Glossary
Customer
Support Center | FAQ | Getting
Started | Glossary | Ask
Support | Ask Sales
| Contact
Us
Welcome
to our glossary!
Web hosting terminology
can be extremely confusing if you're new to the Internet. It's just plain
difficult to understand technology you can't hold in your hand. The concise
and clear explanations here will help to you understand-in a meaningful and
tangible way-the finer points of Web hosting.
If you have any other questions that are not covered, click on E-mail Technical Support and ask our technicians a question. Do you want to talk "live" to some one? Click on Contact Us and select our Technical support area. Additionally, you can e-mail our Sales Team a question at Sales Support.
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
A
A Record
An A record is
part of the zone file and is used to point Internet traffic to an IP
address. For example, you can use an "A record" to designate
abc.yourdomain.com to send traffic to your web site at IP address
209.132.X.XX. You can also designate xyz.yourdomain.com to go to a
separate IP address.
Applet
A small Java
program that can be embedded in an HTML page.
Applets differ from full-fledged Java applications in that they are not
allowed to access certain resources on the local computer, such as files
and serial devices (modems, printers, etc.), and are prohibited from
communicating with most other computers across a network. The current rule
is that an applet can only make an Internet connection to the computer
from which the applet was sent. See Also: HTML, Java
ASCII
(American Standard
Code for Information Interchange) -- This is the de facto world-wide
standard for the code numbers used by computers to represent all the upper
and lower-case Latin letters, numbers, punctuation, etc. There are 128
standard ASCII codes each of which can be represented by a 7 digit binary
number: 0000000 through 1111111.
B
Backbone
A high-speed line or series of connections that forms
a major pathway within a network. The term is relative as a backbone in a
small network will likely be much
smaller than many non-backbone lines in a large network. See Also:
Network
Bandwidth
How much stuff
you can send through a connection. Usually measured in bits-per-second. A
full page of English text is about 16,000 bits. A fast modem can move
about 15,000 bits in one second. Full-motion full-screen video would
require roughly 10,000,000 bits-per-second, depending on compression. See
Also: 56k Line, Bps, Bit, T-1, OC-3.
Binhex
(BINary HEXadecimal) -- A method for converting
non-text files (non-ASCII) into ASCII. This is
needed because Internet e-mail can only handle ASCII. See Also: ASCII,
MIME
Bit
(Binary DigIT) -- A single digit number in base-2, in
other words, either a 1 or a zero. The smallest unit of computerized data.
Bandwidth is usually measured in
bits-per-second. See Also: Bandwidth, Bps, Byte, Kilobyte ,
Megabyte
Bps
(Bits-Per-Second) -- A
measurement of how fast data is moved from one place to another. A 28.8
modem can move 28,800 bits per second. See Also: Bandwidth, Bit
Browser
A Client program
(software) that is used to look at various kinds of Internet resources.
See Also: Client, URL, WWW, Netscape , Mosaic , Home Page (or
Homepage)
Byte
A set of Bits that
represent a single character. Usually there are 8 Bits in a Byte,
sometimes more, depending on how the measurement is being made. See Also:
Bit
C
Certificate Authority
An issuer of Security
Certificates used in SSL connections. See Also:
Security Certificate, SSL
CGI
(Common Gateway Interface) -- A set of rules that
describe how a Web Server communicates
with another piece of software on the same machine, and how the other
piece of software (the 'CGI program') talks to the web server. Any piece
of software can be a CGI program if it handles input and output according
to the CGI standard.
Usually a CGI program is a small program that takes data from a web server and does something with it, like putting the content of a form into an e-mail message, or turning the data into a database query.
You can often see that a CGI program is being used by seeing 'cgi-bin' in a URL, but not always. See Also: cgi-bin, www
cgi-bin
The most common name of a directory on a web server
in which CGI programs are stored. The
'bin' part of 'cgi-bin' is a shorthand version of 'binary', because once
upon a time, most programs were referred to as 'binaries'. In real life,
most programs found in cgi-bin directories are text files -- scripts that
are executed by binaries located elsewhere on the same machine. See Also:
CGI
Client
A software program that is used to contact and obtain
data from a Server software program on another computer, often
across a great distance. Each Client program is designed to work
with one or more specific kinds of Server programs, and each
Server requires a specific kind of Client. A Web Browser
is a specific kind of Client. See Also: Browser, Server
Contact Record
In the case
of many registries, contact information for technical, billing and
administrative purposes are maintained in their database. It is important
to keep your contact records updated to ensure that billing and renewal
can proceed without problems.
Cookie
The most common meaning of 'Cookie' on the Internet
refers to a piece of information sent by a Web Server to a Web
Browser that the Browser software is expected to
save and to send back to the Server whenever the browser makes additional
requests from the Server.
Depending on the type of Cookie used, and the Browser's settings, the Browser may accept or not accept the Cookie, and may save the Cookie for either a short time or a long time.
Cookies might contain information such as login or registration information, online 'shopping cart' information, user preferences, etc.
When a Server receives a request from a Browser that includes a Cookie, the Server is able to use the information stored in the Cookie. For example, the Server might customize what is sent back to the user, or keep a log of particular user's requests.
Cookies are usually set to expire after a predetermined amount of time and are usually saved in memory until the Browser software is closed down, at which time they may be saved to disk if their 'expire time' has not been reached.
Cookies do not read your hard drive and send your life story to the CIA, but they can be used to gather more information about a user than would be possible without them. See Also: Browser, Server
CyberCash
CyberCash is an add on module to Mercantec Softcart. It is a powerful
platform that allows merchants to accept payments over the Internet with
real time or batch processing with a minimum of software. You must first
obtain an Internet Merchant Account from your financial institution, then
ADD ON the Cybercash component. The approval for Cybercash and the Internet
Merchant Account would be at your cost and responsibility.
D
DNS: Domain Naming
System
The DNS is a distributed, replicated that allows name
servers to map easily remembered domain names to an IP number.
Dedicated Server
For those
customers that want the advantages of colocation without the hassles of
purchasing their own server. See colocation.
Domain Name
The unique name
that identifies an Internet site. Domain Names always have 2 or more
parts, separated by dots. The part on the left is the most specific, and
the part on the right is the most general. A given machine may have more
than one Domain Name but a given Domain Name points to only one machine.
For example, the domain names: dreamworxhosting.net, mail.dreamworxhosting.net,
ftp.dreamworxhosting.net can all refer to the same machine, but each domain name
can refer to no more than one machine.
Usually, all of the machines on a given Network will have the same thing as the right-hand portion of their Domain Names (dreamworxhosting.net in the examples above). It is also possible for a Domain Name to exist but not be connected to an actual machine. This is often done so that a group or business can have an Internet e-mail address without having to establish a real Internet site. In these cases, some real Internet machine must handle the mail on behalf of the listed Domain Name. See Also: IP Number
Domain
Name Pointer
Domain name
pointers are used so that multiple domain names are directed to the same
website. Commonly, individuals and businesses may own multiple domain
names to accommodate different spellings, product lines, and even domain
name extensions like domain.com, domain.org, and domain.net. Yet all of
these domain names need to be directed to a single website.
E
Ecommerce
Electronic
Commerce. Refers to the general exchange of goods and services via the
Internet.
E-mail
(Electronic Mail) -- Messages, usually text, sent
from one person to another via computer. E-mail can also be sent
automatically to a large number of addresses (Mailing List). See Also: Listserv, Maillist
Ethernet
A very common method of networking computers in a
LAN. Ethernet will handle about
10,000,000 bits-per-second and can be used with almost any kind of
computer. See Also: Bandwidth, LAN
F
FTP
(File Transfer Protocol) -- A very common method of
moving files between two Internet sites. FTP is a special way to
login to another Internet site for the
purposes of retrieving and/or sending files. There are many Internet sites
that have established publicly accessible repositories of material that
can be obtained using FTP, by logging in using the account name anonymous,
thus these sites are called anonymous ftp servers.
G
Gateway
The technical
meaning is a hardware or software set-up that translates between two
dissimilar protocols, for example Prodigy has a gateway that translates
between its internal, proprietary e-mail format and Internet e-mail
format. Another, sloppier meaning of gateway is to describe any mechanism
for providing access to another system, e.g. AOL might be called a gateway
to the Internet.
Gigabyte
1024 Megabytes See
Also: Byte, Megabyte
H
Hit
As used in reference to the World Wide Web, 'hit'
means a single request from a web browser for a single item from
a web server; thus in order for a web browser to display a page
that contains 3 graphics, 4 'hits' would occur at the server: 1 for the
HTML page, and one for each of the 3 graphics.
'hits' are often used as a very rough measure of load on a server, e.g. 'Our server has been getting 300,000 hits per month.' Because each 'hit' can represent anything from a request for a tiny document (or even a request for a missing document) all the way to a request that requires some significant extra processing (such as a complex search request), the actual load on a machine from 1 hit is almost impossible to define.
Home
Page (or Homepage)
Several meanings. Originally,
the web page that your browser
is set to use when it starts up. The more common meaning refers to
the main web page for a business, organization, person or simply the main
page out of a collection of web pages, e.g. 'Check out so-and-so's new
Home Page.'
Another sloppier use of the term refers to practically any web page as a 'homepage,' e.g. 'That web site has 65 homepages and none of them are interesting.' See Also: Browser, Web
Host
Any computer on a
network that is a repository for services available to other
computers on the network. It is quite common to have one host machine
provide several services, such as WWW and USENET. See
Also: Node, Network
Hosting
This term can be
used to refer to the housing of a web site, e-mail or a domain. See E-mail
hosting and Web Site hosting for more details.
HTML
(HyperText Markup Language) -- The coding language
used to create Hypertext documents for use on the World Wide
Web. HTML looks a lot like old-fashioned typesetting code, where you
surround a block of text with codes that indicate how it should appear,
additionally; in HTML you can specify that a block of text, or a word, is
linked to another file on the Internet. HTML files are meant to be viewed
using a World Wide Web Client Program, such as Netscape
or Mosaic. See Also: Client, Server, WWW
HTTP
(HyperText Transport Protocol) -- The protocol for
moving hypertext files across the Internet. Requires a
HTTP client program on one end, and an HTTP server program on the
other end. HTTP is the most important protocol used in the World Wide
Web (WWW). See Also: Client, Server, WWW
Hypertext
Generally, any
text that contains links to other documents - words or phrases in the
document that can be chosen by a reader and which cause another document
to be retrieved and displayed.
I
Internet (Upper case I)
The vast collection of inter-connected networks that all use the TCP/IP
protocols and that evolved from the ARPANET of the late 60's and early
70's. The Internet now (July 1995) connects roughly 60,000 independent
networks into a vast global Internet. See Also: Internet
internet (Lower case i)
Any time you connect 2 or more
networks together, you have an internet - as in
inter-national or inter-state. See Also: Internet, Network
Intranet
A private network inside a company or
organization that uses the same kinds of software that you would find on
the public Internet, but that is only for internal
use.
As the Internet has become more popular many of the tools used on the Internet are being used in private networks, for example, many companies have web servers that are available only to employees.
Note that an Intranet may not actually be an internet -- it may simply be a network. See Also: internet, Internet, Network
IP Number
(Internet
Protocol Number) -- Sometimes called a dotted quad. A unique number
consisting of 4 parts separated by dots, e.g.165.113.245.2
Every machine that is on the Internet has a unique IP number - if a machine does not have an IP number, it is not really on the Internet. Most machines also have one or more Domain Names that are easier for people to remember. See Also: Domain Name, Internet, TCP/IP
IRC
(Internet Relay Chat) -- Basically a huge multi-user
live chat facility. There are a number of major IRC servers
around the world which are linked to each other. Anyone
can create a channel and anything that anyone types in a given channel is
seen by all others in the channel. Private channels can (and are) created
for multi-person conference calls.
ISP
(Internet Service
Provider) -- An institution that provides access to the Internet in some
form, usually for money. See Also: Internet
J
Java
Java is a network-oriented programming language
invented by Sun Microsystems that is specifically designed for writing
programs that can be safely downloaded to your computer through the
Internet and immediately run without fear of viruses or other harm to your
computer or files. Using small Java programs (called "Applets"), Web pages can include functions such as
animations, calculators, and other fancy tricks.
We can expect to see a huge variety of features added to the Web using Java, since you can write a Java program to do almost anything a regular computer program can do, and then include that Java program in a Web page. See Also: Applet
K
Kilobyte
A thousand bytes.
Actually, usually 1024 (210) bytes. See Also: Byte, Bit
L
LAN
(Local Area Network) --
A computer network limited to the immediate area, usually the same
building or floor of a building. See Also: Ethernet
Listserv
The most common kind of maillist, Listservs
originated on BITNET but they are now common on the
Internet. See Also: BITNET, E-mail, Maillist
Local Registry Fees
Most
TLDs require initial registration fees as well as annual or bi-annual
renewal fees. Prices vary from cost-free to thousands of dollars per
domain depending on the TLD chosen. For example, .COM domains cost $70
which covers the first two years. Renewal fees for .COM are $35 annually
after the first two years expire.
Login
Noun or a verb. Noun: The account name used to gain
access to a computer system. Not a secret (contrast with
Password). Verb: The act of entering into a computer system,
e.g. Login to the WELL and then go to the GBN conference. See
Also: Password
M
Maillist (or Mailing
List)
A (usually automated) system that
allows people to send e-mail
to one address, whereupon their message is copied and sent to all
of the other subscribers to the maillist. In this way, people who have
many different kinds of e-mail access can participate in discussions
together.
Megabyte
A million bytes. A thousand
kilobytes. See Also: Byte, Bit, Kilobyte
MIDI
Musical Instrument
Digital Interface -- A network and accompanying protocol developed in the
1970's for transmitting various information between musical and other
devices including keyboards, samplers, lights, controllers,
etc.
MIME
(Multipurpose Internet
Mail Extensions) -- The standard for attaching non-text files to standard
Internet mail messages. Non-text files include graphics, spreadsheets,
formatted word-processor documents, sound files, etc.
An e-mail program is said to be MIME Compliant if it can both send and receive files using the MIME standard.
When non-text files are sent using the MIME standard they are converted (encoded) into text - although the resulting text is not really readable.
Generally speaking the MIME standard is a way of specifying both the type of file being sent (e.g. a QuickTime video file), and the method that should be used to turn it back into its original form.
Besides e-mail software, the MIME standard is also universally used by Web Servers to identify the files they are sending to Web Clients, in this way new file formats can be accommodated simply by updating the Browsers' list of pairs of MIME-Types and appropriate software for handling each type. See Also: Browser, Client, Server, Binhex , UUENCODE
Mirror
Generally speaking, 'to mirror' is to maintain an
exact copy of something. Probably the most common use of the term on the
Internet refers to 'mirror sites' which are web sites, or
FTP sites that maintain exact copies of material originated
at another location, usually in order to provide more widespread access to
the resource.
Another common use of the term 'mirror' refers to an arrangement where information is written to more than one hard disk simultaneously, so that if one disk fails, the computer keeps on working without losing anything. See Also: FTP, Web
Modify (Domain Name)
The
database that the TLD registries maintain need to be accurate in order for
name resolution, billing, renewal notices and public records to be
processed correctly. Typically modifications are required when nameservers
need to change or the contacts change e-mail or postal address or phone
number. The procedures for modifying records will depend on the
registry.
MX Record: Mail
Exchange
Mail Exchange record
is part of the zone file and is used to designate which mail server
machine should process e-mail for a specific domain.
N
Name Servers
A computer
that performs the mapping of easily remembered domain names to IP
addresses. Sometimes referred to as a host server.
Network
Any time you connect 2 or more computers together so
that they can share resources, you have a computer network. Connect 2 or
more networks together and you have an internet. See Also: internet, Internet, Intranet
Newsgroup
The name for discussion groups on USENET. See Also: USENET
NIC
(Networked Information
Center) -- Generally, any office that handles information for a network.
The most famous of these on the Internet is Network Solutions, which is
where new domain names are registered. Another definition: NIC also refers
to Network Interface Card, which plugs into a computer and adapts the
network interface to the appropriate standard. ISA, PCI, and PCMCIA cards
are all examples of NICs.
O
OC-3
Refers to a circuit
that transmits 155,000,000 bits per second. This is the size of the
largest Internet backbone providers’ networks.
P
Packet Switching
The method used to move data
around on the Internet. In packet switching, all the
data coming out of a machine is broken up into chunks, each chunk has the
address of where it came from and where it is going. This enables chunks
of data from many different sources to co-mingle on the same lines, and be
sorted and directed to different routes by special machines along the way.
This way many people can use the same lines at the same time.
Parking (Domain
Name)
Registries require the use of name servers or hosts for
every domain registered. Since most people and organizations don't have
their own name servers, DreamWorx Hosting offers the use of its name servers. In
other words, DreamWorx Hosting can "park" or host domains on our nameservers
regardless of whether the domain is ready to be used for a web site or
e-mail.
Password
A code used to gain access to a locked system. Good
passwords contain letters and non-letters and are not simple combinations
such as virtue7. A good
password might be: Hot$1-6 See Also: Login
Plug-in
A (usually small) piece of software that adds
features to a larger piece of software. Common examples are plug-ins for
the Netscape® browser and web server. Adobe
Photoshop® also uses plug-ins.
The idea behind plug-in's is that a small piece of software is loaded into memory by the larger program, adding a new feature, and that users need only install the few plug-ins that they need, out of a much larger pool of possibilities. Plug-ins are usually developed by a third party.
POP
(Point of Presence,
also Post Office Protocol) -- Two commonly used meanings: Point of
Presence and Post Office Protocol. A Point of Presence usually means a
city or location where a network can be connected to, often with dial up
phone lines. So if an Internet company says they will soon have a POP in
Belgrade, it means that they will soon have a local phone number in
Belgrade and/or a place where leased lines can connect to their network. A
second meaning, Post Office Protocol refers to the way e-mail software
such as Eudora gets mail from a mail server. When you obtain a SLIP, PPP,
or shell account you almost always get a POP account with it, and it is
this POP account that you tell your e-mail software to use to get your
mail.
Port
3 meanings. First and most generally, a place where
information goes into or out of a computer, or both. E.g. the serial port
on a personal computer is where a modem would be connected.
On the Internet port often refers to a number that is part of a URL, appearing after a colon (:) right after the domain name. Every service on an Internet server listens on a particular port number on that server. Most services have standard port numbers, e.g. Web servers normally listen on port 80. Services can also listen on non-standard ports, in which case the port number must be specified in a URL when accessing the server, so you might see a URL of the form:
gopher://peg.cwis.uci.edu:7000/
shows a gopher server running on a non-standard port (the standard gopher port is 70). Finally, port also refers to translating a piece of software to bring it from one type of computer system to another, e.g. to translate a Windows program so that is will run on a Macintosh. See Also: Domain Name, Server, URL
Propagation
The process whereby the nameservers
throughout the world have updated their records for a specific domain.
For example, if you move your domain from one host to another,
it will take around 24 hours or so for the new address to broadcast everywhere.
During that 24-hour period, the traffic is decreasing at the old location
and increasing at the new location.
R
Register (Domain
Name)
Since every domain is unique, registries have been set
up to assign domains to individuals and organizations. When a domain is
registered with the appropriate registry, that domain is assigned and
becomes no longer available for anyone else to use. Typically, there are
registration and renewal fees (local registry fees) associated with the
right to use a domain. However, there are some TLDs that are provided at
no charge.
Registrant (Domain
Name)
The entity, organization or individual that will be
using the domain name.
Registrar (Domain
Name)
Some registries don't provide the ability for end users
to register domains with them directly. They might require end users to
purchase the domain through an internet provider that is acting as the
registrar.
Registry (Domain Name)
An
organization responsible for assigning domain names for the TLD that they
manage. Furthermore, it is their responsibility to update the global DNS
tables that all nameservers use to resolve domain names. For example,
InterNIC is the registry for .COM, .NET and .ORG domain names.
Renewal (Domain Name)
Most
TLDs need to be renewed at some scheduled yearly interval. This is an
opportunity for both the registrant and the registry to update their
records as well as collect any applicable renewal fees.
Resolution
(Domain Name)
The conversion of an internet address or domain name
into the corresponding physical location.
Router
A special-purpose computer (or software
package) that handles the connection between 2 or more networks.
Routers spend all their time looking at the destination addresses of the
packets passing through them and deciding which
route to send them on. See Also: Network, Packet Switching
S
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. See Also: Client, Network
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 e-mail is sent and received by clients and servers using SMTP, thus if one wanted to set up an e-mail server on the Internet one would look for e-mail server software that supports SMTP. See Also: Client, Server
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. See Also: Maillist, USENET
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. See Also: Browser, Server, Security Certificate, URL
T
T-1
A leased-line connection capable of carrying
data at 1,544,000 bits-per-second. At maximum theoretical
capacity, a T-1 line could move a megabyte in less than 10
seconds. That is still not fast enough for full-screen, full-motion video,
for which you need at least 10,000,000 bits-per-second. T-1 is the fastest
speed commonly used to connect networks to the Internet. See Also: 56k Line, Bandwidth, Bit, Byte , Ethernet ,
T-3
T-3
A leased-line
connection capable of carrying data at 44,736,000 bits-per-second. This is
more than enough to do full-screen, full-motion video. See Also: 56k Line,
Bandwidth, Bit, Byte , Ethernet , T-1
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 kind of computer operating
system. To be truly on the Internet, your computer must have
TCP/IP software. See Also: IP Number, Internet, UNIX
Terabyte
1024 gigabytes .
See Also: Byte, Kilobyte
Terminal
A device that
allows you to send commands to a computer somewhere else. At a minimum,
this usually means a keyboard and a display screen and some simple
circuitry. Usually you will use terminal software in a personal computer -
the software pretends to be (emulates) a physical terminal and allows you
to type commands to a computer somewhere else.
Terminal
Server
A special
purpose computer that has places to plug in many modems on one side, and a
connection to a LAN or host machine on the other side. Thus the terminal
server does the work of answering the calls and passes the connections on
to the appropriate node. Most terminal servers can provide PPP or SLIP
services if connected to the Internet. See Also: LAN, Modem, Host, Node ,
PPP , SLIP
Top Level Domain: (TLD)
A
Top Level Domain (TLD) is the uppermost in the hierarchy of domain names.
For example, dreamworxhosting.net is our domain name. The "net" is considered the
TLD and the "DreamWorx Hosting" is considered the second level domain. Together
they form a domain name which is unique. There are two types of TLDs. The
most common type is the Generic or Global TLDs which include .COM, .NET,
.ORG, .MIL, .INT and .EDU. There is a possibility that new gTLDs will be
introduced in the near future. National or ccTLDs are two letter country
code domains that are managed by a registry designated and controlled by
each specific country. Each registry might have differing prices,
residency requirements and structure.
Trademark
As it relates to
domain names... a word, phrase or slogan used to identify and distinguish
the source of the goods or services. Trademark law may be different
worldwide. If someone registers a domain name such as microsoft.to then
Microsoft would need to go to the courts in Tonga to fight to get the name
back. Expensive international litigation is one reason why it is important
to protect your trademarks before someone else registers the
names.
Transfer (Domain Name)
On
occasion, domains are sold to another organization or sometimes the name
of a company might change. Most registries require a letter of permission
from the old owner to hand over control to the new owner. The procedures
for Transfer of ownership will depend on the registry.
U
UNIX
A computer operating system (the basic software
running on a computer, underneath things like word processors and
spreadsheets). UNIX is designed to be used by many people at the same time
(it is multi-user) 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 give the address of any resource on the
Internet that is part of the World Wide Web (WWW). A URL looks like this:
http://www.dreamworxhosting.net/services.htm or telnet://well.sf.ca.us or
news:new.newusers.questions etc.
The most common way to use a URL is to enter into a WWW browser program, such as Netscape, or Lynx. See Also: Browser, WWW
V
TOP
W
WAN
(Wide Area Network) -- Any internet or
network that covers an area larger than a single building
or campus. See Also: Internet, internet, LAN, Network
Web
See: WWW
Whois
Most registries
maintain a database of domain names and their associated contact
information. Users can query these databases through a program called
Whois.
WWW
(World Wide Web) -- Two meanings - First, loosely
used: the whole constellation of resources that can be accessed using
Gopher, FTP, HTTP, telnet, USENET, WAIS and some other tools.
Second, the universe of hypertext servers (HTTP servers)
which are the servers that allow text, graphics, sound files, etc. to be
mixed together. See Also: Browser, FTP, Gopher, HTTP , Telnet , URL ,
WAIS
Z
Zone file
The group of
files that reside on the domain host or nameserver. The zone file
designates a domain, its subdomains and mail server.
If you have any other questions that are not covered, click on E-mail Technical Support and ask our technicians a question. Do you want to talk "live" to some one? Click on Phone Support and select our Technical support area. Additionally, you can e-mail our Sales Team a question at Sales Support.
