Glossary

Anonymous FTP
An Internet File Transfer Protocol (FTP) option that allows you to let others onto your web site to download files that you have made available, without first establishing an account. Most FTP servers are set up to allow a limited amount of anonymous FTP users to log in at the same time, and only provide access to designated files.

Apache
A popular web server. By some estimates, it is used to host more than 50% of all web sites in the world. The original version of Apache was written for UNIX, but there are now versions that run under OS/2, Windows and other platforms.

Autoresponder
An e-mail that is automatically sent in reply to any e-mail received in a specified mailbox. Also known as a vacation message.

Backbone
The Internet's high-speed data highway that serves as a major access point to which other networks can connect. We utilizes up to nine backbones. We've partnered with Internap Network Services, the North America's top rated commercial bandwidth provider to provide you the ultimate quality bandwidth.

Bandwidth

1. The range of frequencies a transmission line or channel can carry; the higher the frequency the higher the bandwidth and the greater the information-carrying capacity of a channel. For a digital channel this is defined in bits per second or BPS. For an analog channel it is dependent on the type and method of modulation used to encode the data.

2. Expressed in cycles per second (hertz), the amount of information that can flow through a channel. On the less technical side bandwidth is used to measure the amount of time it takes for a web page to fully load. Internet users occasionally refer to larger graphics on web pages as "bandwidth hogs" - the use of the term bandwidth in this case isn't quite accurate, but what it means is that the graphic is loading slowly due to its large file size.

Browser
A program used to view, download, upload, surf or otherwise access documents (pages) on the World Wide Web. Browsers can be text-based, meaning they do not show graphics or images, but most are text- and graphical-based.

Browsers read "marked up" or coded pages (usually HTML but not always) that reside on servers and interpret the coding into what we see "rendered" as a web page. Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer are examples of web browsers. The program you are using right now to view this information is called a browser.

Browser Compatibility
A term that compares the way a web page looks on one WWW browser as opposed to another. Usually this is done with Microsoft Internet Explorer (MIE) and Netscape Navigator, but can also refer to cross-platform compatibility. (For example, the way a page renders or displays on a Windows system as opposed to a Mac.) The reason these incompatibilities exist is due to the way a browser interprets the web page's code (HTML). The differences are usually very slight, but they're enough to annoy some web designers and sometimes even their clients to the point in which great time and energy is spent in making a web site compatible with any browser on any type of system. Browser compatibility is also used in conjunction with (and should not be confused with) the term browser support.

See Also: Browser Support

Browser Support
This refers to the ability of a particular browser to even recognize and interpret certain HTML or other web page codes.

CGI-BIN
A directory on a server that "houses" all of the CGI programs. When you see this as a directory in your browser's URL window, it usually means you are either running or about to run a CGI program. The "binary" part refers to when many of the files placed in that directory were binary files. More recently, many of these files are text-based.

See Also: Common Gateway Interface (CGI)

Client
A software program used to contact and obtain data from a server software program on another computer, often across a great distance.

Common Gateway Interface (CGI)
CGI is 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) communicates with the web server. Many scripting languages, such as Perl, follow the CGI standard. This allows you to develop more interactive sites, by making use of system features.

See Also: CGI-BIN

Connectivity
The state of being connected to the Internet or some other type of computer network. On the Internet, if you lose your connectivity, you are no longer online and must redial into your ISP. When ISPs get many users signing on all at once, the connectivity tends to be poor. "What is your connectivity?" usually means what kind of speed does your Internet connection support, like 28.8 or T-1.

Cookie
A piece of information about your computer, something you clicked on, and/or you (such as your username) that is stored in a text file on your hard drive. A server accesses this information when you connect to a web site that wants to know this information. One common occurrence of a "handing out a cookie", would be when you as a user, log into a system through a web site. After you enter in your username and password, your browser saves a text file that it calls upon for later access. This prevents you from having to log in again if you happen to leave the web site and then return at a later time. Cookies are also used in the process of purchasing items on the web. It is because of the cookie that "shopping cart" technology works. By saving in a text file the name, and other important information about an item a user "clicks" on as they move through a shopping web site, a user can later go to an order form, and see all the items they selected, ready for quick and easy processing.

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.

DNS - Domain Name System
A database system that translates an IP address into a domain name. For example, a numeric IP address like 207.219.116.4 is converted into netlingo.com. The DNS is a static, hierarchical name service that uses TCP/IP hosts and is housed on a number of servers on the Internet. Basically, it maintains this database for figuring out and finding (or resolving) host names and IP addresses. This allows users to specify remote computers by host names rather than numerical IP addresses. Also referred to as Domain Name Service and Domain Name Server.

Domain Name or Domain
The unique name identifying a web site, located at the right of the @ sign in an Internet address. Domain names always have two or more parts, separated by dots, as in www.yourdomain.com. Domains are tied to name servers, which direct to which IP address the domain should point. Any server can have multiple domain names, but a domain name can only point to one server.

Extensions
The characters after the dot in a file's name are considered its extension. This is used to determine how the file is formatted and viewed. For example a file named netlingo.html means that the file is coded in HTML and therefore must be viewed with a compatible program such as a web browser in order to see it properly. On the Internet you will come across many different file extensions such as .dcr, .mov, .avi and .au. In order to properly handle these files your browser must be configured to recognize these extensions.

Firewall
A method for keeping a network secure from intruders. It can be a single router that filters out unwanted packets or may comprise a combination of routers and servers each performing some type of firewall processing. Firewalls are widely used to give users secure access to the Internet as well as to separate a company's public web server from its internal network. Firewalls are also used to keep internal network segments secure; for example, the accounting network might be vulnerable to snooping from within the enterprise.

FTP - File Transfer Protocol
Common procedure used for downloading and uploading files over the Internet. With FTP you can log in to another Internet site and transfer (send or receive) files. Some sites have public file archives that you can access by using FTP with the account name "anonymous" and your e-mail address as the password. This type of access is called anonymous FTP. Macintosh users use a program called Fetch; one of the FTP programs for Windows is called WS-FTP.

Gateway
A computer system for exchanging information across incompatible networks that use different protocols. For example, many commercial services have e-mail gateways for sending messages to Internet addresses.

GIF - Graphic Interchange Format
A common format for image files, especially suitable for images containing large areas of the same color.

Host
Any computer that can function as the beginning and end point of data transfers. An Internet host has a unique Internet address (IP address) and a unique domain or host name.

HTML - Hypertext Markup Language
HTML is the language for publishing hypertext on the World Wide Web. It is a non-proprietary format based upon SGML, and can be created and processed in a wide range of tools from simple plain text editors to sophisticated WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) authoring tools. HTML uses tags like <h1> and </h1> to structure text into headings, paragraphs, lists, hypertext links and more.

HTTP - Hypertext Transfer Protocol
The protocol that tells the server what to send to the client, so the client can view web pages, FTP sites, or other areas of the net.

HTTPS - Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure
A type of server software that provides the ability for secure transactions to take place on the World Wide Web. If a web site is running on a HTTPS server you can type in HTTPS instead of HTTP in the URL section of your browser to enter into the "secured mode". Windows NT HTTPS and Netscape Commerce server software support this protocol.

Internet Protocol (IP) Address or IP Number
The IP address is a unique number used to identify a machine on the Internet. The number consists of four numbers between 0 and 255 separated by dots (208.233.88.55). Every machine on the Internet must have it's own IP address. Domains are tied to name servers, which direct to which IP address the domain should point.

See Also: Domain, Protocol

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, often in the form of web servers that are available only to employees. Note that an "Intranet" may not actually be an Internet; it may simply be a network.

Log File Access
Raw log files are used to track the hits to your web site. You can access them from your root directory.

Meta Tag
An optional HTML tag that is used to specify information about a web document. Some search engines such as AltaVista use "spiders" to index web pages. These spiders read the information contained within a page's META tag. So in theory, an HTML or web page author has the ability to control how there site is indexed by search engines and how and when it will come up on a user's search.

ODBC Connectivity
A standard database access method developed by Microsoft. The goal of ODBC is to make it possible to access any data from any application, regardless of which database management system (DBMS) is handling the data. ODBC manages this by inserting a middle layer, called a database driver, between an application and the DBMS. The purpose of this layer is to translate the application's data queries into commands that the DBMS understands. For this to work, both the application and the DBMS must be ODBC-compliant -- that is, the application must be capable of issuing ODBC commands and the DBMS must be capable of responding to them. Since version 2.0, the standard supports SAG SQL.

Two types of ODBC connections are as follows:

Jet Data Engine - This connection allows ODBC-compliant databases such as Microsoft Access, Foxpro, D-Base and others.

SQL Server - This allows ODBC connection via TCP/IP to a Microsoft SQL server.

Parking
When two domains point to the same IP Address

PHP
PHP Hypertext Preprocessor is a server-side, HTML-embedded scripting language used to create dynamic web pages. In an HTML document, PHP script (similar syntax to that of Perl or C) is enclosed within special PHP tags. Because PHP is embedded within tags, the author can jump between HTML and PHP (similar to ASP and Cold Fusion) instead of having to rely on heavy amounts of code to output HTML. Because PHP is executed on the server, the client cannot view the PHP code.

PHP can perform any task any CGI program can, but its strength lies in its compatibility with many types of databases. Also, PHP can talk across networks using IMAP, SNMP, NNTP, POP3 or HTTP.

PING - Packet Internet Groper
An Internet program used to determine whether a specific IP address is accessible. It works by sending a packet to the specified address and waiting for a reply, then reporting how many hops are required to connect two Internet hosts. PING is used primarily to troubleshoot Internet connections.

Platform
The type of computer or operating system on which a software application runs. For example, some common platforms are PC, Macintosh, Unix and NeXT. When someone knows more than one of these platforms or when a program can be used on more than one of these platforms, it is termed cross-platform.

POP - Post Office Protocol
POP refers to the protocol used by e-mail software, such as Eudora or Outlook Express, to retrieve electronic mail from a mail server. The protocol used by mail clients to retrieve messages from a mail server. This includes POP1, POP2, and POP3, the number denoting the different version number of the protocol. POP3 is the most common e-mail standard. POP is the protocol used by mail clients to retrieve messages from a mail server.

See Also: E-mail, Protocol

RealAudio
RealNetworks' (formerly Progressive Networks) RealAudio client-server software system enables Internet and online users equipped with conventional multimedia personal computers and voice-grade telephone lines to browse, select and play back audio or audio-based multimedia content on demand, in real time. This is a real breakthrough compared to typical download times encountered with delivery of audio over conventional online methods with which audio is downloaded at a rate that is five times longer than the actual program.

RealMedia
A term encompassing RealNetworks' RealAudio and RealVideo

RealVideo
A streaming technology developed by RealNetworks (formerly Progressive Networks) for transmitting live video over the Internet. RealVideo uses a variety of data compression techniques and works with both normal IP connections as well as IP Multicast connections.

Scalability
How well a solution to a given issue will work when the size of the issue increases.

Script
Another term for macro or batch file, a script is a list of commands that can be executed without user interaction. A script language is a simple programming language with which you can write scripts.

In the context of the World Wide Web, a (gateway) script is a program that runs on a server and processes requests based on input from the browser.

Search Engine
A program which acts like a card catalog for the Internet. Search engines attempt to help a user isolate desired information or resources by searching for keywords that the user specifies. The method for finding this information is usually done by maintaining an index of web resources that can be queried for the keywords or concepts entered by the user. The index can be built from specific resource lists or created by web wanderers, robots, spiders, crawlers and worms. From the Net surfer point of view, search engines can be quite tiresome and not very fruitful if you don't know how to use them correctly. Different engines are good for different kinds of searches, so to optimize search results, read the search engine's help section before searching.

Server
A host computer on a network that holds information (such as web sites) and responds to requests for information from it (links to another web page). The term server is also used to refer to the software that makes the act of serving information possible. Commerce servers, for example, use software to run the main functions of an e-commerce web site, such as product display, online ordering, and inventory management. You'll also hear this described as "shopping cart technology".

SMTP - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
The standard Internet protocol for transferring electronic mail messages

SQL - Structured Query Language
The standardized query language for requesting information from a database. The original version called SEQUEL (structured English query language) was designed by an IBM research center in 1974 and 1975. Oracle Corporation first introduced SQL as a commercial database system in 1979.

SQL Server
A Relational Data Base Management System (RDBMS) from Sybase Corporation. SQL Server was designed for client/server use and is accessed by applications using SQL. It runs on OS/2, Windows NT, NetWare servers, VAXen, and UNIX workstations.

Generically, any database management system (DBMS) that can respond to queries from client machines formatted in the SQL language. When capitalized, the term generally refers to either of two database management products from Sybase and Microsoft. Both companies offer client-server DBMS products called SQL Server.

SSL - Secured Sockets Layer
A protocol that delivers server authentication, data encryption and message integrity. SSL is layered beneath application protocols such as HTTP, SMTP, Telnet, FTP, Gopher and NNTP, and layered above the connection protocol TCP/IP. This strategy allows SSL to operate independently of the Internet application protocols. With SSL implemented on both the client and server, your Internet communications are transmitted in encrypted form. Information you send can be trusted to arrive privately and unaltered to the server you specify and no other.

Static IP
An IP address which is the same every time you log on to the Internet. See IP address for more information.

TCP/IP - Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
This set of protocols makes TELNET, FTP, e-mail, and other services possible among computers that don't belong to the same network.

UNIX
An operating system, invented in 1969 at AT&T Bell Laboratories, that was made available to researchers and students in 1973. It was used to develop the Internet's communication software protocols.

An interactive time-sharing system invented in 1969 by Ken Thompson after Bell Labs left the Multics project, originally so he could play games on his scavenged PDP-7. Dennis Ritchie, the inventor of C, is considered a co-author of the system. The turning point in UNIX's history came when it was reimplemented almost entirely in C during 1972--1974, making it the first source-portable operating system. UNIX subsequently underwent mutations and expansions at the hands of many different people, resulting in a uniquely flexible and developer-friendly environment. By 1991, UNIX had become the most widely used multi-user general-purpose operating system in the world.

URL - Uniform Resource Locator
Describes the location and access method of a resource on the Internet All web sites have URLs. One could say a URL is to a web site as a telephone number is to a telephone or a street address is to a house. Although web site URLs are sometimes long and hard to read, many browsers have a bookmark feature, which allows you to save the location (URL) of web sites you want to return to.

The URL "http://www.yourdomain.com" describes the type of access method being used (http) and the server location which hosts the web site (www.yourdomain.com).

Web Hosting
Web hosting allows your web site to be connected to the Internet at high speed via a web server so its information can be viewed globally through a browser. Metaphorically speaking, renting space on a server is comparable to renting an apartment. For a monthly fee, you reside in that apartment and all maintenance is the responsibility of the property. You also have access to certain amenities that would otherwise be a costly investment. A web hosting company houses your web site on its own secure servers, enabling you to affordably leverage the power of a high-speed network, 24/7 expert monitoring and support, and state-of-the-art technology.

*Certain terms in this glossary have been derived from Webopedia, Netlingo, ISS and Techweb.