Hosting glossary
The terms you'll meet, explained in one line each.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Bandwidth / traffic | The amount of data sent to visitors |
| Backup | A copy of your files and data kept somewhere safe |
| cPanel | The control panel for hosting accounts |
| CDN | A network that serves your site's files from locations near visitors |
| DNS | The system that turns domain names into IP addresses |
| Domain | Your site's name on the internet |
| FTP / SFTP | Ways to transfer files to the server; SFTP is encrypted |
| IP address | A server's numeric address |
| MX record | DNS record saying where a domain's email goes |
| Nameservers | The servers that hold a domain's DNS records |
| NVMe | Very fast solid-state storage |
| Root access | Full administrator control of a Linux server |
| SSL / TLS | Encryption for websites; gives you https and the padlock |
| SSH | A secure way to control a server with commands |
| TTL | How long DNS servers keep a record before checking again |
| Uptime | The share of time a service is available |
| VPS | A virtual private server with its own resources |
| WHM | The control panel resellers use to manage cPanel accounts |