[ A ] [ B ] [ C ] [ D ] [ E ] [ F ] [ G ] [ H ] [ I ] [ J ] [ K ] [ L ] [ M ] [ N ] [ O ] [ P ] [ Q ] [ R ] [ S ] [ T ] [ U ] [ V ] [ W ] [ X ] [ Y ] [ Z ]

Aa

ADSL - Application - ASP - Authentication

• ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line):   ADSL technology is asymmetric. It allows more bandwidth downstream than upstream from the subscriber to the central office. This asymmetry, combined with always-on access makes ADSL ideal for Internet/intranet surfing, video-on-demand, and remote LAN access. Users of these applications typically download much more information than they send.

• Application:  A program or group of programs designed for end users. Applications software (also called end-user programs) includes database programs, word processors, and spreadsheets.

• ASP (Active Server Pages):   Used to create e-commerce and database driven web sites. ASP works on the server side, rather than on the client borwser side. When a browser requests an ASP, the Web server generates a page with HTML code and sends it back to the browser, making it browser independant. The web browser only sees the resulting HTML output of the ASP code.

• Authentication:  The process of identifying an individual, usually based on a username and password. Authentication merely ensures that the individual is who he or she claims to be, but says nothing about the access rights or user permissions.

Bb

Backbone - Bit - Byte

• Backbone:  Main high-speed network connection composing the Internet. Backbones are operated by major telecommunications companies like UUNet, Level(3), Sprint, MCI, AT&T, and Qwest.

• Bit:  Short for binary digit, the smallest unit of information on a machine. A single bit can hold only one of two values:   0 or 1. More meaningful information is obtained by combining consecutive bits into larger units. For example, a byte is composed of 8 consecutive bits. Computers are sometimes classified by the number of bits they can process at one time. Graphics are also often described by the number of bits used to represent each dot.

• Byte:  Abbreviation for binary term, a unit of storage capable of holding a single character. On almost all modern computers, a byte is equal to 8 bits. Large amounts of memory are indicated in terms of kilobytes (1,024 bytes), megabytes (1,048,576 bytes), and gigabytes (1,073,741,824 bytes). A disk that can hold 1.44 megabytes, for example, is capable of storing approximately 1.4 million characters, or about 3,000 pages of information.

Cc

Certificate Authority - CGI Scripts - Commerce Server - Cookie - Crippled Version - Cybersquatting

• Certificate Authority:  A trusted third-party organization or company that issues digital certificates used to create digital signatures and public-private key pairs. CAs are a critical component in data security and electronic commerce because they guarantee that the two parties exchanging information are really who they claim to be.

• CGI (Common Gateway Interface) Scripts:  CGI, or Common Gateway Interface, specifies how information is transferred between a server on the World Wide Web and a computer program. If a Web host provides CGI capability, then it will be able to "talk" to any computer program that conforms to the CGI specification. CGI capability is important since online forms are normally processed using this specification.

• Commerce Server:  Web software that runs some of the main functions of an online storefront suchas product display, online ordering, and inventory management. The softwareworks in conjunction with online payment systems to process payments.

• Cookie:  A message given to a Web browser by a Web server. The browser stores the message in a text file called cookie.txt. The message is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server. The main purpose of cookies is to identify users and possibly prepare customized Web pages for them.

• Crippled Version:  A demonstration version of a piece of software that has one or more criticalfeatures disabled. Many software companies distribute crippled versions oftheir applications free with the hope that users will get hooked and buy the fullversion.

• Cybersquatting:  The practice of registering domain names that are TRADEMARKED or FAMOUS names in the hopes that the rightful owners will buy at a premium.

Dd

Data Transfer - DNS - Domain Mail Forwarding - Domain Name

• Data Transfer:  Data transfer (bandwidth) is the amount of information downloaded from a Web site. If your homepage totals 25KB and a thousand people viewed your homepage, you'd have 25MB total data transfer for that month.

• DNS (Domain Name Service):  DNS is the service which translates human recoginizable names (ex. www.zerolevity.com) to their corresponding IP addresses which are used by the computers to address each other during communication.

• Domain Mail Forwarding:  In addition to having email stored at the POP, you can have mail delivered to your dial-up account. Consider your dial-up account to be the place where email is delivered when you connect to the Internet. For example, the famous America Online "you've got mail" indicates that you have received email in your dial-up account. Once you establish a domain name (www.yourbusiness.com), e-mail can be forwarded to your dial-up account when it is addressed to anyone@yourbusiness.com

• Domain Name:  An internet address of your website. For instance, zerolevity.com is a domain name. A domain name has 'name server' records associated with it to identify hosts or sub domains within that name space.

Ee

802.11 - Encryption - Ethernet

• 802.11:   802.11 refers to a family of specifications developed by the IEEE for wireless LAN technology. 802.11 specifies an over-the-air interface between a wireless client and a base station or between two wireless clients. There are several specifications in the 802.11 family.

• Encryption:  The translation of data into a secret code. To read an encrypted file, you must have access to a secret key or password that enables you to decrypt it.

• Ethernet:  A local-area network (LAN) architecture which uses a bus or star topology and supports data transfer rates of 10 Mbps. A newer version of Ethernet, called 100Base-T (or Fast Ethernet), supports data transfer rates of 100 Mbps. And the newest version, Gigabit Ethernet supports data rates of 1 gigabit (1,000 megabits) per second.

Ff

FreeBSD - FTP

• FreeBSD:  A popular and free version of UNIX that runs on Intel microprocessors. FreeBSD is distributed in executable and source code form. The source code enables ambitious users to actually extend the operating system.

• FTP (File Transfer Protocol):  FTP is a protocol that is used to send files over the Internet. FTP is used to transmit the files you create on your PC over the Internet to your Web host.

Gg

Gigabyte - gTLD

• Gigabyte:  (1,073,741,824) bytes. One gigabyte is equal to 1,024 megabytes. Gigabyte is often abbreviated as GB. ZeroLevity's Ultimate Account allows you 2GB of Bandwidth Usage, or Data Transfer each month.

• gTLD (Generic Top-Level Domain):  Generic Top-Level Domains include the seven original Top-Level Domains (.com, .edu, .gov, .mil, .net, .org, and .int). There have also been seven new extensions approved by ICANN (.biz, .info, .name, .pro, .air, .coop and .museum).

Hh

HTML - HTTP

• HTML (Hypertext Markup Language):  HTML is the main language of the web developed solely for the purpose of presenting information. HTML allows text to include codes that define fonts, layout, embedded graphics, and hypertext links. The language is maintained by the W3C (World Wide Web Consotium) with International acceptance.

• HTTP (HyperText Transport Protocol):  The transmission standard used to send HTML documents across the World Wide Web.

Ii

ICANN - IP Address

• ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers):  ICANN is the body that governs the registrars.

• IP Address:  An identifier for a computer or device on a TCP/IP network. Networks using the TCP/IP protocol route messages based on the IP address of the destination. Each interface of each computer on the Internet is identified by this unique number. The names (www.zerolevity.com) that we are familar with are translated to the correct IP Address using DNS. The format of an IP address is a 32-bit numeric address written as four numbers separated by periods. Each number can be zero to 255. For example, 216.15.193.67 is the IP address for the domain name zerolevity.com.

Jj

JavaScript - JPEG

• JavaScript:  A proprietary scripting language by Netscape that adds author-specified user events to static pages.

• JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group):  A group that has defined a compression scheme that reduces the size of image files by up to 20 times at the cost of slightly reduced image quality.

Kk

Kilobyte

• Kilobyte:  1,024 bytes. Kilobyte is often used loosely as a synonym for 1,000 bytes. For example, a computer that has 256K main memory can store approximately 256,000 bytes in its memory at one time.

Ll

Linux - LAN

LAN (Local Area Network):  A computer network that spans a relatively small area. Most LANs are confined to a single building or group of buildings. However, one LAN can be connected to other LANs over any distance via telephone lines and radio waves. Most LANs connect workstations and personal computers.

Linux:  A freely-distributable open source implementation of UNIX that runs on a number of hardware platforms, including Intel and Motorola microprocessors. Another popular, free version of UNIX that runs on Intel microprocessors is FreeBSD.

Mm

Megabyte - Merchant Account - Meta Tag - MP3 - MPEG - Multi-homed - MySQL

• Megabyte:  1,048,576 bytes. Megabyte is frequently abbreviated as MB. ZeroLevity's Premium and Ultimate Accounts give you 50MB of Disk Space to store your data.

• Merchant Account:  A merchant account is the necessary financial services tool which allows merchants to accept credit cards for payment. Merchant accounts are obtained through cardservice companies, merchant service providers, or credit card processing organizations. Merchant accounts are unique to each individual business, business owner, and business type.

• Meta Tag:  The Meta element is used in identifying meta-information. The meta information currently available is refresh, keywords, description, PICS identification, author, generator, content-type, expires, transition, and duration. Web browsers ignore this META element usage. Learn how to use Meta Tags in our tips and tricks section.

• MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer-3):  A standard technology and format for compressing a sound sequence into a very small file (about one-twelfth the size of the original file) while preserving the original level of sound quality when it is played. MP3 files (identified with the file name suffix of ".mp3") are available for downloading from a number of websites. Since it is relatively easy to create MP3 files from CD selections and make them available on websites for downloading, companies and sites that promote the MP3 format are sometimes accused of encouraging copyright violations. (It is illegal and against ZeroLevity's Acceptable Use Policy to copy music from a CD and redistribute it unless you have the copyright owner's permission.)

• MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group):  The Moving Picture Experts Group develops standards for digital video and digital audio compression. The MPEG standards are an evolving series, each designed for a different purpose.

• Multi-homed:  You are multi-homed when you have at least two upstream Tier-1 Internet Service Providers. For instance, ZeroLevity's servers are located in one of the best-connected multi-homed data centers nationally as well as globally. When you host with ZeroLevity, you are connected directly to the Internet through an OC48 via MCI WorldCOM, an OC12 via AT&T, and two OC3's via Sprint, and Level 3 Communications. Why is multi-homing so improtant? Because any one provider may have a huge problem at any time. So the best way to achieve redundancy is to multi-home. Multi-homing also allows you to become closer to your end users by allowing them to connect to your site using the shortest possible path.

• MySQL:  Most popular open-source relational database. Many Unix-based plans allow MySQL databases.

Nn

NAS - Network - Newsgroup

• NAS (Network Attached Storage):  A network attached storage (NAS) device is a server that is dedicated to nothing more than file sharing. NAS allows more hard disk storage space to be added to a network that already utilizes servers without shutting them down for maintenance and upgrades. A NAS device does not need to be located within the server but can exist anywhere in a LAN and can be made up of multiple networked NAS devices.

• Network:  A network is a group of two or more computer systems linked together and able to communicate with each other. There are many types of computer networks, including local-area networks (LANs) and wide-area networks (WANs)

• Newsgroup:  A virtual Internet place where people exchange thoughts, ideas and interests, amuse themselves and do a zillion other things, all by means of text messages.

Oo

Open Source

• Open Source:  A certification standard issued by the Open Source Initiative (OSI) that indicates that the source code of a computer program is made available free of charge to the general public. The rationale for this movement is that a larger group of programmers not concerned with proprietary ownership or financial gain will produce a more useful and bug -free product for everyone to use.

Pp

Perl - PHP - Ping - POP Account - Protocol

• Perl (Practical Extraction and Report Language):  Perl is a very popular text programming language developed by Larry Wall in 1987. Perl is the most widely used language for programming CGI applications, mainly due to its powerful text-manipulation abilities.

• PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor):  works on the server side, rather than on the client borwser side. When a browser requests an PHP, the Web server generates a page with HTML code and sends it back to the browser, making it browser independant. The web browser only sees the resulting HTML output of the PHP code.

• Ping:  A network management tool that checks to see whether you can communicate with another computer on the Internet. It sends a short message to which the other computer automatically responds. If the other computer does not respond to the ping, you usually cannot establish communications.

• POP (Post Office Protocol) Account:  A POP account is storage space for e-mails. You can use a standard e-mail client, such as Eudora, Netscape Mail or Internet Explorer Mail to download the e-mail to your computer. Current version is POP3.

• Protocol:  A language Computers use when talking to each other. Some commonly used protocols are:   FTP (File Transfer Protocol), HTTP (HyperText Transport Protocol), POP (Post Office Protocol), SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), and TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol.

Qq

Rr

Registrar

• Registrar:  One of the companies authorized to register domain names. Registrars are also sometimes refered to as a NIC.

Ss

SCSI - SSL - Server Farm - Shared Server - SMTP - SQL

• SCSI (Small Computer System Interface):  SCSI is pronounced "scuzzy," SCSI is a parallel interface standard used by Apple Macintosh computers, PCs, and many UNIX systems for attaching peripheral devices to computers. SCSI interfaces provide for faster data transmission rates than standard serial and parallel ports.

• SSL (Secure Socket Layer):  SSL is a protocol primarly used to secure communications across the Internet. It uses certificates issued from certificate authorities to verify that a client is speaking to who they think they are, as well as add a layer of encryption to the session in order to keep the conversation private. If you are going to process credit cards online, or obtain other confidential information from your customers, then you will want to ensure them that this information can be transmitted securely over the Internet using SSL. Part of the SSL protocol dictates that Web pages begin with https:// rather than http://

• Server Farm:  Somtimes referred to as a server cluster, a server farm is a group of networked servers that are housed in one location. A server farm harnessing the power of multiple servers and relies on load-balancing to distribute the work load among those servers. When one server in the farm fails, another can step in as a backup and take more of the load.

• Shared Server:  Shared Web servers are a very popular way of providing low-cost web hosting services. Instead of requiring a separate computer for each site, dozens of sites can co-reside on the same computer. In most cases, performance is not affected and each website behaves as if it is being served by a dedicated server.

• SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol):  A protocol for sending e-mail messages between servers. Most e-mail systems that send mail over the Internet use SMTP to send messages from one server to another; the messages can then be retrieved with an e-mail client using either POP or IMAP.

• SQL (Structured Query Language):  A standardized language used to access databases.

Tt

TCP/IP - Third-Level Domain - TLD

• TCP/IP:  Abbreviation for "Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol". TCP/IP uses several protocols, the two main ones being TCP and IP. TCP/IP is built into the UNIX operating system and is used by the Internet.

• Third-Level Domain:  Third-level domains would allow you to use our domain name in the format http:  //yourbusiness.zerolevity.com. Often this might be preferrable to smaller businesses that don't wish to pay InterNIC fees for a domain name, yet don't want a long website address like http:  //users.zerolevity.com/~username.

• TLD (Top-Level Domain):  A top-level domain (TLD) is the portion of a URL or Internet address that identifies the general type of Internet domain, such as .com for commercial or .edu for educational.

Uu

UNIX - URL

• UNIX:  A popular multi-user, multitasking operating system. UNIX was one of the first operating systems to be written in a high-level programming language. Due to its portability, flexibility, and power, UNIX has become the leading operating system for workstations.

• URL (Uniform Resource Locator):  Also know as an Internet address (ie. http://www.zerolevity.com/iglossary.html)

Vv

VPN - VRML

• VPN (Virtual Private Network):  A virtual private network is essentially a system that allows two or more private networks to be connected over a publically accessible network, such as the Internet. It usually consists of an encrypted tunnel of some kind, although a VPN can take several forms, using different combinations of hardware and software technologies. They can exist between an individual machine and a private network, or a remote LAN and a private network.

• VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language):  Pronounced ver-mal, VRML is a specification for displaying 3-dimensional objects on the World Wide Web. You can think of it as the 3-D equivalent of HTML. Files written in VRML have a .wrl extension (short for world). To view these files, you need a VRML browser or a VRML plug-in to a web browser.

Ww

WAN - Web Host - Web Server - Webmaster - Whois

• WAN (Wide Area Network):  A computer network that spans a relatively large geographical area. Typically, a WAN consists of two or more local-area networks (LANs). Computers connected to a wide-area network are often connected through public networks, such as the telephone system.

• Web Host:  A Web host is in the business of providing server space, Web services and file maintenance for websites controlled by individuals or companies that do not have their own Web servers. ZeroLevity, Inc is a Web host.

• Web Server:  A Web server is a program that serves files that form Web pages. Every computer on the Internet that contains a website must have a Web server program.

• Webmaster:  An individual who manages a website. Depending on the size of the site, the Webmaster might be responsible for any of the following:   Making sure that the Web server hardware and software is running properly, designing the website, creating and updating web pages, replying to user feedback, creating CGI scripts, monitoring traffic through the site.

• Whois:  An Internet utility that returns informtion about a domain name or IP address. For example, if you enter a domain name such as ZeroLevity.com, whois will return the name and address of the domain's owner.

Xx

XML

• XML (eXtensible Markup Language):  A new specification being developed by the W3C. XML is designed especially for web documents. It enables designers to create their own customized tags to provide functionality not available with HTML. For example, XML supports links that point to multiple documents, as opposed to HTML links, which can reference just one destination each.

Yy

Zz

ZeroLevity

• ZeroLevity:  The absence of excessive or unseemly frivolity. A very steady, stable Internet connection or having a zero tolerance for Internet downtime. Because ZeroLevity, Inc. has its servers located at an Internet data center which offers complete redundancy and daily backups, owners of websites that need to be "always on" and available 24 hour a days can relax when hosting with us.

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