Web Hosting

What does it all mean?

Backup / Restore

We perform off server backups every night. We also provide a backup facility for you to perform your own backups as and when you like and can be download to your PC for further saving keeping. These backups can be easily restored into your hosting space should you need to. We also recommend that users do their own regular backups.

CGI (Common Gateway Interface)

A CGI is a program that translates data from a web server and then displays that data on a web page or in an email. CGI involves the transfer of data between a server and a CGI program (called a script). This allows HTML pages to interact with other programming applications.

These scripts make web pages interactive. Page counters, forms, guest books, random text/images and other features can be driven by CGI scripts. We support the use of CGI scripts. Good resource sites for CGI scripts, many of which are available for free are http://www.hotscripts.com or http://cgi.resourceindex.com

Control Panel

A control panel is a piece of software installed on web servers to make it easy for users to handle common tasks associated with web hosting accounts.

With your user-friendly control panel you able to easily change your password, create email accounts, create extra user accounts and passwords with varying accessibility, create sub-domains, password protect directories, change file permissions, upload files, manage databases, monitor your bandwidth and more.

We provide DirectAdmin to our users which is one of the worlds leading web hosting control panels.

Crontabs (cronjobs)

Cron is a program that runs on web servers to run scheduled tasks. Cron jobs allow you to run certain tasks at designated times or intervals such as running a script to update or backup your website and automated your online billing systems. Using our control panel DirectAdmin the setup of a Crob job is very straightforward.

Data Transfer (Bandwidth), (Traffic)

This refers to how much data transfer your website is allocated. If, for example, the file size of your home page is 50 KB then every time someone visits or 'hits' your home page this counts as 50 KB worth of data being transferred from your website and hence you will have used up 50 KB worth of 'bandwidth'.

If you get 20 hits on your home page then will have used up 1MB worth of bandwidth. If you get 2000 hits on your home page then you will have used 100 MB worth of bandwidth. If you have 10 pages all with a file size of 50 KB and they get 2000 hits each then you will used up 1 GB worth of bandwidth etc. etc.

The number of hits your website gets in a specified period of time is commonly referred to as 'traffic'. So if your website is getting 1 million hits a day then you are getting ALOT of traffic (using lots of bandwidth).

When you go over your allotted bandwidth your site will NOT be suspended but you will requested to upgrade to a more suitable package or pay an excess charge of £1.50 per Gb.

Our system will email you when you get to 80% of your allocated bandwidth allowance. We recommend you regularly review your webstats to keep an on your bandwidth and how it is being used.

To find out how much bandwidth you think you will need for your website use our bandwidth calculator.

Disk Space

This indicates the amount of disk space that will be available to you for your web site files. Normally HTML pages, particularly well designed ones, are small, and therefore a web site (unless it has extensive graphics or database functionality) will be small, as low as 1 or 2 MB in most cases.

During development of your website, check it's file size, remembering to include not just the web pages but also graphics used for each page. We would suggest you double your sites current size so that you have room to grow and then choose your plan accordingly.

A good rule of thumb is to assume approx. 50 KB per page (1 MB = 1000 KB, 1 GB = 1000 MB). 50 KB per page is on the high side so it's a conservative estimate for the average size of a web page.

We offer plenty of web space with all web hosting plans and even the smallest plan webLITE should be enough to cover most websites needs.

Domain Name

A unique name that identifies an web site. Domain Names always have 2 or more parts, separated by dots. The part on the left is the most specific, and the part on the right is the most general e.g netmotivated.co.uk. Technically, the domain name is a name that identifies an IP address. To most of us, it simply means www.yourname.com. Because the Internet is based on IP addresses, not domain names, web servers depend on a Domain Name System (DNS) to translate domain names into IP addresses. Simply stated, domain names allow people to find your web site by name rather than by its numerical (IP) address.

Domain Name Registration

You will need to register a domain name for your website. Domain names are being registered at a phenomenal rate and nowadays it is becoming increasingly difficult to get the exact domain you want and we recommend that you register your domain name as soon as possible, especially if you think it will take some time to develop the site itself.

We provide a domain search on our website for you to check if the domain name you would like is available. You can register your domain names with us whether you choose to host your website with us or not.

Domain Name System (DNS)

This is a system for tracking servers and PCs (that contain web sites) and their numeric IP addresses. DNS translates domain names into a numerical IP address e.g. adomainname.com to 195.82.110.89. When a computer is referred to by name, a domain name server puts that name into the numeric IP address assigned to that computer.

So when you buy a domain, say www.yourname.com, it does not become accessible until it gets assigned an IP address from a hosting company. Once the IP address is assigned, a DNS record is created that points your domain name to the numeric IP address.

When you purchase/transfer a domain name and buy a hosting account with us we will automatically point your domain to your web hosting account so when you upload you website it will be available for people to view without you having to worry about the intricate workings of DNS.

Frontpage Extensions

Frontpage extensions can be thought of as "mini programs" that allow features of a web site created with MS Front Page to operate smoothly. It is possible to use MS Front Page to create a web site and host that site on a server that doesn't offer FP extensions, however some of the powerful features of the program cannot be used in these web sites. See Microsoft's Front Page site for more information. After you design your web site, you will know whether Frontpage extensions will be a requirement. We support the use of Frontpage extensions.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)

A way of transferring files (uploading and downloading) to and from the internet. Most web sites are uploaded to the Internet by means of an FTP program, often included with web design software like Dreamweaver, Frontpage etc. This is how the web site you create on your computer is transferred (uploaded) to the Internet. FTP programs come in all shapes and sizes, some are free, some are not. CuteFTP, WS_FTP, Fetch, FileZilla are popular FTP applications.

Host (Name Server)

When you hear the term "host", it is referring to a company that has servers and software setup to connect domain names to (IP) Internet Protocol numbers (addresses) so that your site can be viewed by the public when they type your domain in their browser window e.g www.netmotivated.co.uk. This is where you would house your website.

Hosting Platform

This is the platform of the hosting providers servers. Hosting companies will typically have a hosting platform based upon Linux (most common), Windows 2000 or Windows 2003. If you have a basic web site that does not make use of server side applications such as a database then you do not need to worry which platform is used. We currently provide web hosting on the Linux platform, however do not be confused, as anyone can use the Linux platform for their websites. See Unix / Linux below.

.htaccess

.htaccess files allow you to override certain server configurations. Apache web servers use .htaccess files to apply some close control over how your web files are served and which directories can be accessed and by whom, customise error pages and more. An .htaccess file is typically used to password protect a folder, although our DirectAdmin control panel provides this feature without you having to configure an .htaccess file itself.

HTML (HyperText Markup Language)

Stands for Hyper Text Markup Language. This is the commonly used code that web pages are written in and the browser interprets to turn into web pages you view on the screen.

HTTP (Hypertext Transport Protocol)

The protocol for transferring hypertext files (web pages) across the Internet. Requires a HTTP client program on one end (e.g. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari etc) and an HTTP server program on the other end. HTTP is the most important protocol used in the World Wide Web (WWW). You see it every time you type a web site in your browser http://...

IP Address

A unique number (imagine it to be a like your home address) used to specify hosts and networks. Internet Protocol (IP) numbers are used for identifying machines (PC, laptop, router or server etc) that are connected to the Internet. They would look something like this 195.82.110.89. Every machine that is on the Internet has a unique IP number - if a machine does not have an IP number, it is not really on the Internet.

Mailing Lists

A mailing list is commonly use for website owners to keep in touch with their customers with newsletters. You may want to set one up - they're very useful promotional tools. Mailing list software is commonly available on the internet for small cost (depending on functionality required) and you can be install it in your web hosting account.

MySQL Database

The SQL part stands for Structured Query Language. MySQL is described on the the MySQL homepage as "the world's most popular open source database" and is basically an open source development of the SQL language designed to provide fast access to stored data.

A database is an organized collection of information available to be searched or queried in order to provide specific results. MySQL, noted for its speed, reliability and flexibility, can be used with web languages like PHP to generate dynamic web pages which depend heavily on storing, deleting, updating and retrieving data (such as message boards).

MySQL databases are available with all our web hosting plans.

Perl (Practical Extraction and Report Language)

Perl is an interpreted language optimised for scanning arbitrary text files, extracting information from those text files, and printing reports based on that information. It's also a good language for many system management tasks.

PHP

PHP is an open source, server-side, scripting language which can be embedded in HTML by enclosing it in special tags allowing an HTML document to switch back and forth between PHP and HTML. Since the PHP code is processed by the server and eventually resolved or output as HTML then it can work with any web browser. This makes it a versatile and widely used method of creating dynamic web pages with all the functionality of CGI scripting.

A dynamic web page is defined as a page whose output is customised and dependent on user interaction, e.g., a user customised page, a message board, a database lookup and more. The PHP web page file name is saved with a special file extension, typically .php, php4 or phtml which indicates to the server that it contains PHP code which must be processed before sending to the client browser.

PHP support as standard with all our web hosting plans. PHP will require a database like MySQL to perform certain functions, which we also support.

POP3 (Post Office Protocol) / Email

Stands for Post Office Protocol. This allows you to create and setup numerous email accounts whose addresses will read something like anyname@mydomain.com

For example, if you had ten people in your sales department all with their own email accounts, you could apply the email alias "sales" to all their accounts. Hence if someone sent an email to sales@mydomain.com, everyone in your sales department would receive a copy of that email.

So let's say your domain name is mydomain.com and the only email address you have configured is info@mydomain.com, and someone mistakenly sends an email to enquiries@mydomain.com. Your catch all email account will actually receive this email.

Although catch all email accounts tend to receive alot of spam, they can also be used to filter out spam and can ensure that you will receive all legitimate mis-addressed email.

Reseller Plans

This allows you to become your own web hosting provider selling your web hosting services using your web hosting account with us. You can create your own hosting plans and set your own pricing. With a reseller account you are responsible for providing support to you own customers.

Setup Fee

Some hosting companies charge a one time setup fee to set up your hosting account. We do NOT charge setup fees for web hosting plans.

Shell Account (SSH)

This is an advanced feature commonly used by web developers. SSH permits access to the common line to your hosting account to edit your files online in real-time, rather than making changes to your site offline and then uploading the changes. Most users should not need shell access as most files can be managed through FTP or the File Manager in DirectAdmin our web hosting control panel.

Shopping Cart Software (e-Commerce)

'Shopping Cart' is a common reference to an online software program which acts as a "virtual shop front" for your website. This software normally allows a web site user to create and manage a virtual shopping trolley to which items can be added or removed. Once a customer is ready to "check out", this same Shopping Cart Software typically includes interfaces to allow customers to pay with their credit card directly on the site. Shopping Cart Software is critical for those web sites that intend to sell products and services directly over the Internet without human intervention.

We provide popular Shopping Cart software OsCommerce and Cubecart, amongst others, with all of our web hosting plans at no extra cost!

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)

This is the method commonly used for sending email around the Internet. Most Internet email is sent and received using SMTP. Some web hosting providers do not allow you to send out email through their servers forcing you to use your ISP mail servers. We provide full email support for sending and receiving email on our servers.

SSI (Server Side Includes)

This is an advanced feature for web designers. SSI is used to include a file in a web pages. The command looks like this the

A common use for SSI commands is to insert a common element in a website like a menu into all of the pages of the web site so that the menu file only has to be changed once and inserted with SSI instead of changing the menu on every page. To allow SSI to work web pages need to have file extension of .shtml. We support the use of SSI with all our web hosting plans.

SSL (Secure Socket Layer)

This will enable you to send encrypted and authenticated information over the web ensuring client security. This is an essential feature if you are running a business site and you wish to accept credit cards. Whenever you see a URL beginning with https then you can be assured that SSL is in effect.

We provide a shared secure server with all our web hosting plans. However, if you wish to have a dedicated secure server with your own domain name e.g. https://www.yourdomain.com then you will need to purchase your own secure server certificate.

We can also provide secure server certificates for you at low cost.

Statistics

We provide statistics for your website in a user-friendly, easy-to-read format using AwStats for you to analyse trends about your web site. Having access to your website statistics is critical if you want to know how many visitors are visiting to your site, which web pages are being viewed most, how much time people actually spend browsing your site and which words people have used in search engines (google, msn, yahoo) etc to find your site.

Support

We provide technical support through e-mail, live online support, MSN or ticket system. Our ticket system comes with a guaranteed 1 hour response SLA. When there's a problem with your site or your e-mail, you want to be able to get an answer promptly. We offer fast support at any time of the day or night, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Unix / Linux

Linux ( a version of unix) is the most common operating system for web hosting servers on the Internet. Linux is computer operating system just like Windows or Mac OS which comes in many flavours.

You do NOT have to use a Windows Hosting provider for your website just because you use Windows on your desktop. You can seamlessly host your website(s) on Linux regardless of whether you are running Windows XP, Mac OS or Linux in your home or business. However, If you need to use MSSQL, ASP, Access then you will need to host your site with a Windows Hosting provider.

At this time we do not provide Windows Hosting.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator (URL)

The standard way to give the address of any resource on the Internet that is part of the World Wide Web (WWW) e.g www.netmotivated.co.uk

Unique IP Address

Your hosting plan shares an IP address with our users and you will be able to view your site through your domain name only. Obtaining a unique IP address (see IP Address) provides a one-to-one relationship between your domain name (www.yourname.com) and an IP address.

We can provide you with a unique IP address for a small annual charge. A unqiue IP address is required if you need a secure server certificate for your domain (recommended for an online shopping site.)

Uptime

Refers to the amount of time within a given period (normally monthly) a system is active or available for processing requests (web page displays, email send/receive etc). For example, if a hosting company says its servers are available for 99.9% of the time, they are claiming that your web site will be unavailable, over the course of a year, for 48 hours or 4 hours a month.

We strive for 100% uptime and most months we achieve this, although we average 99.95% which is considered excellent for a web hosting provider. Downtime is sometime necessary to do server maintenance which requires a reboot although this is rare.

Web Mail

Web mail is a an application that allows you to access your email via a web browser. Hotmail and Googlemail are Webmail services. netmotivated provides similar webmail services with every hosting account at no extra cost. If you do not require a website hosting but need fast and reliable email receipt and delivery we can provide an Email only service with features such as shared calenders, collect from multiple external email accounts, IMAP support etc.

We provide the very popular Squirrelmail and Roundcube webmail applications with all our hosting plans.