Web Hosting Glossary

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Backups
This is the practice of making a copy of the content of a server’s hard disks to a safe external resource, such as another server or a tape backup system. This is vital for disaster recovery, and should be performed regularly.

Bandwidth
This is the “speed limit” of a particular data pipeline, such as the data connections that connect a web server to the internet. Different types of data connections, such as T1s and OC48s, support different amounts of bandwidth. The greater the amount of bandwidth available, the more data can be moved across the connection per time frame, generally measured in seconds.

Billing Cycle
This is the period for which payment of services is made, usually in advance of the services. For instance, if you were to pay for 1 year of hosting, on a recurring basis, then you have a billing cycle of 1 year.

Blog
This is common parlance for weblog, a kind of website or component within a website whereby an individual may post journal entries which are then viewable by visitors to the site, ordered from the most recent to the eldest entries.

Browser
This is kind of client software with which a user can access resources on the internet, and which renders the markup language as the web page seen by the user. Although all browsers perform the same basic functions, additional capabilities vary widely from browser to browser. The most common browsers in use today are Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Netscape, Mozilla’s FireFox, and the much respected Opera. Safari for the Macintosh has also quickly become a favorite amongst Apple users.

Business Hosting
This is hosting that provides for a range of features and a level of performance and reliability that is suitable for commercial websites, such as online stores or corporate sites.