Hosting terms, in plain English
38+ definitions for the words every website owner runs into — DNS, SSL, uptime, IMAP and the rest. No jargon walls, no upsells.
Domains & DNS
Domain name
The address people type to reach your website, like yourbusiness.com or yourbusiness.com.ng.
Read definitionDNS
The internet's phone book that translates your domain name into the IP address of your server.
Read definitionDNS record
An individual entry in DNS — A, AAAA, MX, CNAME, TXT and more — that routes a specific kind of traffic.
Read definitionA record
The DNS record that points your domain to the IPv4 address of your hosting server.
Read definitionMX record
The DNS record that tells the world which mail server receives email for your domain.
Read definitionCNAME record
A DNS alias that points one hostname to another, like shop.yourbusiness.com → shops.example.com.
Read definitionTXT record
A DNS record holding free-form text, used for domain verification and anti-spam policies like SPF and DKIM.
Read definitionTTL
Time to live — how long, in seconds, a DNS answer may be cached before checking for a newer one.
Read definitionNameservers
The servers that hold your domain's DNS records and answer queries about it.
Read definitionDNS propagation
The waiting period after a DNS change while caches around the world update — usually minutes to a few hours.
Read definitionSubdomain
A section of your own domain with its own content, like blog.yourbusiness.com.
Read definitionTLD
Top-level domain — the ending of a name such as .com, .ng, .com.ng or .shop.
Read definitionWHOIS
The public directory that shows who registered a domain, when it expires and which registrar manages it.
Read definitionHosting
Web hosting
Renting space on a connected server so your website's files are reachable online, 24/7.
Read definitionShared hosting
Many websites on one well-tuned server — the affordable way to start a site.
Read definitioncPanel
The industry-standard control panel for managing files, email, databases and SSL on your hosting.
Read definitionVPS
A virtual private server — your own guaranteed slice of a machine with full root access.
Read definitionReseller hosting
Buy hosting wholesale, sell it under your own brand with your own prices.
Read definitionWordPress hosting
Hosting tuned specifically for WordPress — caching, staging and one-click installs included.
Read definitionUptime & SLA
The percentage of time your site is reachable — and the service-level agreement that backs the promise.
Read definitionFTP & SFTP
Protocols for copying files to your hosting — SFTP is the encrypted modern version.
Read definitionNetworking
Bandwidth
The amount of data your site can transfer to visitors each month.
Read definitionLatency
The round-trip delay between a visitor and your server, measured in milliseconds.
Read definitionPacket loss
The percentage of data packets that never arrive — the classic cause of stuttering calls and slow pages.
Read definitionIP address
The numeric address of a device on the internet — IPv4 looks like 102.89.34.10, IPv6 like 2606:4700::1.
Read definitionSSH
Secure Shell — the encrypted command-line way to log in to a VPS or server remotely.
Read definitionRDP
Remote Desktop Protocol — logging in to a Windows server and seeing its full desktop on your screen.
Read definitionCDN
A content delivery network — copies of your static files served from edge locations close to your visitors.
Read definitionSMTP
The protocol that sends email between servers — and the settings your apps need to send mail.
Read definitionIMAP vs POP3
Two ways to fetch mail: IMAP keeps everything synced on the server, POP3 downloads and deletes.
Read definitionSPF
A DNS record that lists which servers are allowed to send email as your domain.
Read definitionDKIM
A cryptographic signature published in DNS that proves an email really came from your domain.
Read definitionWebmail
Reading your domain email in a browser — no mail app setup needed.
Read definitionSecurity
SSL certificate
The digital certificate that encrypts traffic to your site and shows the padlock in browsers.
Read definitionHTTPS
The secure version of HTTP — all traffic between visitor and site encrypted.
Read definitionLet's Encrypt
The free, automated certificate authority whose SSL certificates we install on every hosting plan.
Read definitionDDoS attack
An attempt to knock a site offline by flooding it with traffic from many machines at once.
Read definitionTwo-factor authentication (2FA)
A second check — usually a 6-digit code from your phone — on top of your password when logging in.
Read definitionWhy we built this glossary
Hosting has a vocabulary problem: the people who sell it love acronyms, and the people who buy it are busy running a business. Every definition here is written by our Nigerian support team in the same words they use on WhatsApp and in tickets — what the thing is, why you should care, and what to click next.
Terms link to the practical steps where it matters: DNS terms point at our DNS lookup tool, SSL terms at the SSL checker, and every term page connects to a step-by-step guide in the knowledge base. If a term you meet somewhere is missing, tell us on the contact page and we will add it.