Help… I Don’t Understand! Your Internet Services Jargon Buster

When looking at Internet services, for both business and personal use, all of the jargon and lingo that’s thrown at you can be a bit of a bother. All of the companies use similar tech speak to sell their products. But, they rely on the fact that a lot of people don’t know what they mean. They know that most people don’t research it, and instead will go for something that sounds technical, even if they don’t understand it. To make this whole thing easier, this post will take you through some of the terms that companies use.

• Cloud

The word “Cloud” has become synonymous with internet based services. But, it’s not really that complicated. In the past, a cloud was a term used by networking geeks to describe an external network that can’t be seen. You know it’s there, but you don’t have access to it’s structure. Nowadays, it’s used to describe anything that isn’t on your home network. So, cloud storage is just storage that you use online.

• Cloud Load Balancing

Now, of course, the Internet can be slow. So, big files could take ages to load, right? To combat this, companies will have several transfer servers linked to all of their customers’ storage. When you start a transfer, they’ll put you on the server that’s got the fewest users’ accessing it. This is all handled by a cloud load balancer within the server system so that you never have to worry about it.

• DNS

DNS stands for Domain Name System. It’s basically a big phone book, but for websites. To access a website, your web browser needs it’s IP address. Instead of you having to remember a bunch of IP addresses, your browser connects to a server and finds the website’s IP based on the domain you give to it.

• Firewall vs. Antivirus

A firewall is a protective layer that controls the data that is allowed to enter and exit the system. A firewall needs to be told exactly what to stop and what to allow, so it only protects you from what you tell it to. Antivirus will scan your system to make sure that none of the data contains malicious software, or, malware. Neither of them are an absolutely safe bet.

• Bandwidth vs. Network Speed

Bandwidth and network speed are very similar, and they can affect one another. Bandwidth is the physical limitation on the amount of data that can be transferred at a given time. This will be down to the hardware in your home, as well as the wider network. Network speed is the software limitation that a provider will put on your connection. Only consider the lowest of the two to be the accurate number.

• Shared vs. Dedicated Hosting

Whenever you rent a server, you’ll have the option of shared or dedicated hosting. In a shared system, other people will also be using the server you’re on. This can slow down your website or other services if a lot of other users are on the network. A dedicated service is reserved for your use only. This means that it won’t be affected by speed. The size of your application will be the biggest deciding factor when it comes to choosing between the two.

In this modern world, it’s worth researching any term like these to understand them for yourself. You never know; a service you don’t understand could come in very handy in future.

Photo Credit: WOCinTech Chat