Web hosting is an essential need for every business website. When your business rivals go online you also do so and do not want to lag behind your competition. However, network and web hosting jargon is a tough unfamiliar to average readers. This article is aimed to provide beginners a grasp of technical terms most commonly used in web hosting.
Domain names (U.S domain names)
Domain names are names that are unique and each domain name defines a resource for one website. They also come with a pre-described string that puts a light over its authority, control and administrative autonomy.
In URLs like www.google.co.in , .co refers to “company” and .in refers to country location – India.
Similarly in www.marvist.com , .com refers to commerce.
In a similar way;
.uk refers to country level domain locating United Kingdom and .us refers to the Unite States.
VPN
VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. It is a widely used term in web hosting. VPN is a type of server provided by the web hosting firms. In this, a single large server is fragmented virtually and and each virtual fragment is allotted to a subscribed client. Though they are fragmented segments of a same server it is important to note that they are only virtual servers; all the VPNs of a particular server shares a common hardware. It provides adequate levels of control and autonomy over server space, which is not available with shared servers.
Windows/Linux server
A server is mainly characterized by the operating system used to program the server. Both Linux and Windows can be used to program a server. The choice of server affects the availability of the tools and features required for programming the server. There are few features that are common to both the servers, while there are a few, which are exclusive to either of them.
FTP
FTP is the abbreviated form for File Transfer Protocol. They are a set of protocols that govern the transfer of files from one host to another host computer over Internet. It is a built in client-server architecture in a server. Sometimes, the user has to authenticate himself in order to avail the FTP service and in some cases he/she does not need do so based on the configuration of the server. The files to be transferred are sometimes protected by SSL and sometimes they are not based on the features of the web host service.
Cloud server
This is a new approach where a number of computers are hosted on a common server. This type of system is more reliable and less problematic as in 
case of hardware failure of one of the node, the other nodes in the system can be used to compensate for the faulty node and the overall performance is not affected by power outage or hardware failure in one or more nodes.
Dedicated server
The client has full autonomy and access over his/her server and it is not shared with any other client. The client may or may not own the server. He might be vested with the maintenance and security of the assets. The client has the authority to reprogram the server and has access to full bandwidth of the server. The uptime, downtime and the speed of access are in full control of the client.
Bandwidth
Technically bandwidth is the rate of bits consumed or available data and is expressed in the terms id bits per second. Simply put, it defines the limit of traffic that a site can bear before crashing down. A high bandwidth refers to high tolerance to traffic on the site whereas low bandwidth signifies low traffic handling capabilities of the site.
Uptime
It is the measure of the time or duration for which the system is working optimally according to expectations. It reflects the efficiency of the server in terms of being resistant to troubles and faults. Good uptime shows that there are few technical problems in the server due to which the server was offline.
SSL
SSL is the abbreviated form of Secure Sockets Layer. This is a data encryption protocol over the Internet. They are used to ensure safe and secure data transfers over the Internet.
DNS
It is the abbreviated form of Domain Name System. It is a set of hierarchical naming system for domains. The domain of each website is named as per the type of business, location, etc. The domain name gives much idea about the owner of the domain and the DNS ensures that the domain name is in perfect order to convey the same to the user.
For eg: In http://co.greene.oh.us/ , co. refers to the county government agencies, greene. Refers to the locality, .oh refers to the state and .us refers to the country name.
TCP
TCP refers to Transmission Control Protocol. It acts as a transport layer and forms one of the very important protocols of the Internet Protocol (IP) suite. Hence it is commonly referred to as TCP/IP. It transfers instructions in the form of octets from programs running in one computer to another in a system in an organized and reliable way. It checks for the errors and eliminates them before passing them on to another computer.
PHP
PHP stands for Hypertext PreProcessor. It is a language designed for web development purposes but can used as general purpose programming language as well.
POP
POP stands fro Post Office Protocol. It is basically used for retrieving the e-mails from the remote server over TCP/IP connection.
.ASP
.ASP stands for Active Server Pages. This is a windows based application tool used in creating web pages.
HTTP
HTTP stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol. It is set of protocols that rules the transfer of information between a web browser and the web pages that are stored in the server.
HTML
HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language. HTML is the basic building tool of all the websites. It allows for different kinds of interactive data and information on the website. Web browsers read the HTML data and transform them into a format that is user friendly and understandable.
My SQL
SQL stands for Structured Query Language. It is an RDBMS (Relational Database Management System). This is used when a website is to linked with a database for its functioning. SQL is responsible for appending, modifying and fetching information from the database. The rail reservation system can be a good example for this type of server.
