Short, plain explanations of the words you'll meet when you buy and run web hosting, from domain and DNS to cPanel, SSL and VPS.
Websites and domains
- Web hosting: space on a server that is always online, where your website files, databases and email live. Visitors' browsers load your site from there.
- Server: a computer in a data center that runs websites and email. With shared hosting you use part of a server; with a VPS or cloud server you get your own virtual one.
- Domain name: your website's address, such as
example.com. You rent it by the year from a registrar. See Register a new domain name. - Registrar: the company where your domain is registered. That's where you change the domain's nameservers.
- Subdomain: an address in front of your domain, such as
blog.example.com. You create it in cPanel. - Addon domain: a second domain with its own website on the same hosting account. How many you can add depends on your plan.
- Website builder: a tool to build pages by drag and drop instead of code. In cPanel it's Sitejet Builder.
- CMS (content management system): software such as WordPress that lets you edit your site in the browser.
DNS: how a domain finds your website
- DNS (Domain Name System): the internet's address book. It turns a domain name into the IP address of the server.
- IP address: the number that identifies a server, for example
203.0.113.10. - Nameservers: the servers that hold your domain's DNS records. You set them at your registrar.
- A record: links a name (like
example.com) to an IP address. - CNAME record: makes one name an alias of another name.
- MX record: tells other mail servers where to deliver email for your domain.
- TXT record: a line of text used for checks, for example SPF or a site verification code.
- TTL (time to live): how long other servers may remember a DNS record before they ask again.
- Propagation: the time it takes until a DNS change is seen everywhere. A nameserver change can take up to 24 hours, sometimes longer.
More detail with examples: What DNS, nameservers and A records mean.
Control panels and access
- Client area: your ElySpace account at my.elyspace.com, for orders, invoices, services and support tickets.
- cPanel: the control panel of your hosting account, for files, email, databases, domains and SSL. See Log in to cPanel from the client area.
- WHM (WebHost Manager): the panel above cPanel. Resellers use it to create and manage cPanel accounts for their own clients.
- File Manager: the cPanel tool to upload, edit and move website files in your browser.
- SSH: a secure command-line connection to a server, mainly used on a VPS or cloud server.
- Root access: full administrator rights on a server. You get it with a VPS or cloud server, not with shared hosting.
Security
- SSL certificate: makes your site load over HTTPS, so the connection is encrypted and the browser shows a padlock.
- AutoSSL: the free SSL certificates cPanel requests and renews for your domains automatically. See Free SSL: check and fix your certificate.
- Two-factor authentication (2FA): a second login step with a code from your phone. You can turn it on for the client area.
- Malware: harmful code placed on a website, for example after a hacked password or an outdated plugin.
- Email account (mailbox): an address such as
[email protected]with its own storage. - Webmail: reading and sending your email in the browser, without an email app.
- IMAP: lets your email apps sync the same mailbox on every device. POP3 downloads mail to one device. SMTP is used to send mail.
- SPF, DKIM and DMARC: DNS records that prove your email really comes from your domain, so it lands in the inbox instead of spam.
- Forwarder: passes mail for one address on to another address.
Resources and plans
- Disk space (storage): how much data your files, databases and email can use.
- Bandwidth: the amount of data your site sends to visitors per month.
- NVMe SSD: fast flash storage used in servers.
- Database: where software such as WordPress keeps its content. Hosting accounts use MySQL, managed with phpMyAdmin.
- Shared hosting: many accounts on one server, managed for you. Reseller hosting lets you sell hosting to your own clients. VPS and cloud servers are virtual servers of your own. See Shared, reseller, VPS or cloud: which do you need?
- Uptime: the share of time a service is online. ElySpace hosting has a 99.9% uptime guarantee.
Billing
- Billing cycle: how often you pay for a service, for example monthly or yearly.
- Due date: the day a service must be paid to keep running. Invoices are created 10 days before it.
- Suspension: an unpaid hosting service is paused from the day after its due date, so the website and email stop working until the invoice is paid. See Renewals, due dates and suspension explained.
- Migration: moving a website from another host to ElySpace. We do it for free; see Move your website to ElySpace.
Related articles
- What DNS, nameservers and A records mean
- Shared, reseller, VPS or cloud: which do you need?
- ElySpace products and services explained
- Get your first website online: quick start
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