If you are planning a new website or making a web hosting change, you may notice some unfamiliar web hosting terms. Having a basic understanding of web hosting terms will help when comparing web hosting plans. This is a quick reference guide for understanding common web hosting terms. If you have any questions, please open a support ticket or chat with our live agents.
Disk Space
Disk Space refers to the amount of SSD storage space for all email, database, and files provided for each web hosting plan. In other words, this is a limit set by the web hosting provider that determines how much space the account is allowed to occupy on the hard drive.
Data Transfer
Data Transfer refers to the amount of bandwidth used across public networks. Examples of data transfer would include sending an email or serving a web page.
Email Accounts
Email Accounts refers to the number of email accounts allowed for the web hosting plan. Email accounts are necessary for sending emails. Rad Web Hosting provides Roundcube webmail client.
Email Lists
Email Lists refers to the number of mailing lists allocated to the hosting plan. Mailing lists allow one email address to send an email to multiple email addresses at once. WordPress hosting plans and ecommerce hosting plans often provide higher limits or unlimited email lists because these groups will likely use email as the primary mode of communication with clients.
FTP Accounts
FTP Accounts refers to the number of FTP accounts provided with each web hosting plan. An FTP account is used for uploading and managing files on your website. An FTP account is automatically created in cPanel when you sign up for hosting, create a cPanel, create an addon domain or subdomain. You can create new FTP accounts to give access to other users without giving them your cPanel login credentials. For each additional FTP account created, you can also give each user different levels of access by assigning the user to a specific directory.
MySQL Databases
MySQL (structured query language) is a relational database management system that manages different Web databases. A web database is a database application designed to be managed and accessed through the Internet. Website operators can manage this collection of data and present analytical results based on the data in the Web database application.
A database is a single repository of interrelated data. A database usually exists on a single computer. The information contained within a database is interrelated and organized to make it easy to retrieve specific pieces of that information. Queries are used to access data within the database according to parameters specified in the query.
Site Migration
Site Migration refers to the process of moving a website and all of its related files from one server to another. A site migration will generally affect the IP address and sometimes the DNS records of the domain that is migrated.
Dedicated IP Address
Dedicated IP Address refers to an IP address that is specific to one domain. Dedicated IP addresses are useful in acquiring SSL certificates and for protecting your websites search engine visibility and email deliverability.
SSL Certificate
SSL Certificate refers to certification applied to a website in order to encrypt communications between the server and the person visiting the website. SSL certificates are often used for ecommerce websites that accept credit cards over the internet or for encrypting other sensitive information. The “Green Bar” seen in the left-hand corner of the address bar indicates that a website is protected by an EV (extended validation) SSL certificate.
Domain Registration
Domain Registration refers to securing a domain name to be used on the internet. Domains that are registered cannot be registered by anyone else and belong exclusively to the person or organization that it is registered to.
Instant Setup
Instant Setup refers to the immediate setup of a web hosting account. When a hosting plan is purchased through Rad Web Hosting, cPanel automatically creates the account, which can be accessed right away.
cPanel
cPanel refers to the web hosting control panel that is included in all shared hosting and reseller hosting accounts at Rad Web Hosting. VPS servers, cloud servers, and dedicated servers offer optional cPanel licensing.
CGI Access
The Common Gateway Interface, or CGI, protocol is used to run guestbooks, forums and other interactive scripts on websites, and cPanel provides webmasters and bloggers with a number of ways to get CGI access. Make a more useful and dynamic website by accessing and installing CGI scripts through cPanel.
Softaculous Scripts
Softaculous Scripts refer to the one-click script installer. Softaculous allows users to download over 300 of the most popular scripts such as WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and PrestaShop.
SEO Toolkit
SEO Toolkit refers to search engine optimization tools to increase online visibility and get more website traffic. Users can automatically create submit websites to be included on Google and other search engines, create a sitemap, and build backlinks to their website.
DDoS Protection
DDoS Protection refers to protection against Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. DDoS attacks flood the bandwidth or resources of the web server, which disables the server and makes any websites on the server inaccessible on the internet. Rad Web Hosting implements advanced DDoS protection measures to prevent any service interruptions.
