Apache
One of the world's most popular Web server programs, Apache was built by a group of open-source programmers and is often used because of its outstanding performance, strong security features and the fact that it is free.

Bandwidth
The amount of data that can be transmitted at a given moment to a server. The higher your bandwidth, the larger amount of traffic your site can handle at one time.

CGI
Short for Common Gateway Interface, a small script that processes data taken from the user (such as from a form application).

Firewall
A piece of security software or hardware designed to protect web servers. They are typically used to protect sites from hacker attacks/unauthorized access.

FTP
Short for File Transfer Protocol, a method of allowing remote users and Web servers to exchange files.

HTML
Short for HyperText Markup Language, the language by which web servers and client browsers communicate. All server-side functions (such as database processing), although they may be performed in another language, must eventually be output back to the user in HTML.

HTTP
Stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol, the protocol by which HTML files move across the Internet. HTTP requires a client browser and an HTTP server (typically a web server).

IIS
Short for Internet Information Server, Microsoft's server software for Windows NT/2000.

IP
Short for Internet Protocol, which designates the format of "data packets" that are used to exchange information over the Internet.

J2EE
Short for Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition, J2EE is a programming platform for developing and running distributed multi-tier architecture applications, based largely on modular components running on an application server.

LAMP
An acronym for a set of free software programs commonly used together to run dynamic Web sites:

• Linux, the operating system;
• Apache, the web server;
• MySQL, the database management system (or database server);
• Perl, PHP, and/or Python, scripting languages.

Name Server
A server responsible for translating domain names and IP addresses.

SQL
Short for Standard Query Language. A standard protocol used to request information from databases. Servers that can handle SQL are known as SQL servers.

SSL
Short for Secure Sockets Layer, a protocol developed by Netscape to handle and protect confidential/sensitive information required for e-commerce transactions (like credit card numbers). SSL addresses usually begin with 'https'.

Web Hosting
Web hosting is a service that allows users to post web pages to the Internet. A Web host, or hosting service provider (HSP), is a business that provides the technologies and services needed for Web sites to be viewed on the Web.

XML
Short for Extensible Markup Language. XML is a language allowing developers to create their own markup tags. All XML tags are defined by the programmer, and can be interpreted differently in different applications. For example, the "" tag in HTML means Italics, but could mean anything in XML, depending on the function the developer assigns to it.