"Internet" refers to the global information system that

• is logically linked together by a globally unique address space based on the Internet Protocol (IP) or its subsequent extensions/follow-ons;
• is able to support communications using the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) suite or its subsequent extensions/follow-ons, and/or other IP-compatible protocols; and
• provides, uses or makes accessible, either publicly or privately, high level services layered on the communications and related infrastructure described herein.

TCP/IP
A set of rules used to let computers on the Internet communicate with one another and exchange information; these rules dictate which formats data is exchanged in and how quickly that data is transmitted from computer to computer. TCP/IP stands for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol.

IP Address
A set of numbers used to identify computers on the Internet; each computer on the Internet has a different, unique IP address. IP stands for Internet Protocol. To make life easier for those of us who surf the Web, most IP addresses are translated into domain names, easier-to-remember names like weather.com or cnn.com.

Domain Name
The unique name that identifies an Internet site. Domain Names always have 2 or more parts, separated by dots. The part on the left is the most specific, and the part on the right is the most general. A given machine may have more than one Domain Name but a given Domain Name points to only one machine.

Internet service provider (ISP), a company that provides online connection services to its customers, usually on a monthly subscription basis.

DNS
The Domain Name System is the system that translates Internet domain names into IP numbers. A "DNS Server" is a server that performs this kind of translation.

Server
A computer, or a software package, that provides a specific kind of service to client software running on other computers. The term can refer to a particular piece of software, such as a WWW server, or to the machine on which the software is running, e.g. "Our mail server is down today, that's why e-mail isn't getting out."

A single server machine can (and often does) have several different server software packages running on it, thus providing many different servers to clients on the network.

Web Servers
Computers that store information for different Websites, and deliver that information over the Internet when Web surfers request pages from those sites.

Host
When you use the Internet to access information on another computer at a different location, that other computer is called the host. Companies that, usually for a fee, provide space on their computers for other people's private and commercial Websites are also known as Web hosts.

Network
Any system that connects two or more computers so they can share information. Network types include Local Area Networks (LANs), such as a network that connects all the computers in a single office building, and Wide Area Networks (WANs), which might use telephone lines to connect many computers over longer distances.

Intranet
A private network inside a company or organization that uses the same kinds of software that you would find on the public Internet, but that is only for internal use.

Fire Wall
A combination of hardware and software that separates a Network into two or more parts for security purposes.

SSL - (Secure Socket Layer)
A protocol designed by Netscape Communications to enable encrypted, authenticated communications across the Internet.

Hit
"Hit" means a single request from a web browser for a single item from a web server; thus in order for a web browser to display a page that contains 3 graphics, 4 "hits" would occur at the server: 1 for the HTML page, and one for each of the 3 graphics.

Spam
An inappropriate attempt to use a mailing list or other networked communications facility as if it was a broadcast medium (which it is not) by sending the same message to a large number of people who didn't ask for it.

Unix
A computer operating system (the basic software running on a computer, underneath things like word processors and spreadsheets). Unix is designed to be used by many people at the same time (it is multi-user) and has TCP/IP built-in. It is the most common operating system for servers on the Internet.

Windows
An operating system developed by Microsoft. Common versions used by Web hosting companies include Windows NT and Windows 2000.