Web Hosting Glossary Terms starting with Letter M
Terms that will help you understand hosting services. Internet reference and glossary of Web Hosting Terms and Definitions. Please select a letter to jump to that section of The Glossary.
A glossary is defined as an alphabetical list of technical terms in some specialized field of knowledge; usually published as an appendix to a text on that field. This Web Hosting Glossary section is specially designed to explain most of the terms that you should read and understand before you choose your web hosting service provider.
Mailing List
A (usually automated) system that allows people to send e-mail to one address, whereupon their message is copied and sent to all of the other subscribers to the mail list. In this way, people who have many different kinds of e-mail access can participate in discussions together.
See also:(Email)
The Internet host (together with the appropriate software) that is used to send, receive and forward email messages.
Megabyte
1MB = 1024 Kilobytes = 1,048,576 bytes
See also: (Gigabyte, Terabyte)
Meta Tag
An HTML tag that is embedded in the document, but not displayed in a web browser. They are most commonly used to encode keywords into HTML documents for use by search engine spiders.
See also: (Search Engine, Spider)
MegaHertz = 1.000.000 Hertz
Microsoft FrontPage Extensions
FrontPage extensions are available on both Unix and NT in order for you to use the FrontPage web site creation software to build your web site. Support for FrontPage software is provided by Microsoft.
MIDI
Musical Instrument Digital Interface -- A network and accompanying protocol developed in the 1970's for transmitting various information between musical and other devices including keyboards, samplers, lights, controllers, etc.
MIME
(Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) a method of including binary data and other multimedia content within email messages.
Mirror
An FTP server that provides copies of the same files as another server. Some FTP servers are so popular that other servers have been set up to mirror them and spread the FTP load to more than one site.
Another common use of the term 'mirror' refers to an arrangement where information is written to more than one hard disk simultaneously, so that if one disk fails, the computer keeps on working without losing anything.
See also: (FTP)
Stands for MOdulator/DEModulator - a device that translates the digital information from your computer into analogue signals that can be passed down an ordinary telephone line. This allows one computer to "talk" to another computer using the telephone line as a medium.
See also: (Z Modem)
The database that the TLD registries maintain need to be accurate in order for name resolution, billing, renewal notices and public records to be processed correctly. Typically modifications are required when nameservers need to change or the contacts change email or postal address or phone number. The procedures for modifying records will depend on the registry.
Mosaic The first WWW browser that was available for the Macintosh, Windows, and UNIX all with the same interface. Mosaic really started the popularity of the Web. The source-code to Mosaic has been licensed by several companies and there are several other pieces of software as good or better than Mosaic, most notably, Netscape.
See also: (Netscape Navigator)
An extremely popular lossy audio compression format. Widely used over the Internet.
MPEG
(Motion Picture Experts Group) video compression format for movies or animations.
MUD
(Multi-User Dungeon or Dimension) -- A (usually text-based) multi-user simulation environment. Some are purely for fun and flirting, others are used for serious software development, or education purposes and all that lies in between. A significant feature of most MUDs is that users can create things that stay after they leave and which other users can interact with in their absence, thus allowing a world to be built gradually and collectively.
Multi-Domain Plan
A web hosting plan option that allows multiple domain names to share the resources of the single hosting account.
MUSE
(Multi-User Simulated Environment) -- One kind of MUD - usually with little or no violence.
MySQL
A true multi-user, multi-threaded SQL (Structured Query Language) database server. SQL is the most popular database language in the world. MySQL is a client/server implementation that consists of a server daemon mysqld and many different client programs/libraries.
MX Record: Mail ExchangeMail Exchange record is part of the zone file and is used to designate which mail server machine should process email for a specific domain.
