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Jargon Buster Glossary FAQ
Tip: You can also find definitions in Google by typing "define: " in the search field. Addon Domain An add-on domain is a domain parked on a subdomain of the main domain, and pointed to a subdirectory of the main site. Therefore you can have several domains hosted in the same account and pointing to different content. Add-on domains can have their own POP accounts and can not have sub-domains. The advantage of having add-on domains is you can manage them and a main domain with a single control panel. Alias An alternate name that is associated with a real file or address. Anonymous FTP Anonymous File Transfer Protocol (FTP) allows the public to log into an FTP server with a common login, usually "ftp" or "anonymous" and any password (usually the person's e-mail address is used as the password). Anonymous FTP is beneficial for the distribution of large files to the public, avoiding the need to assign large numbers of login and password combinations for FTP access. Apache An open source HTTP server for Unix, Windows NT, and other platforms. Apache was developed in early 1995, based on code and ideas found in the most popular HTTP server of the time, NCSA httpd 1.3. It has since evolved to rival (and probably surpass) almost any other Unix based HTTP server in terms of functionality and speed. Apache has been the most popular web server on the Internet since April of 1996. The Netcraft Web Server Survey shows that nearly 70% of the web sites on the Internet are using Apache, thus making it more widely used than all other web servers combined. AUP Acceptable Use Policy. A set of rules that inform website hosting customers what they can and cannot do through their hosting accounts. Often such policies place certain restrictions on e-mail use (such as spamming) and content (such as not allowing adult or illegal content). Autoresponder A feature that sends an automated reply to incoming email. For example, when customers send email to your sales@yourdomain.com address, a standard message could be sent back to them. Backbone A high-speed line (or a series of connections) that forms a major pathway within a network. Bandwidth The difference between the highest and lowest frequencies available for network signals. A loose term used to describe the throughput capacity (measured in Kilobits or Megabits per second) of a specific circuit. Usually measured in bits per second. A full page of English text is about 16,000 bits. BBS Bulletin Board System: A computerised meeting system. BBS users can have discussions, make announcements, and upload or download files. There are thousands of BBSs around the world; many of them rely on a direct modem-to-modem connection over a phone line, using a single computer.These days more often called Forums. BPS Bits per second: A measurement of how fast data is moved from one place to another. A 28.8K modem can move 28,800 bits per second, or about 3600 characters per second. Byte A byte is a set of 8 bits that represent a single character. Cache Pronounced "cash", a special high-speed storage mechanism. It can be either a reserved section of main memory or an independent high-speed storage device. Certificate Authority An issuer of Security Certificates used in SSL connections. CGI Common Gateway Interface: A protocol that allows a Web page to run a program on a Web server. CGI scripts reside on your site, and they obtain data using environment variables that the Web server makes available to them. Forms, counters, and guest-books are common examples of CGI programs. CGI-BIN Some HTTP servers require CGI programs to reside in a special directory. This directory is often "/cgi-bin". Control Panel All users have access to a Web-based Control Panel that may allow a user to set mail forwarding options, enable/disable anonymous FTP access, view statistics, change password and more. Users may also update account contact information at any time without having to contact their provider. Custom Error Messages Refers to the ability to create custom pages on a hosting account to replace default 404 and other error pages. Data Centre A secure location for website hosting servers. Data centres are designed to assure that the servers and the data housed on them are protected from environmental hazards and security breaches. Data Transfer This is the amount of data that you are allowed to transfer with your account. Data in this case usually refers to images, text, or anything else that the web server must transfer to the user's web browser. As a general rule 500 MB of data transfer is equivalent to about 20,000 page views. Directory A location on a computer that is used to hold computer files. A subdirectory is a location within a directory. Disk (Storage) Space Amount of hard disk space available for storage of all Web pages, HTML, CGI-bin programs, e-mail, log files, images, sound clips, audio, video clips, etc. 1MB equals one megabyte, or approximately one million bytes. A 100K file would be 100,000 bytes. DNS Domain Name System: A system of servers located throughout the Internet that handle Internet connections and the routing of email. Domain Name A unique name that identifies a Web site. A domain name acts as a permanent Web address and provides a professional, prestigious Web presence. Compare these two URLs: Domain Parking Parking is the process by which someone selects a domain name, and "parks" it by registering the domain name under someone's name servers. Parking can be done by anyone, to anyone else who has active name servers. However, parking a domain name alone will result in no service (webhosting, e-mail) for that particular domain name. Domain Pointer A web hosting feature that allows a specific domain name to send web site visitors to a different domain. E-Commerce The conducting of business communication and transactions over networks and through computers, usually involving the buying and selling of goods and services, and the transfer of funds, through digital communications. E-Mail Aliases/Forwarders E-mail forwarders and aliases are e-mail addresses such as billing@yourdomain.com which do not have a username/password as a "POP" account would. Instead, you would set up billing@yourdomain.com to forward to a real POP account such as customerservice@yourdomain.com. The only real distinction between an alias and a forward is that an alias will most likely forward to another existing account at the same domain, whereas a forward might be sent to another e-mail account on another domain. E-Mail Autoresponders/Vacation Messages Allow customers to set up an automatic message to respond to anyone who sends email to the customer. FAQ Frequently Asked Questions: A compilation of answers to the most common questions on a particular subject. 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. FrontPage FrontPage is a WYSIWYG Web page editor by Microsoft. In order to use FrontPage to create and maintain your Web site, your hosting service must install "extensions" (CGI programs that provide the server side implementation of FrontPage) for your account. FTP File Transfer Protocol: A common method of sending and receiving files on the Internet. You might use FTP to upload HTML files to your Web host from your own computer. A user ID and password are needed to use FTP, unless Anonymous FTP is allowed. 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. 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 1.A computer system accessed by a user from a remote location. In the case of two computer systems connected via modem, the "host" is the system containing the data and the "remote" is the computer at which the user is working. 2.A computer that is connected to a TCP/IP network, including the Internet. Each host has a unique IP address. 3.As a verb, "host" means providing the infrastructure for a computer service. A company that hosts a Web server may provide the hardware and software needed to run that server, but does not supply all the content on that server. 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. Internet The vast collection of interconnected networks that use TCP/IP protocols. IP Address (or Number) Internet Protocol (IP) address: The standard way of identifying a computer that is connected to the Internet, much the way a telephone number identifies a telephone on a telephone network. The IP address is four numbers separated by periods, and each number is less than 256, for example, 192.200.44.69. When you connect to the Internet, your ISP assigns you an IP number for the duration of your connection. DNS converts domain names into IP addresses. IP address mask A range of IP addresses defined so that only machines with IP addresses within the range are allowed access to an Internet service. To mask a portion of the IP address, replace it with the asterisk wild card character (*). For example, 192.44.*.* represents every computer on the Internet with an IP address beginning with 192.44. Java Java is a programming language invented by Sun Microsystems. Java programs (or "applets") can be downloaded from the Internet to your computer. They can also be used to enhance Web pages. Common Java applets used on Web pages include animation, calculators, and counters. JavaScript A scripting language developed by Netscape that interacts with HTML source code, allowing for interactive Web sites. JavaScript is used for things such as "rollover buttons" (graphics that change color when you run your mouse over them), rotating banners, MIDI jukeboxes, pop-up windows, etc. JSP Java Server Pages - Server-based dynamically generated HTML based on 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. Linux A popular open source operating system. Linux is an implementation of the Unix kernel originally written from scratch with no proprietary code. Work on the kernel is coordinated by Linus Torvalds, who holds the copyright on a large part of it. The rest of the copyright is held by a large number of other contributors (or their employers). Regardless of the copyright ownerships, the kernel as a whole is available under the GNU General Public License. Mail Forwarding When you sign up for a hosting plan, you'll receive a domain email account (you@yourname.com). You might also have an email address provided by your local ISP. With mail forwarding, all email addressed to you@yourname.com will be sent to your "real" email address. Additional mail forwarding options include the ability to forward different yourname.com email to specific addresses on the Internet. For example, email addressed to webmaster@yourname.com could forward to your "real" email address (provided by your ISP), while sales@yourname.com could forward to a different email address. Mailing List A group discussion conducted through email messages, specific to a topic or common interest. When a message is sent to a mailing list, each list subscriber receives a copy. Majordomo Majordomo is an open-source server-based mailing list system, sometimes called a "reflector" or "list server" (ListServ is actually a similar product) because any message sent by a member to the list is re-sent ("reflected") to all the other list subscribers. Commands are sent to Majordomo via electronic mail to handle all aspects of list maintenance. In simple terms it's an interactive-style newsletter that allows all subscribers to distribute information. There are many configurable features including automatic subscribe and unsubscribe. Each list can email up to 1500 mails per day. 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. META tag Hidden HTML code that contains information about a Web page, such as who created the page, what the page is about, and which keywords best describe the page's content. Some search engines use this information to list Web pages. mySQL MySQL is the most popular open source database server in the world with more than 4 million installations powering websites, datawarehouses, business applications, logging systems and more. Customers such as Yahoo! Finance, MP3.com, Motorola, NASA, Silicon Graphics, and Texas Instruments use the MySQL server in mission-critical applications. The unique separation of the core server from the table handler makes it possible to run MySQL under strict transaction control or with ultrafast transactionless disk access, whichever is most appropriate for the situation. Name Server A program that stores and tracks DNS information. OC An optical connection. OC connections often form the transmission "backbone" of an Internet service. Open Source Freely distributable and modifiable software to which the source code (or uncompiled software) is available. Page Views The actual number of people who've seen a specific Web page. Parked Page A web page that is displayed when a domain is "parked." That is, the owner of the web page does not have a web page to display. Perl Practical Extraction and Report Language. This programming language was designed mainly for processing text. It is one of the most popular languages used for writing CGI Scripts. PHP PHP stands for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor. This confuses many people because it's a recursive acronym - the first word of the acronym is the acronym. PHP is a widely-used general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for Web development and can be embedded into HTML. PHP is a project of the Apache Software Foundation. POP Post Office Protocol - or - Point Of Presence: Post Office Protocol is a method of retrieving email from a server. Point Of Presence is a telephone number that provides dial-up Internet access. ISPs usually provide several POPs so users can gain Internet access with local phone calls. 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. Proxy server An Internet server that acts as a firewall, mediating traffic between a protected network and the Internet. Redirect The process of automatically sending a site visitor to another Internet location. The location can be a subdirectory on another site or even a particular web page. Router A special network system for directing network traffic. Search Engine A directory of Internet content. If you're looking for specific information on the WWW, a search engine can list Web sites at which you'll likely find that information. Popular search engines include Excite, Snap, Yahoo, and Infoseek. Second level domain In the Domain Name System (DNS), the next lower level of the hierarchy beneath the top level domains. In a domain name, that part of the domain name that appears immediately to the left of the top-level domain. For example, the "google" in google.com. Second level domain names are often descriptive and have come to be used increasingly to represent businesses and other commercial interests on the Internet. Security Certificate Information used to establish a secure connection by SSL protocol. In order for an SSL connection to be created, both sides must have a valid Security Certificate, issued by the Certificate Authority. Sendmail The BSD Unix Message Transfer Agent supporting mail transport via TCP/IP using SMTP. Sendmail is normally invoked in the background via a Mail User Agent such as the mail command. Server A computer or device that manages network resources. The term can refer to a piece of software, or to the machine on which the software is running. A single server machine could be running several different server software packages, thus providing many different services to users on the network. Servlet A java program that runs on a web server. Shared (web) hosting Web hosting in which multiple web hosting accounts are located on an individual server. These accounts share system resources such as hard disk space, memory, and so forth. SMTP Simple Mail Transfer Protocol: A protocol used to transfer email between servers. Almost all Internet email is sent and received by clients and servers using SMTP. 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: A specialized programming language for sending queries to databases. Many database applications can be addressed using SQL. Each specific application will have its own version of SQL implementing features unique to that application, but all SQL-capable databases support a common subset of SQL. SSH An encrypted shell connection program. 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. For example, a common use for SSI commands is to insert the date or last modified date on a file. SSL Secure Sockets Layer: A protocol designed by Netscape to enable encrypted communications across the Internet. It provides privacy, authentication, and message integrity. SSL is often used in communications between browsers and servers. A URL that begins with "https" is a clue that an SSL connection will be used on the Web site. During an SSL connection, each side sends a Security Certificate to the other. Both sides then encrypt what they send, ensuring that only the intended recipient can decode it. Subdomain (sub-domain, sub domain) A Subdomain allows you to have http://anything.yourdomain.com pointing to a separate directory within your main account. Subhost (sub-host, sub host) A domain or web site that shares a server with another domain or website. 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. TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol: This is the suite of protocols that defines the Internet. Originally designed for the UNIX operating system, TCP/IP software is now available for every major computer operating system. Your computer must have TCP/IP software to be connected to the Internet. Telnet A program for connecting to shells on remote computers. Top level domain In the Domain Name System (DNS), the highest level of the hierarchy after the root. In a domain name, the top level domain is that part of the domain name that is furthest to the right. For example, the "com" in google.com. Transfer Changing the party who is listed as the domain name registrant. The party that takes over the domain name becomes responsible for paying a new registration fee. UNIX A computer operating system. UNIX is designed to be used by many people at the same time and has TCP/IP built-in. It is the most common operating system for servers on the Internet. URL Uniform Resource Locator: The standard way to display an address on the World Wide Web (WWW). A URL is accessed through a Web browser and looks like this: http://www.google.com Usage Statistics Statistics that describe the traffic or data transferred from one's web site. These statistics are usually generated by one's web hosting service. The statistics categories may include "visitors per month," "monthly amount of data transferred," "unique visitors per day," and more. User ID This is your account reference name. When you need to log on to your site, you will use this item. A User ID is sometimes referred to as a "user name". Virtual IP A Virtual IP domain allows you to point a full domain name (eg. www.virtual.com.au) to a subdirectory inside your account (also called and Addon Domain). A Virtual IP allows you to have each domain go to a separate index (start) page. Virtual Server A UNIX based server environment which allows multiple independent servers to operate on the same hardware (as opposed to dedicated or shared servers). VPS (Virtual Private Server) A hosting environment that gives users their own Unix virtual machine. Each VPS is a private and protected area that operates as an independent server. The VPS allows multiple customers to share the expense of hardware and network connections (and completely eliminate the hassle of maintaining it all), without sacrificing performance or freedom. Although multiple customers share hardware, they do not share software. Every VPS has its own complete directory structure and set of dedicated applications (web server, mail server, etc.). Even though hardware is shared, the VPS Technology features 'fair share' scheduling of processes, memory, and network, so each VPS receives the resources it deserves. WebMail A method used to access e-mail messages through a web browser using HTTP. Website (or Web Site) A collection of Web pages that reside together on the World Wide Web and are connected. Website also refers to the server space allocated to a specific customer in a shared "virtual" server environment. www.ausnetsolutions.com.au is a "Website," while the page you are reading now is a "Web page." Web Site Traffic Reporting Reporting software to provide information such as the frequency of hits, page views, amount of data transfer, and total transfer sizes. Popular reporting tools include Analog, Webalizer, and WebTrends. Whois Most registries maintain a database of domain names and their associated contact information. Users can query these databases through a program called Whois. WS_FTP A popular third-party utility that is used to upload and download files to an FTP server. XML eXtended Markup Language -- an expansion of HTML that includes dynamic content capability. |
.com.au domain name registration $66.00 for 2 years
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Inc GST - Free Email Forwarding
- Free Premium URL Forwarding
- Same low price for renewals & transfers
- Email and SMS reminders