With so many technical terms and industry-specific words, web-hosting can begin to feel like a foreign language!
Whether you’re creating your first website or just trying to learn more about web hosting, understanding the basics is important. In this article, we’ll break down the most common web hosting terms in simple, easy-to-understand language.
| Term | Category | Description |
| Domain Name | Domain | The address users type to access your website |
| Registrar | Domain | Company that manages the registration of domain names |
| Registrar Lock | Domain | Security feature that prevents unauthorized domain transfers |
| Domain Privacy | Domain | Service that hides personal information in the WHOIS database |
| TLD (Top-Level Domain) | Domain | The last segment of a domain name, like .com or .org. |
| ccTLD (Country Code Top-Level Domain) | Domain | TLDs specific to a country, like .au or .uk. |
| gTLD (Generic Top-Level Domain) | Domain | Non-country-specific TLDs, like .com, .net, .org. |
| WHOIS | Domain | Database of domain name registration information |
| Shared Hosting | Hosting | Hosting type where multiple websites from many customers are hosted on a single server, sharing resources |
| VPS (Virtual Private Server) | Hosting | A virtualized server offering dedicated resources within a shared environment |
| Dedicated Hosting | Hosting | A single physical server dedicated to one website. |
| cPanel | Hosting | A popular web hosting control panel for managing your server and website. |
| Control Panel | Hosting | Interface for managing web hosting services. Examples include cPanel, DirectAdmin |
| WHM (Web Host Manager) | Hosting | A tool for managing multiple cPanel accounts and server settings, often only applicable for reseller hosting |
| Bandwidth | Hosting | The amount of data transferred between your site and its visitors |
| Resource Usage | Hosting | The amount of server resources (CPU, RAM, inode etc.) used by a website |
| SSD (Solid State Drive) | Hosting | Faster and more reliable storage compared to traditional HDD hosting. Recommended for most sites |
| HDD (Hard Disk Drive) | Hosting | Older storage type, generally slower than SSD but may offer significantly more storage for the same cost. |
| Root Access | Hosting | Full ‘administrator’ access for the server, often only available for VPS and ‘Dedicated Server’ |
| SSH (Secure Shell) | Hosting | A protocol for secure remote access to a server, typically to issue text based commands |
| SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) | Hosting | SFTP is a secure way to transfer files between local and remote servers using the SSH protocol |
| FTP (File Transfer Protocol) | Hosting | A protocol for transferring files between computers over the internet, typically over port 21 |
| Cron Job | Hosting | A scheduled task that runs automatically at specified times or at re-occurring intervals |
| Addon Domain | Hosting | An additional domain which can be added onto a hosting service under the same account |
| Subdomain | Hosting | A domain that is part of a larger domain (e.g., blog.example.com). |
| Uptime | Hosting | The amount of time a server is operational and accessible, often expressed as a percentage. ie 99.95% Uptime over a calendar month |
| Firewall | Hosting | Security system that filters incoming and outgoing network traffic to protect the server |
| SSL/TLS | Hosting | Protocols for encrypting data between the web server and the visitors web browser |
| SSL Certificate | Hosting | A file containing a public key and private key which is used to encrypt data between the server and the user’s browser. |
| LetsEncrypt | Hosting | A provider who generates and issues free SSL Certificates. |
| Self-signed Certificate | Hosting | A temporary SSL certificate typically created by the web sever and is not trusted |
| .htaccess | Hosting | A configuration file used by Apache and LiteSpeed-based web servers to override the server’s global (default) settings for the directory in which the file is located |
| php.ini | Hosting | php.ini is a configuration file for PHP, where settings and parameters for the PHP environment and its extensions are specified |
| PHP | Hosting | A scripting language used for web development to generate dynamic pages |
| IP Address | Hosting | A unique string of numbers identifying a device on a network, ie 123.123.123.123 |
| Caching | Hosting | Storing data temporarily to speed up website loading times. Typically ‘pre-generating’ dynamic pages using a plugin to improve performance |
| CDN (Content Delivery Network) | Hosting | A network of servers that deliver web content based on user location for better performance, such as Cloudflare and Bunny CDN |
| Apache | Hosting | A popular open-source web server engine which serves webpages |
| Litespeed | Hosting | LiteSpeed is a high-performance commercial web server engine designed to provide faster load times and improved scalability for websites compared to traditional servers like Apache. |
| NGINX | Hosting | Pronounced ‘engine x’, NGINX is a high performance lightweight web-server often found in reverse proxies and to host static files |
| DNS (Domain Name System) | DNS | Service that translates domain names to IP addresses. |
| CNAME Record | DNS | Type of DNS record, expressed as a domain-name, ie ‘example.netcat.au’ |
| A Record | DNS | Type of DNS record, expressed as a IP address |
| Name Server | DNS | Servers that translate domain names into IP addresses |
| DNS Propagation | DNS | The time it takes for DNS changes to spread across the internet |
| MX Record | DNS | DNS record that directs email to a mail server. |
| SPF Record | DNS | DNS record that helps prevent email spoofing by validating the domain name the email was sent from |
| DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) | DNS | DNS record which can be used to confirm the authenticity of an email and that it has not been tampered with in transit |
| DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) | DNS | DNS Record which instructs the receivers email server to do if an email fails a SPF or DKIM check |
| Content Management System (CMS) | CMS | Software that helps create, manage, and modify website content |
| WordPress | CMS | A popular CMS used for creating websites and blogs |
| Joomla | CMS | An open-source CMS for creating and managing web content. |
| MYSQL | Database | An open-source relational database engine, popular with web-applications |
| PostgreSQL | Database | An open-source relational database engine, contains advanced features suitable for enterprises and has support for complex queries |
| phpMyAdmin | Database | A free, web-based tool used for managing MySQL and MariaDB databases through a graphical user interface. |
| POP3 (Post Office Protocol 3) | Protocol for receiving email by downloading it to your device. Default port 995, often regarded as obsolete | |
| IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) | Protocol for accessing and managing email stored on the server. Default port 993 | |
| SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) | Protocol for sending outgoing email | |
| Webmail | Accessing email via a web browser, using an online email client such as Roundcube | |
| Reseller Hosting | Hosting | Hosting service designed for agencies and developers containing multiple web hosting accounts they can re-sell |
| Affiliate Program | Hosting | Program where users earn commissions for referring customers. |
Are you unsure of of any particular terms or concepts? Let us know in the commends below