached to a DNS, short for Domain Naming System, which is used to translate numeric addresses (known as IP, or Internet Protocol, addresses) into words. Each site you visit on the net has a numeric IP address behind its name.

E-Commerce
Electronic Commerce. Refers to the general exchange of goods and services via the Internet.

E-mail Electronic Mail - Messages, usually text, sent from one person to another via computer. E-mail can also be sent automatically to a large number of addresses (Mailing List).

Ethernet
A very common method of networking computers in a LAN. Ethernet will handle about 10,000,000 bits-per-second and can be used with almost any kind of computer.

FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions - FAQs are documents that list and answer the most common questions on a particular subject. There are hundreds of FAQs on subjects as diverse as Pet Grooming and Cryptography. FAQs are usually written by people who have tired of answering the same question over and over.

FDDI
Fiber Distributed Data Interface - A standard for transmitting data on optical fiber cables at a rate of around 100,000,000 bits-per-second.

Finger
An Internet software tool for locating people on other Internet sites. Finger is also sometimes used to give access to non-personal information, but the most common use is to see if a person has an account at a particular Internet site. Many sites do not allow incoming Finger requests, but many do.

Firewall
A piece of security software designed to protect Web servers. They are typically used to protect sites from hacker attacks/unauthorized access.

Flame
Originally, flame meant to carry forth in a passionate manner in the spirit of honorable debate. Flames most often involved the use of flowery language and flaming well was an art form. More recently flame has come to refer to any kind of derogatory comment no matter how witless or crude.

Flash
A popular piece of animation software developed by Macromedia. Flash is widely used on the Web because it requires little bandwidth, therefore making it friendly to users with low or high-speed connections.

FrontPage
A popular site design and management tool developed by Microsoft.

FTP
Short for File Transfer Protocol, a method of allowing remote users and Web servers to exchange files.

Gateway
The technical meaning is a hardware or software set-up that translates between two dissimilar protocols, for example Prodigy has a gateway that translates between its internal, proprietary e-mail format and Internet e-mail format. Another, sloppier meaning of gateway is to describe any mechanism for providing access to another system, e.g. AOL might be called a gateway to the Internet.

Gigabyte 1024 Megabytes

Gopher
A widely successful method of making menus of material available over the Internet. Gopher is a Client and Server style program, which requires that the user have a Gopher Client program. Although Gopher spread rapidly across the globe in only a couple of years, it has been largely supplanted by Hypertext, also known as WWW (World Wide Web). There are still thousands of Gopher Servers on the Internet and we can expect they will remain for a while.

Hit
As used in reference to the World Wide Web, 'hit' means a single request from a web browser for a single item from a web server; thus in order for a web browser to display a page that contains 3 graphics, 4 'hits' would occur at the server: 1 for the HTML page, and one for each of the 3 graphics. 'hits' are often used as a very rough measure of load on a server, e.g. 'Our server has been getting 300,000 hits per month.' Because each 'hit' can represent anything from a request for a tiny document (or even a request for a missing document) all the way to a request that requires some significant extra processing (such as a complex search request), the actual load on a machine from 1 hit is almost impossible to define.

Home Page
Several meanings. Originally, the web page that your browser is set to use when it starts up. The more common meaning refers to the main web page for a business, organization, person or simply the main page out of a collection of web pages, e.g. 'Check out so-and-so's new Home Page.' Another sloppier use of the term refers to practically any web page as a 'homepage,' e.g. 'That web site has 65 homepages and none of them are interesting.'

Host
Any computer on a network that is a repository for services available to other computers on the network. It is quite common to have one host machine provide several services, such as WWW and USENET.

Hosting
This term can be used to refer to the housing of a web site, email or a domain. See Email hosting and Web Site hosting for more details.

HTML
HyperText Markup Language - The coding language used to create Hypertext documents for use on the World Wide Web. HTML looks a lot like old-fashioned typesetting code, where you surround a block of text with codes that indicate how it should appear, additionally, in HTML you can specify that a block of text, or a word, is linked to another file on the Internet. HTML files are meant to be viewed using a World Wide Web Client Program, such as Netscape or Mosaic.

HTTP
HyperText Transport Protocol - The protocol for moving hypertext files across the Internet. Requires a HTTP client program on one end, and an HTTP server program on the other end. HTTP is the most important protocol used in the World Wide Web (WWW).

Hypertext
Generally, any text that contains links to other documents - words or phrases in the document that can be chosen by a reader and which cause another document to be retrieved and displayed.

Index Server
Index Server indexes the contents and properties of documents on an Internet or intranet Web site served by IIS 4.0. Index Server enables Web clients with any browser to search a Web site by filling in the fields of an HTML query form.

Internet
(Upper case I) The vast collection of inter-connected networks that all use the TCP/IP protocols and that evolved from the ARPANET of the late 60's and early 70's. The Internet now (July 1995) connects roughly 60,000 independent networks into a vast global internet.

internet
(Lower case i) Any time you connect 2 or more networks together, you have an internet - as in inter-national or inter-state.

InterNIC
InterNIC (now known as Network Solutions) currently holds an exclusive contract with the U.S. government to assign domain names for .COM, .NET and .ORG. The contract is scheduled to expire September 30, 1998. Network Solutions is the company that runs the InterNIC registry.

IIS
Short for Internet Information Server, Microsoft's server software for Windows NT/2000.

Intranet
A vast internal network structured in a fashion similar to the Internet. Intranets are usually established by large corporate organizations to improve communication. The main difference between the Internet and an intranet is that access to intranets are restricted to authorized members only.

IP
Short for Internet Protocol, which designates the format of "data packets" that are used to exchange information over the Internet.

IRC
Short for Internet Relay Chat, a popular text-base multi-user chat network.

ISDN
Short for Integrated Services Digital Network, a high-speed solution to moving data over phone lines. It can transfer data at approximately 128,000 bits per second over a standard land line.

Java
Java is a network-oriented programming language invented by Sun Microsystems that is specifically designed for writing programs that can be safely downloaded to your computer through the Internet and immediately run without fear of viruses or other harm to your computer or files. Using small Java programs (called "Applets"), Web pages can include functions such as animations, calculators, and other fancy tricks. We can expect to see a huge variety of features added to the Web using Java, since you can write a Java program to do almost anything a regular computer program can do, and then include that Java program in a Web page.

JDK
Java Development Kit - A software development package from Sun Microsystems that implements the basic set of tools needed to write, test and debug Java applications and applets

Kilobyte
A thousand bytes. Actually, usually 1024 (210) bytes.

LAN
Local Area Network - A computer network limited to the immediate area, usually the same building or floor of a building.

Leased-line
Refers to a phone line that is rented for exclusive 24-hour, 7 -days-a-week use from your location to another location. The highest speed data connections require a leased line.

Listserv
The most common kind of maillist, Listservs originated on BITNET but they are now common on the Internet.

Local Registry Fees
Most TLDs require initial registration fees as well as annual or bi-annual renewal fees. Prices vary from cost-free to thousands of dollars per domain depending on the TLD chosen. For example, .COM domains cost which covers the first two years. Re newal fees for .COM are annually after the first two years expire.

Load Balancing
Distributing data across a network of servers in order to ensure that a single Web server does not get overloaded with work, thereby affecting performance.

Login
Noun or a verb. Noun: The account name used to gain access to a computer system. Not a secret (contrast with Password). Verb: The act of entering into a computer system, e.g. Login to the WELL and then go to the GBN conference.

Managed hosting
A dedicated server that is accompanied by a full suite of technical support, maintenance and monitoring services. This differs from dedicated Web hosting, where customers are provided with their own servers but are still responsible for virtually all administrative and maintenance duties.

Maillist
A (usually automated) system that allows people to send e-mail to one address, whereupon their message is copied and sent to all of the other subscribers to the maillist. In this way, people who have many different kinds of e-mail access can participate in discussions together.

Megabyte
A million bytes. A thousand kilobytes.

MIDI
Musical Instrument Digital Interface -- A network and accompanying protocol developed in the 1970's for tranmitting various information between musical and other devices including keyboards, samplers, lights, controllers, etc.

MIME
Short for Multipurpose Internet Email Extensions, a protocol that allows users to transfer non-text messages like audio, video and images through e-mail.

Mirror sites
A mirror site is an exact copy of another FTP or Web site. These are used to offset/spread traffic load on busy Web sites.

MS Index Server
An add-on for Microsoft Internet Information server (see above) that indexes documents on Web or Intranet servers running IIS. The information is then presented to users in a searchable format.

NT
Windows NT® is Microsoft's® 32-bit operating system developed from what was originally intended to be OS/2 3.0 before Microsoft ®and IBM ceased joint development of OS/2. Used by web hosting companies in the network environment to offer customers support for Microsoft base products such as MS Access®, MS SQL® 7.0, and FrontPage® 2000.

Name server
A server responsible for translating domain names and IP addresses.

Netiquette
The etiquette on the Internet.

Netizen
Derived from the term citizen, referring to a citizen of the Internet, or someone who uses networked resources. The term connotes civic responsibility and participation.

Netscape®
A WWW Browser and the name of a company. The Netscape (tm) browser was originally based on the Mosaic program developed at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). Netscape has grown in features rapidly and is widely recognized as the best and most popular web browser. Netscape corporation also produces web server software. Netscape provided major improvements in speed and interface over other browsers, and has also engendered debate by creating new elements for the HTML language used by Web pages -- but the Netscape extensions to HTML are not universally supported. The main author of Netscape, Mark Andreessen, was hired away from the NCSA by Jim Clark, and they founded a company called Mosaic Communications and soon changed the name to Netscape Communications Corporation.

Network
Any time you connect 2 or more computers together so that they can share resources, you have a computer network. Connect 2 or more networks together and you have an internet.

Newsgroup
A USENET discussion group (see below).

NOC
Short for Network Operations Center, a hosting company's "home base," so to speak. The NOC is usually where most administration, technical support and physical server storage takes place. For more information, please refer to our article, Inside the NOC, here.

OC
Short for Optical Carrier, representing the speed of fiber-optic networks. OC speeds can range anywhere between 1 and 48. Most hosting companies have OC3 connections, which allows for the transfer of data at a rate of up to 155.52 Mbps.

Packet switching
The method by which most data is exchanged throughout the Internet. Most data is broken down in to smaller "packets" prior to transfer, and then reassembled at the destination.

Parking
All domain names have to be stored on a server in order to be purchased. Most domain registration services will therefore temporarily place a newly purchased name on their servers until a hosting plan is purchased or the owner points the DNS to a different site. This is known as parking.

Password
A code used to gain access to a locked system. Good passwords contain letters and non-letters and are not simple combinations such as virtue7. A good password might be: Hot-6

Plug-in
A (usually small) piece of software that adds features to a larger piece of software. Common examples are plug-ins for the Netscape® browser and web server. Adobe Photoshop® also uses plug-ins. The idea behind plug-in's is that a small piece of software is loaded into memory by the larger program, adding a new feature, and that users need only install the few plug-ins that they need, out of a much larger pool of possibilities. Plug-ins are usually developed by a third party.

POP
Short for Post Office Protocol. An e-mail protocol that mail software such as Eudora use to communicate with mail servers.

Port
3 meanings. First and most generally, a place where information goes into or out of a computer, or both. E.g. the serial port on a personal computer is where a modem would be connected. On the Internet port often refers to a number that is part of a URL, appearing after a colon (:) right after the domain name. Every service on an Internet server listens on a particular port number on that server. Most services have standard port numbers, e.g. Web servers normally listen on port 80. Services can also listen on non-standard ports, in which case the port number must be specified in a URL when accessing the server.

Posting
A single message entered into a network communications system. E.g. A single message posted to a newsgroup or message board. See Also: Newsgroup

PPP
Point to Point Protocol - Most well known as a protocol that allows a computer to use a regular telephone line and a modem to make TCP/IP connections and thus be really and truly on the Internet.

Propagation
The process where name servers throughout the Internet add new domains and remove expired ones from their records. This can be a lengthy process, which is why connecting to a new domain name can often take three or four days.

RAID
Short for Redundant Array of Independent Disks, a method of data protection/backup. Data is stored over a number of servers so that information will still be accessible if a piece of hardware/software crashes.

Real Audio / Real Video
Real Audio/Real Video enables users of personal computers and other consumer electronic devices to send and receive audio, video and other multimedia services using the Web. enable users of personal computers and other consumer electronic devices to send and receive audio, video and other multimedia services using the Web.

Register (Domain Name)
Since every domain is unique, registries have been set up to assign domains to individuals and organziations. When a domain is registered with the appropriate registry, that domain is assigned and becomes no longer available for anyone else to use. Typically, there are registration and renewal fees (local registry fees) associated with the right to use a domain. However, there are some TLDs that are provided at no charge.

Registrant (Domain Name)
The entity, organization or individual that will be using the domain name.

Registrar (Domain Name)
Some registries don't provide the ability for end users to register domains with them directly. They might require end users to purchase the domain through an internet provider that is acting as the registrar.

Registry (Domain Name)
An organization responsible for assigning domain names for the TLD that they manage. Furthermore, it is their responsibility to update the global DNS tables that all nameservers use to resolve domain names. For example, InterNIC is the registry for .COM, .NET and .ORG domain names.

Renewal (Domain Name)
Most TLDs need to be renewed at some scheduled yearly interval. This is an opportunity for both the registrant and the registry to update their records as well as collect any applicable renewal fees.

Reseller
A reseller operates components of a Web hosting operation using services, infrastructure and equipment provided by another Web hosting service. Some resellers operate full-fledged businesses using the hardware, software, network and logistical support of another Web hosting firm, while others simply operate as sales agents for other Web hosting companies, offering discounts and providing low-level technical support.

Resolution (Domain Name)
The conversion of an internet address or domain name into the corresponding physical location.

RFC
Request For Comments - The name of the result and the process for creating a standard on the Internet. New standards are proposed and published on line, as a Request For Comments. The Internet Engineering Task Force is a consensus-building body that facilitates discussion, and eventually a new standard is established, but the reference number/name for the standard retains the acronym RFC, e.g. the official standard for e-mail is RFC 822.

Router
A special-purpose computer (or software package) that handles the connection between 2 or more networks. Routers spend all their time looking at the destination addresses of the packets passing through them and deciding which route to send them on.

Scalability
The ability of a piece of software or hardware to expand/grow as if necessary.

Shared hosting
The most basic of Web hosting types. With shared hosting, numerous Web sites are shared on one server. While an economic solution, they typically cannot handle large amounts of storage or traffic.

Shopping cart
A program designed to handle the e-commerce section of a Web site. Shopping cart software lets users browse for and purchase products online.

SMTP
Short for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, a protocol used by mail servers to exchange messages with each other.

SQL
Short for Standard Query Language. A standard protocol used to request information from databases. Servers which can handle SQL are known as SQL servers.

SSL
Short for Secure Sockets Layer, a protocol developed by Netscape to handle and protect confidential/sensitive information required for e-commerce transactions (like credit card numbers). SSL address usually begin with 'https'.

Subdomain
Typically known as a "domain within a domain", subdomains are individual Web addresses built upon a pre-existing domain name (such as clientname.yourhostingcompany.com). As a reseller, you will have the option of assigning subdomains to clients if they do not choose to have a domain name.

T1 Connection
A phone or data connection that can support the transfer of up to 1.544Mbits of data per second. T1 connections are popular among businesses and ISPs. Most T1s are connected to T3, which can handle up to 43Mbits per second and are actual Internet backbone connections.

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.

Tape back-up
A popular and inexpensive way to back up Web sites. Contents of a site are periodically stored that looks similar to a cassette. Some cassettes can store several gigabytes.

Telnet
A command-line interface that allows remote users and Web servers to communicate.

TCP
Short for Transmission Control Protocol, an important network protocol. TCP allows two hosts to connect and exchange data, and ensures that "data packets" are delivered exactly as sent.

TLD
Shot for Top Level Domain, the suffix for major domain names like .com, .net and .org.

Trademark
As it relates to domain names... a word, phrase or slogan used to identify and distinguish the source of the goods or services. Trademark law may be different worldwide. If someone registers a domain name such as microsoft.to then Microsoft would need to go to the courts in Tonga to fight to get the name back. Expensive international litigation is one reason why it is important to protect your trademarks before someone else registers the names.

Transfer (Domain Name)
On occasion, domains are sold to another organization or sometimes the name of a company might change. Most registries require a letter of permission from the old owner to hand over control to the new owner. The procedures for Transfer of ownership will depend on the registry.

UNIX
A text-based, multitasking Operating System suitable for Web and network administration. Unix has spawned numerous popular spinoffs, including Linux and FreeBSD. Most Unix-based Operating Systems are open source, meaning the source code to the Operating System has been made freely available to the public for modification. Most Web hosting companies and resellers offer Unix-based hosting in some capacity or other.

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.Hosts2002.Com/glossary.html etc.

USENET
A network of thousands of discussion groups (known as newsgroups; see above) on the Internet.

UUENCODE
Short for Unix to Unix Encoding, a method of converting images to ASCII (see above) text in order to be transferred over the Internet.

Virtual host
A shared hosting solution, the most basic of hosting types. Numerous Web sites are shared on one server.

Virtualization
A process/software designed to reduce server management costs through automation, while providing more control over service levels.

Virtual Private Server (VPS)
A virtual private server provides the features of a dedicated server on a machine that is shared by other Web hosting customers. Customers therefore get hosting services that are similar to that of dedicated Web hosting without sacrificing privacy or performance.

WAIS
Wide Area Information Servers - A commercial software package that allows the indexing of huge quantities of information, and then making those indices searchable across networks such as the Internet. A prominent feature of WAIS is that the search results are ranked (scored) according to how relevant the hits are, and that subsequent searches can find more stuff like that last batch and thus refine the search process.

WAN
Wide Area Network - Any internet or network that covers an area larger than a single building or campus.

WHOIS
A central database which tracks all domain name/IP registrations.

Windows NT/2000
These are graphic-based, multitasking Operating Systems developed over the past few years by Microsoft. Both can act as standalone OS for personal computers/workstations, or can serve as an OS for a Web site/network. Most Web hosting companies and resellers offer Windows-based hosting in some capacity or other.

WWW
World Wide Web - Two meanings - First, loosely used: the whole constellation of resources that can be accessed using Gopher, FTP, HTTP, telnet, USENET, WAIS and some other tools. Second, the universe of hypertext servers (HTTP servers) which are the servers that allow text, graphics, sound files, etc. to be mixed together.

XML
Short for Extensible Markup Language. XML is a language allowing developers to create their own markup tags. All XML tags are defined by the programmer, and can be interpreted differently in different applications. For example, the "" tag in HTML means Italics, but could mean anything in XML, depending on the function the developer assigns to it.

Zone file
The group of files that reside on the domain host or nameserver. The zone file designates a domain, its subdomains and mail server.