Reference & Manual > Glossary > M

MAC
Media Access Control.

MAC Address
Short for Media Access Control address, a hardware address that uniquely identifies each node of a network.

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.

Mail Server
The Internet host (together with the appropriate software) that is used to send, receive and forward email messages.

MBps
MegaBytes (MB) per second, 1 MB = 1,048,576 bytes or 1024 kilobytes.

Mbps
Megabits (Mb) per second, 1Mb = 1,048,576 bits

Megabyte
1MB = 1024 Kilobytes = 1,048,576 bytes
See also: (Gigabyte, Terabyte)

Merchant Account
An integrated method for authorizing, processing and settling transactions that are paid by credit card. Think of a merchant account as a bank account which enables the credit card networks to route funds to you.

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.

MHz
MegaHertz = 1.000.000 Hertz

Microsoft Access
A Microsoft DATABASE designed for use with small-to-medium amounts of data. As a general rule, if your Access database is over 20MB, you will need to upgrade to SQL for your database to work efficiently.

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.

Microsoft Sql 2000
A Microsoft DATABASE designed for use with large amounts of data. If you are going to be storing thousands of records or storing large chunks of information (such as graphics) in your DATABASE, you will want to use SQL 2000.

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.

Modem
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.

Modify (Domain Name)
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.

MOO
(Mud, Object Oriented) -- One of several kinds of multi-user role-playing environments, so far only text-based.

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.

MP3
An extremely popular lossy audio compression format. Widely used over the Internet.

MPEG
(Motion Picture Experts Group) video compression format for movies or animations.

mSQL (Mini SQL)
Light-weight relational database.

MS ACCESS Database
Microsoft Access (usually abbreviated as MS Access) is an easy-to-use program for creating and maintaining databases. The Access database driver for online databases is often supported by web hosts using the NT hosting platform.

MS-SQL
MS-SQL (Microsoft SQL) Extensive database programming capabilities built on web standards. Rich XML and Internet standard support give you the ability to store and retrieve data in XML format easily with built-in stored procedures. You can also use XML updategrams to insert, update, and delete data easily.

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 Open Source 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 Exchange
Mail Exchange record is part of the zone file and is used to designate which mail server machine should process email for a specific domain.