31 terms
The hosting glossary
VPS, nameserver, A record, inode, NVMe, reverse proxy. Every hosting term you'll trip over while buying or setting up a site, in a sentence or two.
A
- A record
- A DNS record that links a domain name to an IPv4 address. It is the record that sends visitors to example.com on to your server. Point a domain at a VPS →
- AAAA record
- The IPv6 counterpart of an A record. Add one only if your server genuinely answers on IPv6, or some visitors will fail to connect.
B
- Bandwidth
- How much data your site may send to visitors each month. A typical small site uses only a small slice of what a hosting plan allows.
C
- CDN (content delivery network)
- A worldwide set of servers holding copies of your static files, so each visitor downloads them from a nearby location rather than from your origin server.
- Cloud hosting
- Managed hosting with CPU and RAM reserved for you. It fits between shared hosting and a VPS: more power than shared, with no server administration on your side. Hostinger cloud hosting →
- CNAME record
- A DNS record that makes one hostname an alias for another, for example www.example.com resolving the same way as example.com.
- Control panel
- The web dashboard where you manage files, databases, email and DNS for your hosting. Hostinger's is hPanel; cPanel and Plesk are common at other hosts.
D
- DDoS protection
- Filtering that soaks up floods of junk traffic meant to knock a site offline, stopping it before it reaches your server.
- DNS (Domain Name System)
- The lookup system of the internet. It turns a domain name into the IP address of the server hosting it.
- DNS propagation
- The delay before a DNS change is visible everywhere, while cached copies expire. A record change usually takes minutes; a nameserver change can take up to 48 hours. Point a domain at a VPS →
- Domain registrar
- The company through which you buy and renew a domain. It can be a different company from the one hosting your site.
F
- FTP / SFTP
- Protocols for uploading files to a server. SFTP runs over SSH and is encrypted, so use it whenever the host offers it. Upload a React app to shared hosting →
H
- hPanel
- Hostinger's in-house control panel for hosting, domains, email, VPS servers and billing. A tour of hPanel →
I
- Introductory price
- The discounted rate for your first billing term only. The plan then renews at a higher regular price, so compare both numbers before buying. Paying less at renewal →
- IP address
- The numeric address of a machine on the internet, such as 203.0.113.10 in IPv4, or a longer IPv6 address.
K
- KVM
- Kernel-based Virtual Machine, the virtualization layer behind Hostinger's VPS plans. Each KVM server has its own guaranteed CPU, RAM and disk. Hostinger VPS plans →
L
- Let's Encrypt
- A free, automated certificate authority. Tools such as Certbot and Caddy use it to put HTTPS on a site at no cost.
- LiteSpeed
- The web server software on Hostinger's shared and cloud plans. It reads Apache-style .htaccess files and includes built-in WordPress caching.
M
- MX record
- A DNS record telling other mail servers where to deliver email addressed to your domain. Hostinger business email →
N
- Nameserver
- The server that holds a domain's DNS records. Switching nameservers hands control of every record for that domain to a new provider.
- NVMe storage
- Solid-state storage on a fast interface. It is clearly quicker than older SATA SSDs for databases and busy sites.
P
- PM2
- A process manager for Node.js. It restarts your app after a crash and brings it back up after a server reboot. Deploy Next.js with PM2 →
R
- Reverse proxy
- A server such as Nginx or Caddy that accepts visitor requests and passes them to your app, usually handling HTTPS, caching and static files on the way.
- Root access
- Complete administrator control over a server. A VPS gives you root; shared hosting does not.
S
- Snapshot
- A point-in-time image of an entire VPS disk that you can roll back to. Handy before an upgrade, but no replacement for off-site backups.
- SSH
- Secure Shell, the encrypted way to reach a server's command line. Log in with keys, not passwords. Lock down a new VPS →
- SSL / TLS certificate
- The certificate behind HTTPS, which encrypts traffic between visitors and your site. Hostinger includes free SSL on its hosting plans.
T
- TTL (time to live)
- The number of seconds resolvers may cache a DNS record. Lower it a day or so before a migration so the switch takes effect quickly. Move WordPress to Hostinger →
U
- Uptime
- The percentage of time a server is reachable. Even 99.9% uptime permits roughly 43 minutes of downtime in a month. Check whether Hostinger is down →
V
- VPS (virtual private server)
- A virtual machine with guaranteed resources and root access. You install, update and secure the software on it yourself. VPS guides →