{"id":5549,"date":"2018-11-20T06:00:50","date_gmt":"2018-11-20T06:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.ssdnodes.com\/blog\/?p=2974"},"modified":"2025-05-18T20:01:58","modified_gmt":"2025-05-18T20:01:58","slug":"ultimate-dictionary-server-terms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ssdnodes.com\/blog\/ultimate-dictionary-server-terms\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ultimate Dictionary For Essential Server Terms"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Whether you\u2019re a beginner to servers or have been using them for years, it seems like the terminology around them is constantly evolving. Technologies fall in and out of favor all the time, and new frameworks become the next big thing that you simply\u00a0<em>have<\/em>\u00a0to know.<\/p>\n<p>It often feels like a little much.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why we\u2019ve started to build out an\u00a0<em>ultimate dictionary to server terms you should know<\/em>. We\u2019ll cover as wide a spectrum as we can, as long as it\u2019s relevant to managing, administering, and deploying on servers.<\/p>\n<p>This list isn\u2019t yet complete, and if you\u2019d like to contribute, send terms and definitions to\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:joel@ssdnodes.com\">joel@ssdnodes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This dictionary is organized into a number of categories to help you find terms and definitions in certain areas of interest. Within the categories the terms are sorted alphabetically.<\/p>\n<p>And now, let\u2019s get into it.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h1 id=\"the-categories\">The categories<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#servers\">Servers<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#web-applications\">Web applications<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#administration\">Administration<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#networking\">Networking<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#interfaces\">Interfaces<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#tools-and-other-applications\">Tools and other applications<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#programming\">Programming<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h1 id=\"definitions\">Definitions<\/h1>\n<h2 id=\"servers\">Servers<\/h2>\n<p><strong>10X<\/strong>: The newest product from SSD Nodes\u2014a VPS purpose-built to work faster with the performance of NVMe. Read more about the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssdnodes.com\/black-friday-10x\/\">power of our 10X VPS<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"host-machine\"><\/a><strong>Host machine<\/strong>: A large server utilizing a\u00a0<a href=\"#hypervisor\">hypervisor<\/a>\u00a0to create and control\u00a0<a href=\"#virtual-machine\">virtual machines<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"hypervisor\"><\/a><strong>Hypervisor<\/strong>: A computer on which a hypervisor runs is a\u00a0<a href=\"#host-machine\">host machine<\/a>. The hypervisor creates and manages the\u00a0<a href=\"#virtual-machine\">virtual machines<\/a>\u00a0and got its name as being the supervisor of the traditional Linux supervisor (the kernel itself).<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"kvm\"><\/a><strong>KVM<\/strong>: The Kernel-based Virtual Machine is what turns a server into a\u00a0<a href=\"#host-machine\"><em>host machine<\/em><\/a>\u00a0via the\u00a0<a href=\"#hypervisor\">hypervisor<\/a>. KVM is a full virtualization solution that allows the host machine to run many\u00a0<a href=\"#virtual-machine\">virtual machines<\/a>\u00a0concurrently, each with private virtualized \u201chardware\u201d like network cards, disks, graphics adapters, and more.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"nvme\"><\/a><strong>NVMe<\/strong>:\u00a0<em>NVM Express<\/em>\u00a0is a new device interface for connecting\u00a0<em>non-volatile memory<\/em>\u00a0(hence\u00a0<em>NVM<\/em>) to a machine via the ultra-fast PCI Express (PCIe) bus. NVMe uses different hardware interface and protocol compared to\u00a0<a href=\"#ssd\">SSD<\/a>, which dramatically reduces I\/O overhead and greatly improves performance. SSD Nodes now offers NVMe-based servers in the form of our new\u00a0<a href=\"#10x\">10X VPS<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Self-hosting<\/strong>: Self-hosting is when you put an application on your server, store the information in your own database, and create your own web experience.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssdnodes.com\/blog\/what-is-self-hosting\/\"><em>Read more.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"ssd\"><\/a><strong>SSD<\/strong>: A\u00a0<em>solid state drive<\/em>. Unlike traditional hard disk drives, SSDs use flash-based memory to persistently store data, which gives them improved latency and quicker access times. These are the drives SSD Nodes launched with in 2011, when most VPS providers were still primarly using traditional spinning hard disk drives. The predecessor to faster\u00a0<a href=\"#nvme\">NVMe<\/a>\u00a0disks.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"virtual-machine\"><\/a><strong>Virtual machine<\/strong>: An emulated computer, from the hardware to the operating system, that can be run concurrently with many other virtual machines on a\u00a0<a href=\"#host-machine\">host machine<\/a>\u00a0with the help of a\u00a0<a href=\"#hypervisor\">hypervisor<\/a>. Each\u00a0<a href=\"#vps\">virtual private server<\/a>\u00a0is a virtual machine.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"vps\"><\/a><strong>VPS<\/strong>: A virtual private server. A VPS hosting provider owns or rents servers insides of a data center and installs software on these servers, called\u00a0<a href=\"#host-machine\"><em>host machines<\/em><\/a>, that allows them to create additional\u00a0<a href=\"#virtual-machine\"><em>virtual machines<\/em><\/a>\u00a0via virtualization (usually\u00a0<a href=\"#kvm\">KVM<\/a>\u00a0or OpenVZ). A VPS is a small slice of a very large pie. A computer pie.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssdnodes.com\/blog\/what-is-a-virtual-private-server-vps\/\"><em>Read more.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"web-applications\">Web applications<\/h2>\n<p><strong>LAMP<\/strong>: A LAMP stack is a framework for developing a web application or dynamic websites using Linux as the operating system, Apache as the Web server, MySQL\/MariaDB as the database and PHP as the scripting language.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssdnodes.com\/blog\/what-is-a-web-server\/\"><em>Read more.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>LEMP<\/strong>: The LEMP \u201cstack\u201d involves the Linux operating system (L), the Nginx web server (E), a MySQL database (M), and PHP for dynamic webpages (P).\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssdnodes.com\/blog\/tutorial-install-lemp-ubuntu\/\"><em>Read more.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>MySQL<\/strong>: The most commonly used database system. MySQL is a relational database management system that is most often used in conjunction with other web application software like PHP and Apache\/Nginx in LAMP\/LEMP stacks, respectively.<\/p>\n<p><strong>PHP<\/strong>:\u00a0<em>\u201cHypertext Preprocessor is a server-side scripting language designed for Web development, but also used as a general-purpose programming language.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/PHP\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Read more.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Web server<\/strong>: A web server is a program that serves files or web pages using the HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) protocol in response to a request from a user via an HTTP client, such as a web browser.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssdnodes.com\/blog\/what-is-a-web-server\/\"><em>Read more.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"administration\">Administration<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Configuration management<\/strong>: The concept of creating consistency around the makeup, performance, and maintenance of software systems. When dealing with servers, configuration management most often takes the form of tools like\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssdnodes.com\/blog\/ansible-tutorial-getting-started\/\">Ansible<\/a>\u00a0or Puppet.<\/p>\n<p><strong>cPanel<\/strong>: The most popular web-based control panel for managing and automating VPSs or other virtual machines. cPanel is a closed-source, paid platform for which there are\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssdnodes.com\/blog\/cpanel-alternatives-vps\/\">many free and open source alternatives<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DevOps<\/strong>: <em>\u201cDevOps (a clipped compound of\u201ddevelopment&quot; and \u201coperations\u201d) is a software development methodology that combines software development (Dev) with information technology operations (Ops).\u201c<\/em>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/DevOps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Read more.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"networking\">Networking<\/h2>\n<p><strong>CDN<\/strong>: A distributed network of proxy servers for delivering content with high availability and performance.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cloudflare.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cloudflare<\/a>\u00a0is a great example.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DNS<\/strong>: The domain name system is a decentralized system for translating domain names (<code>example.com<\/code>) into a numerical IP address that is associated with a particular machine.<\/p>\n<p><strong>HTTPS<\/strong>:\u00a0<em>\u201cHTTP Secure is an extension of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol for secure communication over a computer network, and is widely used on the Internet.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/HTTPS\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Read more.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>IP<\/strong>: An Internet Protocol address is a numberical label, using a 32-bit number like\u00a0<code>123.456.78.9<\/code>, that is assigned to any machine connected to the Internet for communication. Every VPS is given a unique IP address.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"ssh\"><\/a><strong>SSH<\/strong>: A crypographic network protocol for connecting networked machines together securely over an unsecured network. We know SSH best as the means to remotely connect to the command line of a remote server (VPS).\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssdnodes.com\/blog\/tutorial-setting-up-and-securing-ssh-based-authentication\/\"><em>Read more.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>TLS<\/strong>: TLS stands for\u00a0<em>Transport Layer Security<\/em>\u00a0and is the improved predecessor to SSL (Secure Sockets Layer). The term\u00a0<em>TLS<\/em>\u00a0is most often used in reference to\u00a0<em>HTTPS<\/em>, which is the secure version of the hypertext transfer protocol. Almost all websites use HTTPS in conjunction with TLS these days.<\/p>\n<p><strong>VPN<\/strong>: A virtual private network extends a private network into a public network, allowing distant machines to communicate as though they were on the same private network. VPNs are often used to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssdnodes.com\/blog\/outline-vpn-tutorial-vps\/\">encrypt web traffic<\/a>\u00a0to bypass ISP snooping and for businesses to protect their data while allowing employees to work remotely.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"interfaces\">Interfaces<\/h2>\n<p><strong>CLI<\/strong>: A command-line interface is a text-only method of interacting with a computer. When you connect to your server via SSH and begin entering commands or using tools, you\u2019re using a shell\u2019s command-line interface to make changes and move around.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Shell<\/strong>: An interface that lets users access and edit the operating system. A shell can be either graphical or command-line (CLI), but are most often the latter when related to a VPS. Bash and Zsh are just two examples of CLI-based shells.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"tools-and-other-applications\">Tools and other applications<\/h2>\n<p><strong>rsync<\/strong>: A utility for transferring\/synchronizing files across computer systems over the\u00a0<a href=\"#ssh\">SSH<\/a>\u00a0protocol, optionally. Rsync is often used for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssdnodes.com\/blog\/vps-backups-simple-overthinking\/\">simple, automated backups<\/a>, as it only transfers files that are new or edited since the last run, and only transfers the changed data (via delta encoding).<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"programming\">Programming<\/h2>\n<p><strong>API<\/strong>:\u00a0<em>\u201cIn computer programming, an application programming interface (API) is a set of subroutine definitions, communication protocols, and tools for building software.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Application_programming_interface\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Read more.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>DRY<\/strong>:\u00a0<em>\u201cIn software engineering, don\u2019t repeat yourself (DRY) is a principle of software development aimed at reducing repetition of software patterns, replacing it with abstractions or using data normalization to avoid redundancy.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Don&#039;t_repeat_yourself\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Read more.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>GPL<\/strong>: A popular free software license that gives users the freedom to download, share, and even modify the software in question. A common option for open source projects. In the case of modification, GPL requires that the derivative work also be licensed under GPL instead of another, like MIT or BSD.<\/p>\n<p><strong>IDE<\/strong>:\u00a0<em>\u201cAn integrated development environment (IDE) is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Integrated_development_environment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Read more.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The terminology around servers changes all the time, and it&#8217;s hard to keep track of. Enter the ultimate dictionary to server terms you should know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":5568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-devops"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ssdnodes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ssdnodes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ssdnodes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssdnodes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssdnodes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5549"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssdnodes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13081,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssdnodes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5549\/revisions\/13081"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssdnodes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ssdnodes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssdnodes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssdnodes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}