Clarahost Glossary
Apache - The name of the software that we run on our servers.
Bandwidth - The total size of the files that have been downloaded from your webspace. Each Clarahost account allows people to download a certain amount from your website each month. You can check how much bandwidth your readers have used through your domain management suite.
Borderscout - Claranet's anti-spam and anti-virus software. When Borderscout is installed on an e-mail address, the owner of that address is given access to a control panel, where they can manage the specifics of this service, as well as making a list of addresses to always accept, or always delete. Please call our sales team on 0845 355 2000 for further information or visit the Borderscout
pages here
CGI - Common Gateway Interface. This is the protocol that is used when data input by a user is sent to an application on a web server for processing, such as a Wiki or an on-line shop.
Co-location – This refers to solutions where Claranet is providing simple power, pipe and customer owned equipment within our datacentre.
DNS - Domain Name System. The process used by computers to find the location of other computers on the internet. DNS changes refer to making a change to your domain which will cause your website or e-mail to point to a different server.
Domain - A name used to identify a computer connected to the internet. A domain takes the form clara.net or clara.co.uk, and is used to refer to a particular website, or e-mail address.
E-mail - Electronic mail, method of exchanging/storing messages over the internet.
E-mail Alias - An e-mail address that exists only to redirect mail to an inbox attached to a different e-mail account. Using an e-mail alias can be useful if you have an e-mail address that is commonly mis-spelt, or if you want to give different e-mail addresses to different people, but still collect the mail in one inbox.
FTP - File Transfer Protocol. This is the method used to upload files to your website, using an FTP client. We have made a guide to some of the more popular FTP clients here.
File Permissions - Information stored within a file that tells a server who is allowed to read, write and execute a file. If a file is not given the correct permissions, it can cause a page to not display.
FrontPage - An application that allows users to design web pages, and upload files to a website. FrontPage was created by Microsoft as an alternative to FTP.
HTML - HyperText Markup Languge. The language used to create websites, containing information regarding fonts, pictures and the layout of a page.
htaccess - A .htaccess file is a configuration file that allows you to control many aspects of your website, such as password protection, customer error pages, and the ability to show different pages depending on the location of the reader.
Managed Applications – This refers to solutions where Claranet provides a Managed Server manages additional applications on behalf of the customer (i.e.: web, mail, application and software).
Managed Hardware – This refers to solutions where Claranet provides the datacentre space dedicated to the customer but the customer retains root level access to the operating system.
Managed Security – This refers to firewall solutions provided for customers where Claranet the firewall device(s) and manages the firewall rule base policy on behalf of the customer.
Managed Servers – This refers to solutions where Claranet provides the datacentre space dedicated to the customer and also manages the operating system whilst retaining sole root privileges.
MX Record - Mail Exchange Record. An MX record refers to information within the zone file of your domain, that declares what servers look after your e-mail. Changing the MX records on your domain will point your mail to a different server on the internet.
MySQL - My Structured Query Language. An open-source database system that is available on some Clarahost packages.
Perl - A scripting language that is used particularly when moving and processing information. It is often used to write CGI scripts.
PHP - Pre Hypertext Processor. A language used to create dynamic websites. PHP sites often take advantage of a MySQL database to generate pages specific to users, for example in a forum or on-line shop.
POP3 - Post Office Protocol. The method by which your mail is downloaded into your mail client.
Shared Hosting – This refers to solutions where multiple customers share the same physical hosting small web sites. Customers retain control of their own part of the server through a web interface.
SSH - Secure Shell. A secure method of communicating with a server over an encrypted connection. Customers who know how to use SSH are able to manage their files using this method.
SMTP - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. Method used to send e-mail on the internet.
Subdomain - A domain that is part of a larger domain. For example, in www.clara.net, "www" is a subdomain. You are able to create subdomains on your account for any purposes, for example shop.yourdomain.com.
Unmanaged Security - This refers to firewall solutions provided for customers where Claranet firewall device(s) and the customer manages the firewall rule base policy.
Value added hosting services – This refers to a set of additional services that can be included for almost every customer and includes services such as back-up, monitoring and load balancing.
Webstats - Statistical information generated by us on how many users have visited your website, how much they downloaded, and how they found you. All Clarahost accounts have access to graphical webstats, except for Clarahost Light accounts.
Zone File - A file stored on our servers, used by other servers on the internet to find out where to send requests for your website and e-mail.