Glossary of Common Hosting and Web Terms

Web hosting comes with its own vocabulary. Some terms are jargon for ordinary concepts; some refer to specific technologies with no everyday equivalent. This glossary covers terms you’ll encounter as a hosting customer — definitions kept short, with links to deeper guides where relevant. Skim for the ones you’ve wondered about; bookmark for reference.

A

A record — DNS entry mapping a domain name to an IPv4 address. The most fundamental DNS record. DNS guide.

Addon domain — A second domain hosted on your account, separate from your main domain. cPanel term; DirectAdmin calls these “additional domains”.

Alias domain (parked domain) — Second domain that shows the same content as your main domain.

Apache — Most common web server software. Open source, fast, handles .htaccess files for per-directory config.

AutoSSL — cPanel feature that automatically issues free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates and renews them. AutoSSL guide.

B

Bandwidth — Amount of data transferred between your site and visitors per month. Larger sites or those serving video/downloads use more.

Backup — Copy of your site files and/or database stored separately. JetBackup handles this on iWebVault.

Bounce — Email that couldn’t be delivered, returned to sender. Hard bounce = permanent failure (address doesn’t exist); soft bounce = temporary (mailbox full).

C

Cache — Stored copy of generated content served to visitors instead of regenerating each request. Makes sites dramatically faster. LiteSpeed Cache is the iWebVault default.

cPanel — The control panel software powering iWebVault hosting. Web-based interface for managing files, email, databases, security.

ccTLD — Country code Top-Level Domain. Two-letter TLDs assigned to countries (.us, .uk, .ng). ccTLDs guide.

CNAME record — DNS entry pointing one domain name at another (e.g. www.yourdomain.com → yourdomain.com).

CSF (ConfigServer Security & Firewall) — Server-level firewall handling brute-force detection and IP blocking. CSF guide.

CSR (Certificate Signing Request) — File needed to request a paid SSL certificate from a certificate authority.

D

Dedicated server — Entire physical server reserved for you alone. More expensive than VPS but maximum resources.

DirectAdmin — Alternative control panel to cPanel. Lighter, different UI, similar functionality.

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) — Email authentication that cryptographically signs outbound mail. Helps deliverability. SPF/DKIM/DMARC guide.

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) — Email policy telling receivers how to handle messages failing SPF/DKIM checks.

DMCA — Digital Millennium Copyright Act. US copyright takedown procedure. Hosting marketed as “DMCA-ignored” typically means based in a jurisdiction outside US copyright enforcement.

DNS (Domain Name System) — Internet’s phone book — translates domain names into IP addresses.

Domain — The address you type to reach a website (yourdomain.com).

Domain registrar — Company that registers your domain name. iWebVault is one; alternatives include Namecheap, Cloudflare Registrar, GoDaddy, etc.

E

EPP code — Authorization code for transferring a domain between registrars. Transfer guide.

Exim — Mail transfer agent (MTA) that handles email delivery on cPanel servers.

F

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) — Method for uploading/downloading files between your computer and the server. Use SFTP (secure) version.

Forwarder (email) — Routes mail addressed to one address to another. Doesn’t require a mailbox at the original address. Forwarder strategy.

H

.htaccess — Apache configuration file controlling URL rewrites, redirects, access. .htaccess guide.

HTTP/HTTPS — Hypertext Transfer Protocol. HTTPS is the encrypted version, required for modern sites.

I

IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) — Method for mail clients to read email kept on the server. Preferred over POP3 for multi-device use.

Imunify360 — Security platform on iWebVault servers handling malware scanning, brute force, intrusion detection.

IP address — Numeric address identifying a server on the internet (e.g. 192.0.2.1).

J

JetBackup — Backup management plugin on iWebVault cPanel. Schedules backups, retains multiple restore points, single-click restore.

L

LAMP — Linux + Apache + MySQL + PHP stack.

LEMP — Linux + Nginx + MySQL + PHP stack. (“E” pronounced “engine-x”.)

Let’s Encrypt — Free certificate authority issuing SSL certificates. Powers most AutoSSL implementations.

LiteSpeed — High-performance web server alternative to Apache. iWebVault servers run LiteSpeed. Includes LSCache for WordPress.

M

MariaDB — MySQL-compatible database server, free and open source. Often used instead of MySQL.

MX record — DNS record specifying which servers handle email for a domain.

N

Nameservers — DNS servers responsible for a domain’s DNS records. Pointing your domain at iWebVault means setting nameservers to ns1/ns2.iwebvault.com.

Nginx — High-performance web server. Alternative to Apache.

P

Parked domain — See alias domain.

phpMyAdmin — Web-based MySQL/MariaDB administration interface. Built into cPanel.

POP3 — Older protocol for downloading email from server to client (usually removing from server). Use IMAP instead.

PTR record (Reverse DNS) — DNS record mapping IP back to hostname. Important for mail deliverability. PTR guide.

R

Reseller hosting — Plan letting you create and manage hosting accounts for other customers (your own clients).

Roundcube — Webmail client included with cPanel. Lets you check email from a browser. Roundcube guide.

S

SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) — Encrypted file transfer. Use this instead of plain FTP. FTP/SFTP guide.

Shared hosting — Multiple customers sharing one server’s resources. Cheapest option.

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) — Protocol for sending email between servers. Mail clients use it for outbound.

SpamAssassin — Spam filter on cPanel mail. SpamAssassin guide.

SPF (Sender Policy Framework) — DNS record specifying which servers can send mail for a domain.

SSH (Secure Shell) — Encrypted remote login to a server. Command-line access.

SSL/TLS — Encryption protocol securing HTTPS connections. “SSL certificate” is commonly used though modern certificates technically use TLS.

Subdomain — Child of your main domain (e.g. blog.yourdomain.com).

T

TLD (Top-Level Domain) — The final part of a domain name. .com, .net, .ng, .uk are all TLDs.

Tor — Privacy network routing traffic through multiple relays. .onion sites exist only inside Tor.

TTL (Time To Live) — How long DNS records are cached by resolvers. Lower TTL = faster propagation but more DNS lookups.

TXT record — DNS record holding text data. Used for SPF, DKIM, domain verification.

U

Uptime — Percentage of time a service is operational. 99.9% uptime allows ~8.7 hours of downtime per year.

V

VPS (Virtual Private Server) — Virtualized server giving you dedicated resources within a larger physical machine. More flexible than shared, cheaper than dedicated.

W

WHM (WebHost Manager) — cPanel’s reseller/admin interface. Creates and manages cPanel accounts.

WHMCS — Billing and customer management software. Many hosts (including iWebVault) use WHMCS as the customer-facing portal.

WHOIS — Public database showing domain registration details. WHOIS privacy hides this from public view.

Wildcard SSL — Certificate covering all subdomains of a domain (*.yourdomain.com).

What’s next

• For the practical workings of these terms: explore the full knowledge base.
• If you’re new: WordPress install guide walks through the most common starter setup.
• For getting comfortable with cPanel: File Manager guide.

Knowing the vocabulary makes everything else easier — error messages stop being mysterious, documentation stops feeling impenetrable. Don’t try to memorize this; just refer back when you see a term and want a quick refresher.