addon domains

A domain name that points to a subdirectory within a user's account. For instance, you may want eighthmoonhosting.com to point to eighthmoon.com/hosting. Addon domains must be registered domain names the user owns. They must be configured to point to the corresponding web site's servers.

CGI

Common Gateway Interface: Scripts that describe how a web server communicates with another piece of software located elsewhere on the server. For example, a CGI program may take the data from a form and place it into an e-mail message, or it may turn the data into a database query.

cgi-bin

A directory on a web server where CGI programs are stored.

client

An application that runs on an end user's computer allowing the computer to access sever resources on a network. Client software allows web browsing, file downloads, email access, game playing, etc., often simultaneously.

cPanel

A web-hosting control panel system designed for end users. It allows the user to control everything from adding/removing email accounts to administering MySQL databases all with an easy to use web-based interface.

dynamic web page

A page that interacts with the user, so that each user visiting the page sees customized information.

FTP

File Transfer Protocol: A set of rules that allows you to upload files from your computer (client) to the server and download files from the server to your computer.

HTTP

Hypertext Transfer Protocol: A set of rules that allows web browsers (Explorer, Safari, Navigator, etc) to request and receive hypertext-based documents (web pages) from web servers.

IMAP

Internet Message Access Protocol: Allows a client email program access mail or bulletin board messages that are stored on a mail server from multiple computers.

MySQL

My Structured Query Language: SQL is the most common language used to access databases. MySQL is a relational database that stores info in separate tables rather than putting it all in one big area. The MySQL database server is the most popular open-source database because it is fast, flexible, compact, easy to customize, and stable.

parked domains

Created when a user wants to reserve a domain name that he or she is not yet prepared to develop. It will point to the same home page as the the user's main account. It is not a separate account. A parked domain does not have its own IP address, separate email accounts, or its own control panel.

PHP

PHP Hypertext Preprocessor (refers to self): An open source, server-side, HTML embedded scripting language used to create dynamic web pages. In an HTML document, PHP script is enclosed within special PHP tags.

phpMyAdmin

A tool written in PHP to administer MySQL over the web. Currently it can create and drop databases, create/drop/alter tables, delete/edit/add fields, execute any SQL statement, and manage keys on fields.

POP

Post Office Protocol: Allows a client to access mail from a mail server using only a single dedicated computer.

protocol

A set of rules that governs the flow of files between clients and servers over a network. Among the various protocols are Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), email protocols, and File Transfer Protocol (FTP).

server

An application that provides access to resources for clients. For instance, web-server software stores and distributes web pages for use by a web browser.

SMTP

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol: A protocol used to transfer email between computers. It is a server-to-server protocol, whereas POP and IMAP are client-to-server protocols.

SSI

Server-Side Include: A type of HTML comment that directs the web server to dynamically generate data for a web page whenever requested. Using SSI makes it unnecessary to include multiple copies of the same information in the HTML file, and make it easier to work with frequently-updated information. Using one page header for many pages on a website would be an example of employing SSI.

subdomains

A domain that is part of a larger domain name. For example, in the domain name hosting.eighthmoon.com, "hosting" is a subdomain of the larger second-level domain "eighthmoon.com"

transfer per month

Sometimes called "bandwidth." Refers to the amount of data used when visitors view a website. When visitors browse a website, they are technically requesting and retrieving files from the server. If a web page consists of an 12 KB HTML file and a 53 KB image file, then the amount of data transfer used when a single visitor views that web page is 65 KB. "Transfer per month" also includes FTP usage (uploading files to the server).

webmail

A program that allows the user to check his or her email with any browser from any computer.