PalmHost: Web Hosting, Dedicated Servers, Reseller Hosting, Domain Name Registration

Definitions of Common Words in the Hosting Industry

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Alias

A name that points to another name. Aliases are used to make the original name easier to remember or to protect the site's identity.

Apache

An open-source Web server for UNIX, Windows 2000 and other platforms. Apache has become the most popular Web server in use today, due to its powerful feature set and excellent performance. Because the Apache source code and related documentation are freely available, the server can be adapted to meet specific needs.

PalmHost's UNIX platforms are available with Apache 1.3.x.

Applet

An applet is an embedded program on a web site. Applets are usually written in the coding language called Java. They are normally used for creating a virtual object that may move or interact with the web site. An applet is like a small piece of executable code that needs a full application to run it.

ASCII

American Standard Code for Information Interchange: This is the global standard for code numbers used by computers to represent all upper and lower case Latin letters, numbers, and punctuation.

ASP and ASP.NET

Active Server Page. An HTML page that contains scripts (VBScript or JavaScript) that are processed by a Web server before the page displays to the user. ASP pages end with the extension ".asp." Because ASP pages are dynamically generated, they enable you to tailor, or customize, your Web content to the customer.

ASP is a feature of Microsoft® IIS® (Internet Information Server).

ASP.NET, also known as ASP+, is Microsoft's most recent version of ASP and is a feature of Microsoft's IIS (Internet Information Server). Like ASP, ASP.NET enables customization of HTML pages using database queries. ASP.NET, however, supports code written in Visual Basic, C++, C# and Perl. ASP.NET files end with the .aspx extension.

Audio Streaming

Audio Streaming is the process of providing audio content on a web site. This takes up a large amount of bandwidth, especially if you get a lot of visitors at your site. Some hosts do not allow audio or video streaming because of this.

Auto-response

An automated email reply sent in response to each incoming message for a specific email address. This is also known as an "autoresponder." For example, you can use an auto-response to automatically send every customer who contacts you via email a standard "Thank You" email response.

For each email address/alias on your PalmHost account, you can set up a different auto-response.

Availability (Uptime)

Refers to the amount of time within a 24 hour period a system is active or available for servicing requests. For example, if a hosting company says it is available 99.9% of the time, they are claiming that your web site will up all the time except for about 8 seconds each day. Over the course of a year, in this example, the hosting company is claiming that your site will only be unavailable (couldn't surf to it) for 48 minutes.

Back ups

The backing up of data on servers to prevent the loss of data should something happen to the server. If you think you may need to restore old data in case of a disaster, it may make sense to choose regular backups.

Backbone

Backbone is 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. In general, the better the backbone of the hosting company, the better the availability of the web sites that run on their computers.

Bandwidth

The amount of data you can send through a connection, usually measured in bits per second. A full page of English text is about 16,000 bits. A fast modem can move about 15,000 bits in one second.

Banner

An advertisement in the form of graphics (usually rectangular in shape) displayed on a Web page. When viewers click on a banner, they are taken to the advertiser's Website.

Bit

This is the smallest measure of computerized data, either 1 or 0. Eight bits equal one byte, or one character.

Bookmark

The feature of a Web browser that lets you save the address (URL) of a Web page so you can go back to the page easily at a later time.

Browser

This is the client software that displays (interprets) the HTML code it receives from the server. All browsers work slightly different and one may not display the pages correctly if the code was developed exclusively for another browser. Today the two main browsers are Microsoft Internet Explorer and Firefox.

C+/++

C+ and C++ are programming languages. Some hosting companies provide access to C+ and C++ class libraries if your web site contains these types of program modules. Once your web site has been constructed, you will know whether access to C+ or C++ will be required.

Certificate Authority

An organization that issues and manages security certificates that are used to establish credentials and verify identities when performing electronic transactions.

CGI (Common Gateway Interface)

A CGI is a program that translates data from a web server and then displays that data on a web page or in an email. CGI involves the transfer of data between a server and a CGI program (called a script). This allows HTML pages to interact with other programming applications. These scripts make web pages interactive. Page counters, forms, guest books, random text/images and other features can be driven by CGI scripts.

Click through

This term is used to describe the ratio of clicks to impressions on an advertisement, usually a banner ad. If a banner has been shown 100 times and 3 people click on it, it will have a 3% click through ratio.

Co-Location

Co-location means housing a web server that you own in the facilities of a hosting provider.

ColdFusion

A set of Web development products that enable you to build dynamic Web sites and Internet applications. With ColdFusion, you can develop a site or application that pulls data from a content database and then use templates to dynamically create Web site pages using the content stored in your database. ColdFusion is often used to build ecommerce sites.

Control Panel

An online package of tools permitting easy site management and editing. It is a very important feature to have. By having your own control panel, you can maintain basic information about your site, mail boxes, etc.

A cookie is a message given to a Web browser by a Web server. The browser stores the message in a text file called cookie.txt. The message is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server. The main purpose of cookies is to identify users and possibly prepare customised Web pages for them.

Cron

A UNIX command used to schedule jobs to be executed at some time in the future, typically on a periodic or regular basis. When used as a daemon process, the cron runs continuously and executes in response to specified events.

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)

CSS are used to add more functionality to simple HTML pages. Internet Explorer 3.0 and up support a good portion of CSS, while Netscape 4.0 and up supports a small amount of CSS - a fully compliant browser does not exist yet.

CyberCash

CyberCash is the name of the company that developed a Web-based payment system. Their CyberCash software enables online payment services for credit cards and Internet check transactions. CyberCash works with all popular browsers.

Data Center

A secure location for Web hosting servers that is specially designed to provide physical and network security for servers and the data stored on them.

Data Transfer

This is the amount of data that is transferred from an account as visitors view the pages of the web site. If you have a web site with lots of video, audio, and images that gets many visitors per day, you would have to make sure that you choose a hosting package that will allow large amounts of data to be transferred. As a general rule, 500 MB of data transfer is equivalent to 20,000 page views.

Data Transfer per Month

Also known as your Traffic. Each time visitors access a Web page, image, audio, video or other element on your site, traffic is generated. Your aggregate traffic is the sum of all outward-bound, inward-bound, email and FTP traffic.

Our data transfer allowances are high enough that most of our users stay within the limit.

Database

This is any collection of data: part numbers, product codes, customer information, etc. It usually refers to data stored on a computer.

Database Support

If your web site will leverage a database to store information, database support by the hosting company will be required. After you have developed your web site, you will know which database will be required. Some commonly used database programs are MySQL, SQL Server, Access, Oracle, and FoxPro.

Dedicated Server

The hosting company provides you with an entire hosting setup including your own server hardware that only you can use. This means a much faster loading time for your site because the entire computer is "dedicated" to running the server software. A dedicated server makes sense for web sites that require higher availability and higher data transfer rates.

Disk Space

This indicates the amount of disk space that will be available to you on the server to hold your web site files. Normally because HTML files are small, a web site (unless it has extensive graphics or database functionality) will be small, as low as 1 or 2 MB in most cases.

Use windows explorer to check the total MB of your site while it is still on your development machine. Then perhaps double your sites current size so that you have room to grow. When you check the total MB of your site don't forget to include the total MB of your graphics files.

A good rule of thumb is to assume approx. 50 KB per page (1 MB = 1000 KB, 1 GB = 1000 MB).

Domain Name

This is the unique name that identifies an Internet site. Domain Names always have 2 or more parts, separated by dots. Technically, the domain name is a name that identifies an IP address. To most of us, it simply means www.yourname.com. Because the Internet is based on IP addresses, not domain names, web servers depend on a Domain Name System (DNS) to translate domain names into IP addresses. Simply stated, domain names allow people to find your web site by name rather than by its numerical (IP) address.

Domain Name Registration

The process that must be completed before users can access your Web site. The registration process involves two basic steps: Reserving your domain name and then registering the domain name with the name server so that the IP address of your domain name can be disseminated throughout the Internet.

Domain Name System (DNS)

A model for tracking other machines (that contain web sites) and their numeric IP addresses. It translates domain names (for example, www.palmhost.com into a numerical IP address). When a computer is referred to by name, a domain name server puts that name into the numeric IP address assigned to that computer. So when you buy a domain, say www.yourname.com, it does not become accessible until it gets assigned an IP address from a hosting company. Once the IP address is assigned, a cross-reference record (DNS record) is created that points your domain name to the numeric IP address.

PalmHost can assist you with both steps of the domain name registration process.

Domain Parking

This is the option to 'park' your domain name without actually having your web site up and running. This is a nice option if you want to acquire a domain name for your web site well ahead of having the web site itself designed and constructed.

DSN

DSN, which stands for Data Source Name, is a method of connecting to a database. The DSN contains information such as the database name, directory, database driver and user name and password for the database.

DSN connections require ODBC, an open standard for API for accessing databases. ODBC handles SQL requests and converts them into requests that the individual database systems understand. DSNs are also used by applications and Active Server Pages (ASP) to query databases and retrieve information.

DSN-less Connections

A DSN-less connection is a method of connecting to a database without specifying a named data source. DSN-less connections don't require the creation of an ODBC DSN. Instead of relying on information stored in a file or in the system registry (as DSN connections do), DSN-less connections specify the driver name and all driver-specific information in the connection string.

Because a DSN-less connection is essentially "hard-coded" to use a certain driver, user identity and database location, problems may arise when database parameters change. Because the variety of connection parameters can differ greatly from one ODBC data source drive to another, it is recommended that you use a DSN whenever possible.

Ecommerce

The term used to describe business transactions and communications conducted over the Internet or through company networks. Common ecommerce transactions include the buying and selling of goods, banking and ordering services online.

Email forwarding

The feature that enables you to have email messages sent to one address automatically forwarded to a different email address.

For example, you can specify that all email messages sent to you@yourcompany.com be immediately forwarded to you@yourISP.com.

Email POP Account

POP (Post Office Protocol) is an actual e-mail account on your web host's e-mail server. Think of each POP account as a unique email address. You should know exactly how many email accounts are required to meet your specific needs.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions: A compilation of answers to the most common questions on a particular subject.

File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

A way of transferring files (uploading and downloading) across the Internet. Most web sites are uploaded to the Internet by means of an FTP program. This is how the web site you create on your computer at home is transferred (uploaded) to the Internet. Some software, such as Microsoft Front Page, does not require use of an FTP program but the use of most other HTML editors requites the use of and FTP Program.

Firewall

A combination of hardware and software, used to protect a network from unwelcome traffic. A firewall can be used to separate a LAN into two or more parts, or to control network traffic.

Flash and Shockwave

Flash and Shockwave are multimedia tools developed by Macromedia that enable you to provide interactive presentations and Web sites utilizing the latest streaming and audio technology. Our servers fully support .SWF files and MIME associated with Flash and Shockwave.

GIF

Graphic Interchange Format: A type of image file. GIF files are graphics or pictures, often used on Web pages. Because GIF files contain a maximum of 256 colors, this file format is ideal for simple graphics with minimal shading or color variation. Other types of graphics are better suited for the JPEG file format.

Gigabyte (GB)

One billion bytes. To be more accurate, one gigabyte actually contains 1,073,741,824 bytes. Since the prefix "giga" is associated with one billion, the term gigabyte is used to define 1,073,741,824 bytes.

Graphic

Any picture or image file within a Web page. Graphics are usually in GIF or JPEG format.

Hit

A single request from a Web browser for a single item from a Web server. When a browser displays a Web page that contains 2 graphics, 3 hits occur at the server: 1 hit for the HTML page itself, plus a hit for each of the two graphics.

Homepage

The first page of a Website. Some people choose to have only a homepage, with no supporting pages.

Host

When you hear the term "host" in the Internet world, it is referring to an Internet company that has the required servers and software to connect domain names to (IP) Internet Protocol numbers so that your site can be viewed by the public when they type your domain in their browser window. Basically this is where you house your site, and you usually have to pay a monthly or annual fee for this service.

Host Platform

This is the platform of the hosting providers' servers. Hosting companies typically have hosting platforms based upon Windows 2000 (Win2K), Windows NT or Linux. If you have a basic web site that does not make use of server side applications such as a database then you do not need to worry which platform is used.

HTML

HyperText Markup Language: The coding language used to create Web pages.

HTTP

HyperText Transfer Protocol: The protocol for moving hypertext files across the World Wide Web. When you enter a URL in your browser to visit a Web page, an HTTP command is sent to the Web server. This command tells the server to fetch and transmit the requested Web page.

Hypertext

Any text within a document that is linked to another location. The other location could be within the same document, or a different document. Clicking hypertext with your mouse will activate the link. This glossary is made up of hypertext, containing many links.

HyperText Markup Language (HTML)

This is the code that web pages are written in and the browser interprets to turn into the web page you view on the screen.

Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP)

The protocol for transferring hypertext files across the Internet. It 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). You see it every time you type a web site in your browser http://...

Image Map

A graphic used for multiple navigation on a Web page. Image maps contain HTML code that turn specific areas of graphics into links.

Impressions

The actual number of people who've seen a specific Web page. Impressions are much more accurate than hits when discerning how much traffic your Web page actually receives. Impressions are sometimes called "page views."

Internet

The vast collection of interconnected networks that use TCP/IP protocols.

Internet Service Provider (ISP)

A company or institution that provides access to the Internet in some form, usually for money. They will usually allow users to dial up through a modem, DSL, or cable connection to view the information on the Internet Access is via SLIP, PPP, or TCP/IP. Picking your ISP is an important decision but has more to do with how you access the Internet rather than which host you choose.

InterNIC

An organization operated by Network Solutions that controls the registration of new domain names. When you purchase a domain name, the InterNIC will bill you $35/year for ownership.

Intranet

A private network inside a company or organization that uses the same kinds of software that you would find on the public Internet, but only for internal use.

IP Address

A unique number used to specify hosts and networks. Internet Protocol (IP) numbers are used for identifying machines that are connected to the Internet. They are sometimes called a dotted quad and are unique numbers consisting of 4 parts separated by dots, They would look something like this 216.119.81.205 Every machine that is on the Internet has a unique IP number - if a machine does not have an IP number, it is not really on the Internet. Most machines also have one or more Domain Names that are easier for people to remember.

IRC

Internet Relay Chat: A method of real time communication, powered by a network of servers.

ISDN

Integrated Services Digital Network: Technology that allows data to be moved over phone lines at speeds of up to 64,000 BPS per channel.

JPEG (or JPG)

Joint Photographic Experts Group: a type of image file, similar to GIF. Whereas the GIF file format is limited to 256 colors or less, JPEG files use millions of colors and can often be compressed to a smaller kilobyte size, making Web pages load faster.

Java Servlets (JPS)

A servlet is an application or a script that is written in Java and executed on a server, as opposed to on a client. It is analogous to CGI, although servlets are more than simply CGI scripts written in Java.

Kilobyte (KB)

A thousand bytes. To be more accurate, one kilobyte actually contains 1024 bytes. Since the prefix "kilo" is associated with 1000, the term kilobyte is used to define 1024 bytes.

LAN

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

Log File

A file that contains detailed information about your site's activity in raw Web server format. The information in the log file enables you to perform advanced site analysis and gain valuable marketing insights.

Every PalmHost hosting plan comes with a Web-based log analyzer that provides a comprehensive analysis of your raw log file.

Mailing List

An email distribution list that makes it simpler and more efficient for you to send email messages to your customers and members. PalmHost's Gold plans and above offer MailMan, a Web-based tool for managing email lists.

Mailman

PalmHost's Web-based tool for managing email lists. Email lists provide an efficient way for you to distribute information about your services and products to your customers and members.

Mailman provides your site's visitors a Web-based control panel for subscribing and unsubscribing to lists over the Web. MailMan's control panel also enables you to administer your lists from the Web.

Managed Server

A server whose software, hardware and operations are managed by a team of system administrators. A managed server enables you to focus on your business instead of the day-to-day system administration tasks.

Master User account

The default account set up for you that enables you to connect to the Web server using SSH (UNIX platforms only) and FTP as well as to connect to the mail server to retrieve, read and send email. The Master User account is a "shell" account.

By default, the Master User name is your domain name without the domain extension. For example, if your domain name is sampledomain.com, your Master User is sampledomain. In some cases, such as when you have a long domain name, your Master User name may be shortened or may differ slightly from your domain name.

Megabyte (MB)

A million bytes; a thousand kilobytes. To be more accurate, one megabyte actually contains 1,048,576 bytes. Since the prefix "mega" is associated with one million, the term megabyte is used to define 1,048,576 bytes.

Merchant Account

A type of bank account that enables you to accept and process credit card payments online. Merchant accounts handle fraud checks on each transaction and manage the transfer of funds from your customers' credit cards to your bank account.

You must have a merchant account in order to perform online credit card transactions. Additionally, you will need an online payment gateway. In some cases, these are included with a merchant account.

Message Board

A type of bulletin board where users read and respond to other people's posts.

Meta tag

A hidden tag in your HTML code that describes some aspect of your site. When someone uses a search engine to find a Web site that provides information on a particular subject, the search engine uses the information contained in your pages' meta tags to determine if your site is a "match."

Microsoft Access

An easy-to-use database application that integrates with many Microsoft® Office products. Access is a good choice if you want to use data from an existing Microsoft Office product or if you do not have large amounts of data. You can connect to your Access database using an ODBC connection (DSN connection) or a DSN-less connection.

Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects (MSADO)

DAO is an application programming interface (API) based on OLE. DAO supplies a hierarchical set of objects that use the Microsoft Jet database engine to access data and database structure in:
- Microsoft Access (.MDB) databases.
- ODBC data sources, using an ODBC driver.
- Installable ISAM databases, such as dBASE, Paradox, and FoxPro

DAO can access other types of databases through ODBC. For more information, visit www.microsoft.com/support.

Microsoft FrontPage

Microsoft FrontPage provides users with a What You See is What You Get (WYSIWYG) HTML editor, includes a publish feature that enables users to transfer files to and from the Web server and supports advanced features such a guest books and hit counters. PalmHost's plans support FrontPage-created sites and FrontPage Server Extensions.

Microsoft FrontPage Server Extensions

The set of files that provide FrontPage-based Web sites with extended functionality, such as multi-user and remote authoring support, search features, forms and usage analysis.

In order for you to use all of the features that come with Microsoft® FrontPage®, FrontPage Extensions must be installed for your account. PalmHost will install these for you upon request.

Microsoft SOAP Toolkit

SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) is a lightweight XML-based protocol designed to exchange structured and typed information on the Web. SOAP can be used in combination with protocols such as HTTP, SMTP, and MIME.

The SOAP Toolkit enables developers to add XML Web Service functionality to existing COM applications and components. For more information on SOAP, visit www.microsoft.com/support.

Microsoft SQL Server

Microsoft's SQL database software that enables high performance database querying for larger-scale projects. Languages such as ASP and ColdFusion can be used to query the data in your Microsoft SQL Server database.

Microsoft Visual FoxPro

A database application designed for building desktop, client/server, and Web database applications. Visual FoxPro is able to manage fairly large volumes of data. All PalmHost Windows 2000 plans support Visual FoxPro.

MIME Types

MIME, which stands for Multi-Purpose Internet Mail Extensions, enables exchange of different file types and formats over the Internet.

Miva Software

A suite of Web-based software applications developed by Miva Corporation that enable you to create and customize your online store. PalmHost's UNIX ecommerce plans use Miva Software.

MX Record

The record that specifies the mail servers that handle email for your domain. By default, all of the email for your domain is handled by PalmHost's mail server. You can, however, choose to have another mail server handle your email. You can select a mail server such as Register.com or you can specify an Exchange, Novell or other in-house mail server. If your organization has multiple mail servers (such as a primary and secondary server) you can specify multiple IP addresses and set the priority for each.

MySQL

A multi-user, multi-threaded SQL database server. MySQL offers speed, robustness and ease of use.

Netiquette

The informal rules of Internet etiquette.

Netizen

Derived from the term citizen, referring to a citizen of the Internet. The term implies civic responsibility and participation.

Network

Any time you connect 2 or more computers together for the purpose of sharing resources, you have a computer network.

Newbie

Someone who is new to the Internet.

Newsgroups

An Internet message board system, where people meet to discuss a variety of topics. There are thousands of newsgroups on the Internet covering a wide variety of interests.

Nameserver

A program that stores and tracks DNS information.

ODBC Sources

Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) is a generic way for applications to speak to a database. ODBC acts as an interpreter between an application (say a Cold Fusion or ASP application) and a database (like Microsoft Access). By using ODBC, a connector can be created that will allow a web application that you create to read data from and insert data into an Access database that you've created. An ODBC source is a directory entry that specifies database information. This ODBC source (or DSN Source) allows your site to point to the correct database located on the web server.

Operating System (OS)

This is the software that manages a computer system. Windows XP is an OS.

Page Views

See impressions.

Password

A series of characters that enables someone to access a file, computer or program. Your Control Panel is password protected to prevent unauthorized users from changing your information. The password should be a combination of characters that would be difficult to guess.

Password Protected Directory

Directories that require visitors to submit a valid user name and password before accessing the contents. These are frequently used for administrative purposes or for secure data.

Payment Gateway

A payment gateway is a service that connects your online store with your merchant account provider. This service reads the information from the order forms and translates that information for the merchant account. The payment gateway also verifies that the customer’s credit card account has the necessary credit available for the purchase.

Perl (Practical Extraction and Report Language)

Perl is an interpreted language optimised for scanning arbitrary text files, extracting information from those text files, and printing reports based on that information. It's also a good language for many system management tasks.

PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor)

PHP is an open-source scripting language and interpreter. PHP is used primarily on UNIX Web servers and is an alternative to Microsoft Active Server Pages (ASP) technology.

Pixel

A unit of measurement for graphics or monitor resolution. A pixel is one dot on a computer screen. Most computer monitors are set to a resolution of 800 x 600, meaning 800 pixels wide by 600 pixels high.

Plug-ins

Software programs that enhance other programs or applications on your computer. There are plug-ins for Internet browsers, graphics programs, and other applications.

POP3

Post Office Protocol 3. A method of retrieving email from a server. PalmHost accounts provide POP3 mail boxes that you can access directly to retrieve your email using PalmHost's Web-based email application or traditional email clients such as Eudora, Outlook Express and Netscape Mail.

Price

The monthly amount that you will have to pay a hosting company to provide the hosting services requested. Paying monthly is normally perfectly acceptable, but discounts may be available by paying quarterly or annually.

Propagation

The process of notifying name servers around the world when your site location changes to a new IP address or when you have registered a new domain name on the Internet. Propagation can take up to 72 hours.

Protocol

A standard for the exchange of information. There are several different types of protocols (e.g., FTP, TCP/IP) used by various computers and software.

Python

An interpreted, interactive, object-oriented programming language.

Raw Log Files

Files that contain detailed information about your site's activity in raw Web server format. By analyzing the log file, you can gain valuable insights that will enable you to better market your site.

Every PalmHost hosting plan comes with a Web-based log analyzer that provides a comprehensive analysis of your raw log file.

RealPlayer

A streaming media delivery system for the Internet. Providers of news, entertainment, sports, and business content can create audio and video multimedia content, and deliver it online to audiences worldwide. To create your own RealPlayer files and offer them on your Website, your hosting service must install special "extensions" for your account.

RealAudio® and RealVideo®

The streaming audio and video delivery systems for the Internet developed by RealNetworks. The system is client-server based, meaning both the browser and the server must have RealAudio/Video components for it to work.

Referrer Log

The optional PalmHost log that extends your ability to track how customers access your site. When the Referrer Log is active, it logs not only the different search engines but also the keywords visitors used to locate your site.

Registrar

A company that has been certified to register domain names. There are a limited number of registrars permitted to access and modify the master database of domain names maintained by InterNic. The organization ICANN is responsible for certifying companies as domain name registrars. A registrar is not the same as a Web host.

Resolution (Screen or Monitor)

The way things appear on your computer monitor. Resolution is measured in pixels. The lower the resolution, the larger things appear on your screen. Most computer monitors are set at 800 x 600 resolution, meaning 800 pixels wide by 600 pixels high. Some people's monitors are set at 1024 x 768 or higher. Others are set at 640 x 480. When designing a Website, keep in mind that your Web pages will look different to viewers depending on their monitor resolutions. You can change your own monitor resolution through your computer's Control Panel (for Windows XP and Mac).

Root Server

A machine that has the software and data needed to locate name servers that contain authoritative data for the top-level domains.

Script

A list of commands that can run without user interaction.

Search Engine

A program that searches documents for specified keywords and returns a list of documents where the keywords were found. Internet search engines use the information contained in your site's Meta tags to generate an index of sites.

Well known search engines include Yahoo!, Excite, AltaVista and Google.

Secure Socket Layer (SSL)

A protocol designed to enable encrypted, authenticated communications across the Internet. It is used mostly (but not exclusively) in communications between web browsers and web servers. URL's that begin with "https" indicate that an SSL connection will be used. SSL provides 3 important things: Privacy, Authentication, and Message Integrity.

Server

A computer, or 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 a WWW or HTTP server, or to the machine on which the software is running. A single server machine could have several different server software packages running on it, thus providing many different servers to clients on the network. More specifically, a server is a computer that manages and shares network resources.

Server Side Includes (SSI)

Commands that can be included in web pages that are processed by the web server when a user requests a file. The command takes the form . A common use for SSI commands is to insert a universal menu into all of the pages of the web site so that the menu only has to be changed once and inserted with SSI instead of changing the menu on every page.

Set up Fee

A one time setup fee to set up your hosting account.

Sharepoint Team Services

SharePoint Team Services is Microsoft's Web site solution that enables organizations to more easily share information, collaborate and manage group activities and shared deliverables on a corporate intranet or on the Internet using their browsers. SharePoint includes Index Server for searching, Microsoft Database Engine for database requirements, and FrontPage Server Extensions for FrontPage-based functionality.

SharePoint Team Services is included with Microsoft® FrontPage® 2002 and with Microsoft Office XP.

Shell Account

The most powerful type of account. These account types provide access to your servers via FTP, POP3 and, with some plans, SSH. You Master User account is a shell account; it enables you to transfer files to and from the server, read and send email and log onto the server.

All hosting plans come with one Master User account by default. The default Master User account typically has the same name as your domain. For example, if your domain name is "sampledomain.com," your Master User account is most likely "sampledomain." In some cases, such as when your domain name is particularly long, the Master User name may be shortened or may differ slightly from your domain name.

Shopping Cart

Software used to create an online "storefront," or E-Commerce Website. It acts as a virtual shopping cart, keeping track of the items visitors have ordered and allowing them to add or remove items. When a visitor decides to "check out" (purchase the items online) the software sends all order information to the merchant.

SMTP

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. A protocol for sending email messages across the Internet. It is used in conjunction with both POP3 and IMAP, protocols that enable you to download messages from a mail server to your computer. SMTP is used for outgoing mail while POP3 and IMAP are used for incoming mail.

SOAP Toolkit

The SOAP Toolkit enables developers to add XML Web Service functionality to existing COM applications and components. For more information on SOAP, visit www.microsoft.com/support.

Spam

The term for unsolicited mass email, also known as UCE (Unsolicited Commercial Email). PalmHost strictly prohibits "spamming" using an email address that is maintained on a PalmHost computer or using any PalmHost server.

Spider

An Internet robot (used by a search engine) that explores the Web at large. Spiders collect Web page addresses based on content found at those pages.

SQL

Structured Query Language. The most popular database language in use today, SQL is used to create database queries that take the form of commands. SQL queries enable you to select, insert, update and determine the location of data, among other tasks. MySQL and Microsoft® SQL Server™ utilize the SQL language.

SSL Certificate

Also known as a digital certificate. An electronic document that contains the information necessary to establish a secure SSL connection. This is nearly always a must for shoppers, and is usually indicated by a picture of a padlock in the browser window. When SSL is used in credit card transactions, the Web site collecting the credit card information and the site to which the information is being transmitted must both have an SSL Certificate.

A virtual or shared SSL certificate is an SSL security certificate you share with other domains.

Statistics

Detailed information regarding your Web site, including the number of hits, the source of those hits, most popular pages and amount of data transferred, as well as other useful information.

PalmHost's detailed Web site activity reports provide statistics in both raw numbers and graphical format, grouped by weeks, days and hours.

Subdomain

Also known as a third-level domain. Domain names are composed of at least two levels, a top-level domain and a second-level domain. The top-level domain is the suffix or extension attached to Internet domain names (for example, .com, .net and .org).

A second-level domain (SLD) is the portion of the URL that identifies the owner associated with an IP address. For example, "palmhost.ca" is a second-level domain, as it includes the domain name "PalmHost" and the top-level domain "com."

If you need to further distinguish your second-level domain name, you can use a third-level domain name, or subdomain, such as "help.palmhost.ca." Typically a third-level domain name is used to refer to different servers within different departments of a company or to a subdirectory on the same server. PalmHost's plans enable you to set up subdomains that point to domain aliases, other Web sites or subdirectories of your main Web folder.

Support

Telephone or e-mail technical support provided by the hosting company to their customers. When there's a problem with your site, e-mail or database etc, you want to be able to get an answer promptly by e-mail or on the phone. 24/7/365 support is important if your site is an e-commerce site with a lot of daily visitors.

T-1

A connection capable of carrying data at 1,544,000 bits per second. T-1 is most commonly used to connect networks to the Internet.

T-3

A connection capable of carrying data at 44,736,000 bits per second. Equivalent to 29 T-1 connections.

TCL

Tool Command Language. A programming language and associated library that can be used to develop CGI scripts.

TCP/IP

This is a set of communications protocols to connect hosts on the Internet.

Temporary URL

The URL provided to you so that you can upload and test your site while you wait for the domain name registration and transfer period to complete. Your temporary URL is just another way of accessing your site. Once the propagation period completes, no special action is required in order to start using your domain name—all of the Web site files you uploaded using your temporary URL will still be in place and nothing will have changed.

Third-level domain

Domain names are composed of at least two levels, a top-level domain and a second-level domain. The top-level domain, also referred to as TLD, is the suffix or extension attached to Internet domain names. There are a limited number of predefined TLDs, such as .com, Net and .org.

Traffic

Each time visitors access a Web page, image, audio, video or other element on your site, traffic is generated. Your aggregate traffic is the sum of all outward-bound, inward-bound, email and FTP traffic.

PalmHost's daily data transfer allowances are high enough that most of our users stay within the limit.

TrueSpeech

Software that compresses speech down to as little as 1/40th its original size. Regular speech files are normally large, causing Web pages to load slowly; TrueSpeech compression allows faster, easier transfer.

Uniform Resource Locator (URL)

The standard way to give the address of any resource on the Internet that is part of the World Wide Web (WWW).

Unique IP Address

Obtaining a unique IP address (see IP Address) provides a one-to-one relationship between your domain name (www.yourname.com) and an IP address.

Unix

A computer operating system designed to be used by many people at the same time (it is multi-user) and has TCP/IP built-in. It is the most common operating system for servers on the Internet.

Upload

Sending a file from your system to a server or to someone else's computer.

Username

This is the account reference name sent to you in the Account Activation Letter. When you need to log on to your site, you will use this item.

UUENCODE

UNIX to UNIX Encoding: A method for converting files from Binary to ASCII so that they can be sent across the Internet via email.

Video Streaming

The process of providing video data or content via a web page.

Virtual Server

A virtual server is a web server which shares its resources with multiple users. It's another way of saying that multiple web sites share the resources of one server.

Virus

A virus is a malicious program whose sole intent is to cause problems on a computer. There are Anti-Virus programs, such as McAfee and Norton Utilities, created to combat viruses.

Virus Hoax

Occasionally, rumors are started about viruses that do not exist. These are merely hoaxes.

Web or WWW

World Wide Web: This commonly refers to the massive, global collection of hypertext (HTTP) servers that allow concurrent viewing of Internet data. The term "dub,dub,dub" is a shortened, spoken version of "WWW."

Web-based email

A method for accessing email messages through a Web browser using HTTP. PalmHost's Web-based email application enables you to check your email from any location as long as you have a browser and an Internet connection. You can use Web-based email and traditional email clients such as Microsoft Outlook to check the same email account.

Webmaster

The person who creates and maintains a Website.

Wizard

A utility in a program that outlines a series of sequential tasks to set up a portion of the program. For example, an email program may use a wizard to gather the necessary information to set up an email account.

WYSIWYG

What You See Is What You Get. The term used for Web design applications that display HTML documents on screen as they will appear in a Web browser. These applications make it possible for you to create Web pages without learning the HTML programming language.

XML

Extensible markup language. A language used to structure content so that it can be exchanged with different applications. Windows servers specifically support Microsoft XML 4.0+.

Zip

Zone Information Protocol: This is a method of compressing computer data or files into a small size, so they can be transferred quickly over the Internet. There are programs built specifically to zip files, such as WinZip.

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