Buying web hosting is like purchasing a new computer — there are many different terms you need to be familiar with in order to make the best choice. In order to pick a hosting package that is fits the needs of your site, you need to understand a variety of technical terms and concepts. This article is your crash course in web hosting terminology.
- Bandwidth / Data Transfer
- Control Panel
- Cron Job / Scheduled Jobs
- Databases
- Dedicated Hosting
- Domain Name
- FTP & SFTP
- IP Address
- One-Click Installs
- POP & IMAP
- Programming Languages
- Raw Logs
- Shopping Cart
- SSL
- Storage Capacity
- Subdomains
- Telnet & SSH
- Uptime
- Virtual Host / Shared Hosting
- Webmail
Bandwidth / Data Transfer
Bandwidth, or more accurately “data transfer”, is the maximum amount of data your site may upload and download each month.
Ex. 1: You create a web page that consists of 5 KB of HTML, a number of image files totaling 150 KB, an 8 KB stylesheet, and 6 KB of external JavaScript. That is a total of 169 KB. You log into your web host via FTP and upload all of these files — you have used 169 KB of bandwidth/transfer.
Ex. 2: Let’s say over the course of the month, 500 people look at the web page described in example 1. 169 KB × 200 = 84.5 MB … you have used up another 84.5 MB of your monthly transfer allotment.
Ex. 3: The same web page from examples 1 & 2 is posted to the front page of Digg.com, and is requested 20,000 times. 169 KB × 20,000 = 3,380,000 KB. You just used up a little more than 3 gigabytes of transfer.
If you set up e-mail addresses through your web host, some companies count the traffic generated by sending and receiving e-mail as part of your monthly transfer allotment. Others will give you a separate transfer limit for e-mail. Make sure to read the fine print in order to find out how your host treats e-mail traffic.
The consequences for going over your monthly transfer allotment vary from host to host… again, read the fine print. Some companies will disable your site, while others will charge you overage fees.
Editor’s note: this is not a technical definition of bandwidth, because technically it is incorrect. I use the word “bandwidth” here because it is so commonly used to describe monthly transfer allotments when talking about web hosting. When you get into hosting high-traffic sites, the true meaning of bandwidth comes into play — it refers to the capacity of your site’s connection to transfer data, and is measured in kilobits or megabits per second.
Control Panel
A Control Panel is software (frequently web-based software) that provides a simplified interface for managing ones web hosting account. Operations such as creating e-mail accounts, registering domains, setting up new hosting, and opening support tickets are often accomplished through Control Panel software.
Cron Job / Scheduled Jobs
The ability to “schedule jobs” allows you to have your web server perform operations and run programs and commands at predefined intervals, automatically. For example, an e-commerce site may need to schedule a job that performs recurring billing on the 30th day of every month. “Cron” is one of the most commonly used scheduling services in the UNIX world.
Databases
Dynamic web pages and web applications frequently make use of databases in order to store and query data. Databases systems commonly found in web hosting environments include:
Dedicated Hosting
A dedicated hosting plan is one in which the customer has complete control over the server, and does not share its resources with any of the hosting company’s other clients.
Domain Name
Simply put, a domain name is the .com, .net, or .org name that visitors use in order to address your site. Of course domain names are no longer limited to .com, .net, and .org — there are a great variety of top level domains currently available, for example .info, .biz, and .name.
FTP & SFTP
FTP and SFTP are protocols that allow you to use special file transfer software in order to upload files to your web hosting account. FTP is a widespread but insecure protocol — it transfers everything, including your password, in plain text. SFTP is a more secure method of transferring files. Some common FTP and SFTP clients are:
Windows Explorer also has FTP capabilities. Mac OS X’s Finder can download from FTP sites, but cannot upload to them or modify their contents.
Many advanced text editors and programming environments have built-in FTP and SFTP functionality, allowing you to directly edit files stored on your web hosting account.
IP Address
An IP address is a numerical address used to identify a computer on a network. Domain names make it possible for humans to address your website without knowing its IP address. Small websites on shared hosting usually have the same IP address as the other sites hosted on the server, while larger sites have their own IPs. If you would like further explanation, read “What is an IP Address?“
One-Click Installs
One-click installs are “extras” or “goodies” offered by a hosting company. Through the company’s control panel, one is able to easily install popular software such as content management systems, photo galleries, e-commerce applications, and more. Some examples of software commonly featured by web hosting companies as one-click installs are:
POP & IMAP
POP and IMAP are protocols that allow you to check your e-mail with desktop clients such as Outlook, Thunderbird, and Mail. Check out “E-mail Explained: The Difference Between IMAP and POP” for a more in-depth explanation of the difference between POP and IMAP.
Programming Languages
Dynamic websites — sites whose output is affected by variable user input — require more sophisticated programming than static HTML files. Some of the most common technologies used to create dynamic web pages and web applications are:
Raw Logs
Every time a file is requested from your site, the web server software records information about that transaction in a log file. A log entry typically includes the IP address of the person making the request, the date and time, the path to the file which was requested, and the response sent by the server.
There are many uses for raw logs, the most common of which is analyzing traffic. Analytics companies and software may request your logs in order to produce a report regarding how much traffic your site receives and where it originates.
On the down side, you may receive a court order for your server logs if you are accused of hosting illegal or copyright-infringing materials.
Shopping Cart
A shopping cart is e-commerce software that allows one to setup and run an online store. You will frequently find osCommerce available from many web hosting companies.
SSL
SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer, which is a protocol for using cryptography to secure communications between a website and a user. Any transaction that includes the exchange of sensitive personal or financial information should be done in a secure manner.
Storage Capacity
Storage capacity, also called disk usage, is the total amount of files you are allowed to store with your web hosting account. Storage capacity is commonly measure in megabytes, gigabytes, or terabytes. The files constituting the web page described in Bandwidth example #1 would consume 169 KB of your storage allotment. The number of times that web page is viewed over time does not have an effect on your usage of storage capacity.
Some web hosts consider the size of your e-mail accounts and databases as part of your disk space usage. Others will give you separate limits for e-mail, databases, and other such extras. Read the fine print or ask your host how they treat these things.
What happens when you exhaust your storage capacity depends upon your web hosting company’s policy. Some hosts will prevent you from storing any more data until you free up space (or upgrade your account). Others may allow you to continue exceeding your limit, and begin charging overage fees. Guess what you should do… read the fine print!
Subdomains
A subdomain is a smaller domain that is part of your larger domain name. Subdomains are treated as separate websites by many search engines, which makes them popular for hosting additional features that a site owner does not wish to be ranked alongside their main content. For example, an e-commerce store may be hosted at http://shop.example.com, and message boards may be hosted at http://forums.example.com.
Telnet & SSH
Telnet and SSH are two protocols that allow you to log into your web server and manipulate files and settings, run commands, and perform various other command line operations on the contents of your account. The difference between Telnet and SSH is similar to that of FTP and SFTP — Telnet is insecure and unencrypted, while SSH is more secure and uses encryption.
Uptime
Many web hosting companies advertised a guaranteed uptime — that is, a guaranteed amount of time per month that your site is available to its visitors. If a machine or service fails and your site is unresponsive to its visitors, that is considered “downtime”. Discount web hosting plans often feature more downtime than expensive plans targeted at big businesses and mission-critical applications. In other words, you pay for what you get.
By the way, no web host is going to advertise 100% uptime. If one did they would open themselves up to lawsuits, since some amount of downtime is inevitable.
Virtual Host / Shared Hosting
Virtual Hosting enables a hosting company to maximize their resources by hosting multiple clients on shared hardware. If you are paying a few dollars a month for basic web hosting, odds are there are many, many other clients sharing the server that hosts your site.
Webmail
A host that provides webmail allows you to check your e-mail from any Internet-connected computer through a web browser. You will be given the URL to the host’s webmail system, and a username and password for logging in. Google’s Gmail and Microsoft’s Windows Live Hotmail are examples of webmail interfaces.
