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Are you confused with so many technical terms? Do not
worry its often hard to keep so many terms in mind.
This section is specially desinged to explain most of
the terms which you should read & understand before
you choose your web hosting service provider.
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Web
Hosting Glossary
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Select
a letter to view the defination of the terms beginning with
that letter.
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- Security
Certificate
- A
chunk of information (often stored as a text file) that
is used by the SSL protocol to establish a secure
connection.
Security
Certificates contain information about who it belongs
to, who it was issued by, a unique serial number or other
unique identification, valid dates, and an encrypted 'fingerprint'
that can be used to verify the contents of the certificate.
In
order for an SSL connection to be created, both sides
must have a valid Security Certificate.
- Server
- A
computer, or a 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 server, or to the machine on which
the software is running, e.g.Our mail server is down today,
that's why e-mail isn't getting out. A single server machine
could have several different server software packages running
on it, thus providing many different servers to clients
on the network.
- SLIP
- (Serial
Line Internet Protocol) -- A standard for using a regular
telephone line (a serial line) and a modem to connect
a computer as a real Internet site. SLIP is gradually
being replaced by PPP.
- SMDS
- (Switched
Multimegabit Data Service) -- A new standard for very high-speed
data transfer.
- SMTP
- (Simple
Mail Transport Protocol) -- The main protocol used to send
electronic mail on the Internet.
SMTP
consists of a set of rules for how a program sending mail
and a program receiving mail should interact.
Almost
all Internet email is sent and received by clients
and servers using SMTP, thus if one wanted to set
up an email server on the Internet one would look for
email server software that supports SMTP.
- SNMP
- (Simple
Network Management Protocol) -- A set of standards for communication
with devices connected to a TCP/IP network. Examples
of these devices include routers, hubs, and switches.
A
device is said to be 'SNMP compatible' if it can be monitored
and/or controlled using SNMP messages. SNMP messages are
known as 'PDU's' - Protocol Data Units.
Devices
that are SNMP compatible contain SNMP 'agent' software
to receive, send, and act upon SNMP messages.
Software
for managing devices via SNMP are available for every
kind of commonly used computer and are often bundled along
with the device they are designed to manage. Some SNMP
software is designed to handle a wide variety of devices.
- Spam
(or Spamming)
- An
inappropriate attempt to use a mailing list, or USENET
or other networked communications facility as if it was
a broadcast medium (which it is not) by sending the same
message to a large number of people who didn't ask for it.
The term probably comes from a famous Monty Python skit
which featured the word spam repeated over and over. The
term may also have come from someone's low opinion of the
food product with the same name, which is generally perceived
as a generic content-free waste of resources. (Spam is a
registered trademark of Hormel Corporation, for its processed
meat product.)
E.g.
Mary spammed 50 USENET groups by posting the same message
to each.
- SQL
- (Structured
Query Language) -- A specialized programming language for
sending queries to databases. Most industrial-strength and
many smaller 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.
- SSL
- (Secure
Sockets Layer) -- A protocol designed by Netscape Communications
to enable encrypted, authenticated communications across
the Internet.
SSL
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.
In
an SSL connection each side of the connection must have
a Security Certificate, which each side's software
sends to the other. Each side then encrypts what it sends
using information from both its own and the other side's
Certificate, ensuring that only the intended recipient
can de-crypt it, and that the other side can be sure the
data came from the place it claims to have come from,
and that the message has not been tampered with.
- Sysop
- (System
Operator) -- Anyone responsible for the physical operations
of a computer system or network resource. A System Administrator
decides how often backups and maintenance should be performed
and the System Operator performs those tasks.
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