Open-source web server software, and the most widely deployed of its kind. Dependable, though LiteSpeed handles PHP and WordPress sites faster.
A record
A DNS entry linking a domain to an IPv4 address, as in example.com → 192.0.2.10. No DNS record is more basic. For IPv6 addresses the equivalent is an AAAA record.
B
Backup
A separate copy of your site's files and database, kept so you can put things back if data is lost. SiteBoma takes daily backups on every plan and keeps them for 7 days.
Bandwidth
How much data your hosting account may send to visitors in a month. Most hosts now advertise it as "unmetered" under a fair-use policy.
C
CDN
Short for Content Delivery Network: servers spread around the world that hold copies of the static parts of your site, such as images and CSS, and deliver them from whichever location is nearest the visitor. Cloudflare runs the most popular free one.
CNAME
Lets one domain name act as an alias for another (say, www.example.com → example.com). Often used to send a subdomain somewhere else.
cPanel
A commercial control panel for hosting that was the industry standard for many years. At SiteBoma we prefer DirectAdmin, a modern and faster alternative.
CSR
Certificate Signing Request: an encoded block of text produced as part of ordering a paid SSL certificate. Hosts that use Let's Encrypt spare you the CSR step altogether.
D
DDoS
Distributed Denial of Service: an attack that floods a server with so much traffic that it goes offline. Defending against it takes firewalls, rate limiting or a service such as Cloudflare.
DirectAdmin
The control panel on every SiteBoma hosting plan. It is modern, lightweight, quick and secure.
DKIM
DomainKeys Identified Mail: a DNS record used to put a cryptographic signature on the email you send, so receiving servers can check that it genuinely came from your domain. It matters a great deal for getting mail delivered.
DMARC
Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance: a DNS record telling receiving mail servers how to treat messages that fail SPF or DKIM checks.
DNS
Domain Name System, the directory of the internet. When someone types example.com, DNS looks up the numeric IP address their computer needs and hands it back.
Domain
The readable address people type to reach your site, for example yourbiz.com. A domain is not the same thing as hosting. It is registered year by year with the registry that runs its extension: Verisign for .com, KENIC for .ke, and so on.
E
EPP code
Also known as an auth code: the "transfer authorisation code" your current registrar issues when you move a domain to a different registrar.
F
FTP
File Transfer Protocol, the long-established way to upload files to a web server. Its modern, encrypted replacement is SFTP, which runs over SSH. Both work on SiteBoma.
H
Hosting
The disk space, bandwidth and processing power your website needs, on an internet-connected server. A domain is the address; hosting is where the site actually lives.
HSTS
HTTP Strict Transport Security: a response header instructing browsers to use HTTPS on every later visit. This guards strongly against downgrade attacks.
HTTPS
HTTP sent over TLS/SSL, so the connection is encrypted. Every modern website needs it, and Let's Encrypt provides it free.
I
IMAP
Internet Message Access Protocol: lets you read email that stays on the server, so every device sees the same mailbox. It is the modern replacement for POP3.
K
KENIC
The Kenya Network Information Centre, the official registry behind every .ke extension, including .co.ke, .or.ke, .ac.ke and .sc.ke.
L
Let's Encrypt
A certificate authority that hands out SSL certificates automatically and free of charge. It secures millions of sites with HTTPS, every SiteBoma hosting plan among them.
LiteSpeed
A commercial web server built for speed. It can replace Apache directly and usually runs PHP and WordPress 5 to 10 times faster. SiteBoma's servers use it.
M
M-Pesa
Mobile money from Safaricom. Any SiteBoma invoice can be paid with M-Pesa on Paystack's secure checkout page.
MX record
Mail exchanger record: the DNS entry that tells the rest of the internet which server receives email for your domain. Without one, incoming mail has nowhere to go.
N
Nameserver
A server that responds to DNS lookups for a domain. Each domain uses at least two. SiteBoma's nameservers are ns1.siteboma.co.ke and ns2.siteboma.co.ke.
NVMe SSD
A newer kind of solid-state drive that is much quicker than older SATA SSDs. Every SiteBoma hosting tier runs on NVMe.
P
Paystack
The payment provider behind SiteBoma's checkout. Card payments (Visa, Mastercard) and M-Pesa payments both go through Paystack's secure checkout page.
PHP
A programming language that runs on the server. WordPress, Magento and Laravel are built with it, and so are roughly 75% of all websites. SiteBoma supports every version from PHP 7.4 to 8.3.
POP3
Post Office Protocol, an older way to collect email: it downloads messages to a single device and deletes them from the server. Today IMAP is the usual choice.
R
Reseller hosting
Hosting that lets you create separate accounts carrying your own brand, then sell them on to your clients. Details at /hosting/reseller.
S
SAN
Subject Alternative Name. This certificate field names all the hostnames one SSL certificate covers, such as example.com, www.example.com and mail.example.com.
SFTP
SSH File Transfer Protocol: encrypted file uploads that replace plain FTP. You can use SFTP on all SiteBoma hosting, logging in with your DirectAdmin details.
Shared hosting
Hosting in which many websites share the resources of one server. It costs the least and is the most popular type. Details at /hosting/shared.
Sitemap
An XML file that lists every page on your site so search engines can crawl it efficiently. SiteBoma builds its own sitemap dynamically at /sitemap.xml.
SOA record
Start of Authority: the DNS record that stores a zone's administrative details, such as its serial number and refresh interval.
Softaculous
A one-click app installer found in DirectAdmin (and in cPanel). It sets up WordPress, Joomla and more than 400 other apps in a single click.
SPF
Sender Policy Framework: a TXT record in DNS naming the servers that may send email on behalf of your domain. You need it for reliable email delivery.
SSD
Solid State Drive: storage with no moving parts, quicker than old spinning hard disks. Modern hosting treats it as the bare minimum.
SSH
Secure Shell: an encrypted way to reach a server's command line remotely. Included with SiteBoma's VPS and dedicated plans.
SSL
Secure Sockets Layer, the encryption that HTTPS was first built on. Strictly speaking TLS has replaced it, yet people still call it SSL.
STK Push
Sim Toolkit Push. Safaricom uses it to pop up a request on an M-Pesa user's handset, asking them to authorise a payment.
Subdomain
An extra label in front of your domain name. For instance, mail.example.com sits under example.com. You can add one in DirectAdmin or through a CNAME.
T
TLD
Top-Level Domain, meaning the last label of a domain name, as in .com, .org, .co.ke and so on. A registry looks after each one; KENIC, for instance, manages .ke.
TLS
Transport Layer Security, which took over from SSL and now secures HTTPS. The current version is TLS 1.3.
TTFB
Time to First Byte: the delay before a server begins sending its response. The best modern hosts aim to keep it below 200ms.
TXT record
A DNS record that carries free-form text. SPF, DKIM, DMARC and domain ownership checks all rely on it.
U
Uptime
The share of time a service stays online. At 99.9% uptime, 8.7 hours of downtime a year are allowed; at 99.99%, only 52 minutes.
V
VPS
Virtual Private Server: part of a physical server with CPU and RAM reserved for you. The next step up from shared hosting. Details at /hosting/vps.
W
webmail
A browser-based inbox that works anywhere you can open a web page. With SiteBoma you get Roundcube at yourdomain.com/webmail.
WHOIS
The public record of a domain's registration: who holds it, through which registrar, and when it expires. Our /tools/whois tool looks up any domain.
WordPress
The most widely used content management system in the world, behind roughly 43% of all websites. Every SiteBoma plan runs it well.
X
XML sitemap
The same thing as a sitemap. Look under "Sitemap" above.
Stuck on a term? Ask us.
Our team in Nairobi is on live chat and glad to explain any hosting word in plain English. No question is too basic.