Understanding Web Hosting Terminologies
Most website owners or developers are often not necessarily familiar with most web hosting terminologies. It is important to know how web hosting works and what is right for you. Once you have conducted research on the various available web hosting platforms, at times you might find yourself lost in the terminologies used. Anyone who is searching for a good web hosting package must be acquainted with the commonly used web hosting terms. This will make it easier for you to communicate with the web hosting providers about your requirements.
Here are some of the commonly used web hosting terminologies:
Auto Responders
This feature is generally offered with the email accounts present in your web hosting package. An auto-responder enables your website to be interactive 24/7. How does an autoresponder work? The autoresponder receives the emails automatically and sends acknowledgments. If a customer sends an inquiry email through the contact form present on your website or through the email address that you have mentioned on your website; an auto-response email is sent to the customer right away in order to confirm receipt of the email received. You can easily configure the autoresponder on the control panel and you can have customized email text as well that will be sent to customers and prospects.
Active Server Pages
Active server pages enable the web developers to make the websites dynamic with database-driven content. The code is written in VB script, and it is present on the server instead of the browser of your website. The server detects the ASP code and then it is translated to HTML.
Backups
It is crucial to select a web hosting company that provides regular backups. Web hosting packages often consist of regular backups and real-time monitoring for ensuring the complete security of your website and data. Taking the backup of files is important if any website has to face technical difficulties; loss of important data can be prevented through backups.
Bandwidth
An important web hosting term that every website owner must be familiar with is bandwidth. Bandwidth denotes the volume of data that can be transmitted. Bandwidths come in sizes; sometimes 1GB per month or more. Most web hosting providers use the ‘unlimited’ tag for bandwidth in order to allure the customers; however, it is important to make the right decision when it comes to the web hosting package. In case your website exceeds the bandwidth limit as a result of huge incoming traffic, there might be downtime to your website till the issue is resolved. Therefore it is important to know how much bandwidth is required for your website. In case you feel that your website is getting slow in the existing web hosting package, it is time to upgrade to a higher web hosting package that consists of more bandwidth.
How is monthly bandwidth calculated?
Check as many pages as you can so the average will be more accurate. For example, if you get 5,000 visitors a month, with the average visitor opening roughly 3 web pages, and each web page is approximately 2 MB in size, this means your bandwidth usage is: 5,000 x 3 x 2 = 25,000 MB, or 25 GB per month.
CGI (Common Gateway Interface)
A CGI is a program used for translating data from a web server and then that data is displayed on a web page or in an email. CGI consists of data transmission between a server and a CGI program (this is known as script). This enables the HTML pages to interact with the other programming applications, as a result of this, the web pages are made interactive. Things like guest books, random text/images, and page counters can be driven through CGI scripts. Some servers allow pre-defined and customized CGI scripts. If you are planning to have forms on your website, then you will surely need CGI scripts.
Disk Space
This term is not very different from bandwidth. Disk space is basically the amount of space assigned to your website on the hosting provider’s server. The amount of disk space also denotes the number of web pages and the content present on your website. If you are planning to add images, videos, and graphics to your website, then you must select a web hosting package having a larger disk space.
Domain Name
A domain name is the unique identity of your website on the internet. A domain name can be seen in the address bar of your internet browser e.g. gonlinesites.com or google.com. Selecting an appropriate domain name is important as you will reach out to people with it. Preferably, keep the domain name short and impressive.
Uptime
Uptime refers to the span of time in a 24 hour period when a website is available and searchable on the internet. Usually, a number of good web hosting companies offer a 99.95% upwards uptime for a website.
These are some basic terminologies explained. There is more to come in the future…
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