Reseller Program

Are you confused with all these technical terms? Here is a brief glossary of terms you may need.

Answer

If you are new to web hosting or the internet in general, here are a FEW of the terms you may want to learn.

ISP - (Internet Service Provider) provides connectivity to the Internet, usually via modem and dialup lines (Computer House does not do this directly. We recommend going directly to DigiVerge.net)

IPP - (Internet Presence Provider) provides presences on the Internet, usually provides web hosting and e-mail services (this is what Computer House does).

WWW - (World Wide Web) refers to the vast web sites and such that span the Internet

POP - (Post Office Protocol) physical e-mail accounts you log into with a username and password to pick up any e-mail sent/forwarded to that account

Email Alias - aliasing allows you to have multiple e-mail addresses sent to a specific POP e-mail account (ie. pick up webmaster@yourdomain.com, sales@yourdomain.com, etc. from one POP account) rather than from several separate ones.

Email Forward - forwarding allows you to have e-mail forwarded from a specific address or POP account to another POP account (ie. have all e-mail sent to webmaster@yourdomain.com sent to your POP account provided by your ISP)

FTP - (File Transfer Protocol) this is how you will upload and download your web pages etc. to and from your computer to and from your virtual server

ASCII - used in FTP and the WWW, this is a type of file, usually any kind of file that you can read (like a text file) falls under this classification (HTML files
should be ASCII files).

BINARY - used in FTP and the WWW, this is a type of file, usually any kind of file that is unreadable as text falls under this classification (graphic images, sound
files, etc. should be BINARY files).

HTML - (Hyper-Text Markup Language) the name of the standard coding used to create web pages, most web pages are written/coded in HTML.

Domain - this is the convention used to access a web site (www.whatever.com , etc.) Domain names must be registered with the root name servers to be valid and usable on the internet. Registrations can be done at Name IT.

Non-domain - this is usually a sub-site on someone's domain (www.whatever.com/subsite). Non-domains do not have to be registered with InterNIC or any other domain name registrar.

Propogation - a period after a domain name is registered or transferred when the domain name is updated amoung all the nameservers found on the Internet around the world. This period usually lasts 3-7 days and may result in visitors not being able to visit the domain name until the period is over.

Apache - A public-domain Web server developed by a loosely-knit group of programmers. The first version of Apache, based on the NCSA httpd Web server, was developed in 1995. Because it was developed from existing NCSA code plus various patches, it was called a patchy server - hence the name Apache Server.
As a result of its sophisticated features, excellent performance, and low price (it's free), Apache has became the world's most popular Web server. By some estimates, it is used to host more than 50% of all Web sites in the world. Core development of the Apache Web server is performed by a group of about 20 volunteer programmers, called the Apache Group. However, because the source code is freely available, anyone can adapt the server for specific needs, and there is a large public library of Apache add-ons. In many respects, development of Apache is similar to development of the Linux operating system. The original version of Apache was written for UNIX, but there are now versions that run under OS/2, Windows and other platforms.

ASP - A specification for a dynamically created Web page with a .ASP extension that contain either Visual Basic or Jscript code. When a browser requests an ASP page, the Web server generates a page with HTML code and sends it back to the browser. So ASP pages are similar to CGI scripts, but they enable Visual Basic programmers to work with familiar tools. These are usable on Computer House's NT Powersites

CGI - Abbreviation of Common Gateway Interface, a specification for transferring information between a World Wide Web server and a CGI program. A CGI program is any program designed to accept and return data that conforms to the CGI specification. The program could be written in any programming language, including C, Perl, Java, or Visual Basic. CGI programs are the most common way for Web servers to interact dynamically with users. Many HTML pages that contain forms, for example, use a CGI program to process the form's data once it's submitted. Another increasingly common way to provide dynamic feedback for Web users is to include scripts or programs that run on the user's machine rather than the Web server. These programs can be Java applets, Java scripts, or ActiveX controls. These technologies are known collectively as client-side solutions, while the use of CGI is a server-side solution because the processing occurs on the Web server.

One problem with CGI is that each time a CGI script is executed, a new process is started. For busy Web sites, this can slow down the server noticeably. A more efficient solution, but one that it is also more difficult to implement, is to use the server's API, such as ISAPI or NSAPI. Another increasingly popular solution is to use Java servlets, however at this time, Computer House does not support server side Java.

Cron - A Unix command for scheduling jobs to be executed sometime in the future. A cron is normally used to schedule a job that is executed periodically - for example, to send out a notice every morning. It is also a daemon process, meaning that it runs continuously, waiting for specific events to occur.

SMTP - Short for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, a protocol for sending e-mail messages between servers. Most e-mail systems that send mail over the Internet use SMTP to send messages from one server to another; the messages can then be retrieved with an e-mail client using either POP or IMAP. In addition, SMTP is generally used to send messages from a mail client to a mail server. This is why you need to specify both the POP or IMAP server and the SMTP server when you configure your e-mail application.

SSI - Short for server-side include, a type of HTML comment that directs the Web server to dynamically generate data for the Web page whenever it is requested. The basic format for SSI is as follows:

<!--#command tag="value">

Where #command can be any of various commands supported by the Web server. The simplest command is #include, which inserts the contents of another file. This is especially useful for ensuring that boilerplate components, such as headers and footers, are the same on all pages throughout a Web site. To change a boilerplate element, you need only modify the include file, instead of updating every individual Web page. SSIs can also be used to execute programs and insert the results. They therefore represent a powerful tool for Web developers. There is no official standard for SSIs, so every Web server is free to support different SSIs in different manners. However, many SSI commands, such as #include and #exec, have become de facto standards. Web pages that contain SSIs often end with a .shtml extension, though this is not a requirement. The filename extension enables the Web server to differentiate those pages that need to be processed before they are sent to the browser.

The list could go on and on, but these are some of the standard terms that you may find yourself using when dealing with web hosting. We may expand the listing with other terminologies, if needed. Otherwise, we recommend perusing through the internet for some online resources that can help you with the terminologies, if you are not familiar with them.

Related Links

These terms are only included to give brief information. If you're looking for more information, please review one of the following links with the topic you're looking for.

http://webopedia.com

http://yahoo.com

http://excite.com

http://internet.com

http://altavista.com

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