| Word |
Description |
| .htaccess |
A file placed below the document root of a website which controls the behavior of a webserver such as Apache. Common usage and additional documentation is available. Learn more |
| Alias |
An alternative address for a Site or Environment. For instance, if your site is normally accessed at www.mysite.com you may also wish to allow users to access the site at www.mysite.org. |
| Apache |
Server-side software which runs on a Container and delivers web pages to the browser. Apache is the most popular web server software in the world. Learn more |
| API |
The Stackable API is a full-featured JSON interface for custom applications to interact with Stackable services. Additional information including full documentation is available at http://api.stackable.com. Learn more |
| Billing period |
The Stackable billing period is 30 days. |
| Certificate Authority |
A Certificate Authority provides assurance that a party to a secure transaction is who they claim to be. Learn more |
| CLF |
Common Log Format. A standarized way to display log information from webservers. Learn more |
| CMS |
Many websites utilize collections of software called Content Management Systems which are designed to provide common functionality for the site developer and to simplify the task of organizing and displaying information in web pages. Examples of common web frameworks include Joomla, Drupal and Wordpress. Learn more |
| Container |
A container is a webserver. It contains resources that every webserver might use, like disk space for you to put your files in, memory, CPU and bandwidth.
Containers are accessible via SSH and SFTP. |
| Container hostname |
An automatically generated hostname, for internal use only, which corresponds to a specific container. |
| Control Panel |
Accessible by logging into Stackable.com, the Stackable control panel helps you manage all aspects of your account and hosted web sites. |
| Cron |
A scheduler which runs on Stackable containers and allows tasks to be executed automatically at specified time intervals. Learn more |
| crond |
A container-side process which is responsible for scheduled cron jobs on a container. |
| cURL |
A command line tool for getting or sending files using URL syntax. |
| Dashboard |
The main page inside of Stackable Control. |
| Environment |
Independent copies of your web site that can be used to manage different versions of it over time. Different environments can be accessed via unique urls, enabling you to easily make changes and test new features before you move them into production via the Control Panel. For example, your production web site could be "Version01" and a revised copy you develop new code and features on could be called "Version02." To make an environment live, simply click 'Promote'. |
| exim |
A container-side process which handles email for your web site. |
| Friendly Hostname |
The name used for internally accessing a container or environment. This is useful for testing purposes, especially when you have multiple environments. |
| FTP |
File Transfer Protocol. A simple way of transferring files from one computer to another over the internet. Not as secure as SFTP. |
| HMAC |
A cryptographic function that serves to securely identify that the message sender and the message itself are both authentic and intact. Learn more |
| Hostname |
The Internet domain name used for externally accessing a web site. |
| IP Address |
An IP address specifies the location of a host on a network. |
| JSON |
JavaScript Object Notation. A common format used by programmers to exchange data between systems, and used in Stackable's API. Learn more |
| LAMP |
An acronym for a common set of services which together make up the software on many common webservers. The components are Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP. Sometimes referred to as the "LAMP stack." Learn more |
| Load balancing |
The ability to spread the load of a site's traffic between multiple containers. Load balancing is frequently employed by customers who wish to add redundancy and/or capacity to a site. Learn more |
| Memory hour |
A memory hour is the peak amount of memory in megabytes provisioned on a container during a 60 minute period. Container hours are the fundamental billing units on Stackable. For example, a 256M container running for 24 hours would use 24 * 256 = 6,144 memory hours. Note that Stackable bills on a daily, rather than hourly, basis. |
| MTA |
A Message Transfer Agent is a software program that is responsible for the sending and routing of email. All Stackable containers contain an MTA. Learn more |
| PHP |
A common scripting language that runs on a web server. Used with Apache and MySQL, PHP provides the programmer the ability to create dynamic web pages. Learn more |
| rsync |
The rsync remote-update protocol allows rsync to transfer just the differences between two sets of files across the network connection, using an efficient checksum-search algorithm. |
| Self-signed certificate |
A self-signed certificate is one in which the assurance that a party to a secure transaction is made by the party itself instead of a 3rd party Certificate Authority. Learn more |
| Service Manager |
A web interface to view used CPU, memory and processes on a running container. From the Service Manager one can view, start, or stop processes, such as the container's web server. Stackable's Control Panel includes a service manager. |
| SFTP |
A secure file transfer protocol, similar to FTP but with additional security enhancements. Learn more |
| SHA1 |
The SHA hash functions are a set of cryptographic hash functions designed by the National Security Agency. SHA stands for Secure Hash Algorithm. SHA1 provides a 160 bit digest. |
| Site |
A Site is a public-facing website, like http://www.stackable.com. |
| Site URL |
The address where your visitors go to access your site (e.g., http://www.yoursite.com). |
| SSH |
SSH is a secure means of connecting to a Container in order to interact with it via the UNIX command line. Learn more |
| sshd |
A container process which allows users to log into a container via SSH. Customers should not disable sshd unless instructed to by the Stackable support team. |
| SSL |
A protocol which provides security for networked communication. Often used to provide security over the web for the transmission of sensitive data. Learn more |
| Stackable Control |
The control panel for Stackable, where you can view and modify details regarding your sites. |
| syslog-ng |
A container process which is responsible for feeding performance and error information to the Stackable system. Customers should not disable syslog-ng unless instructed to by the Stackable support team. |
| ~ |
~ (tilde) is an environment variable in Linux used to alias the path to your home directory. |