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Web Hosting Glossary
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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.
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.
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-6
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) -- 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
it will run on a Macintosh.
Posting
A single message entered into a network
communications system. E.g. A single message
posted to a newsgroup or message
board.
PPP
(Point to Point Protocol) -- Most well known
as a protocol that allows a computer to use
a regular telephone line and a modem
to make TCP/IP connections and thus
be really and truly on the Internet.
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.
PSTN
(Public Switched Telephone Network) -- The
regular old-fashioned telephone system.
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