This glossary explains, in one plain sentence each, the words you meet in dPanel and in this documentation. If a page uses a word you don't know, look it up here. You can also ask Ask dPanel, the AI assistant, "What is a load balancer?". See Ask dPanel.
Servers and software
Server
A computer that is always on and connected to the internet, which runs your website or app for visitors; in dPanel you connect one you have or launch a new one. See Servers.
VM (virtual machine) or VPS
A server rented from a cloud provider that runs as software on the provider's bigger machines; to you it behaves like a normal computer.
Cloud provider
A company that rents out servers by the hour or month, such as AWS, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean, IDCloudHost, Alibaba Cloud or Tencent Cloud. See Cloud providers.
Cloud project (cloud account)
The connection between dPanel and your account at a cloud provider, which lets dPanel launch servers there for you. See SSH keys and cloud projects.
Ubuntu
The free Linux operating system dPanel installs and expects on servers.
SSH
The secure way to log in to a server over the internet and run commands on it.
SSH key
A pair of matching files that lets a computer log in to a server over SSH without a password; the public half goes on the server and the private half stays secret.
Agent
dPanel's small program on each server, which reports the server's health and runs the jobs dPanel sends it.
Server setup
The first job dPanel runs on a new server: it installs the agent and prepares the machine; you can run it again if it failed.
Module
A piece of software dPanel installs on a server for you, such as PHP, Node.js, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, Caddy or Docker. See Install software.
Runtime (language)
The software that runs code written in one language, such as PHP for WordPress or Node.js for a JavaScript app.
Database
The program that stores an application's data in tables, such as MariaDB, PostgreSQL, MongoDB or Redis.
DB Manager
dPanel's web tool for opening a MariaDB or PostgreSQL database in the browser, to browse, query, import or export data.
Port
A numbered door on a server that one program listens on, such as 443 for websites over HTTPS or 5432 for PostgreSQL.
Firewall
The guard on a server that decides which ports people can reach; dPanel manages Ubuntu's built-in firewall, ufw. See Firewall.
TCP and UDP
The two basic ways programs send data over a network; websites and databases use TCP, while some games and voice services use UDP.
Applications
Application
Your code, in a GitHub repository, that dPanel builds and runs on a server, such as a WordPress site or a Laravel app. See Applications.
Repository
The folder of code, with its history, that you keep on GitHub.
Branch and commit
A commit is one saved version of your code; a branch is a line of commits, such as main.
Build (artifact)
Your code turned once into a ready-to-run package from one commit; dPanel keeps every build so you can go back to an earlier one.
Deployment (release)
A build placed on a server and started, so visitors can use it.
Rollback
Going back to an earlier build when a new one has a problem. See Deployments and rollback.
Application definition
The saved description of how to build and run your app: its language, build commands and start command, kept in dPanel or in a .devetek folder in your repository.
Environment variable
A named setting, such as APP_ENV=production or a database password, that your app reads when it starts. See Environment variables.
Service
A program that Linux starts for you, keeps running in the background and restarts after a reboot; dPanel runs each deployment as one.
Log
A program's running diary, one line per event, which you read to find out what happened or what went wrong. See Reading logs.
Traffic and domains
Domain
A name people type to reach your site, such as example.com, which you buy from a domain registrar.
Subdomain
A name under your domain, such as shop.example.com.
DNS
The internet's address book, which turns a domain name into the address of the server that answers it.
DNS record
One entry in that address book, such as "shop.example.com points to 203.0.113.10". See DNS records.
IP address
The number that identifies a server on the internet, such as 203.0.113.10.
TLS, SSL and HTTPS
HTTPS is the secure version of a web address, shown with a padlock; it relies on a TLS certificate (often still called SSL), which dPanel gets free from Let's Encrypt and renews for you.
Load balancer
The front door of your website: it answers on your domain, handles HTTPS, and passes each visitor's request to your application. See Load balancers.
Gateway
The server a load balancer runs on, which receives the visitors' traffic.
Engine
The web server program a load balancer uses on its gateway: Caddy, Apache APISIX or HAProxy.
L4 and L7
L7 load balancers route web traffic by address and path; L4 load balancers pass raw TCP or UDP connections, for example to a database.
Cloudflare proxying
An option that sends visitors through Cloudflare's network before your server, hiding the server's address.
Organising your work
Workspace
A separate space with its own servers, applications and settings: your personal workspace, or a team workspace you share. See Workspaces.
Team
The people who share a team workspace, each with a role such as Owner, Admin, Developer or Viewer that decides what they may do. See Teams.
Job (execution)
One piece of work dPanel runs for you, such as setting up a server, installing a module or deploying a build; each one is recorded with its result.
Worker
The program that carries out a workspace's jobs on your servers; dPanel's shared workers do it by default, or you can use your own. See Workers.
GitHub Actions
GitHub's built-in way to run scripts, called workflows, on GitHub's machines; one way to run a private worker.
Server group
A named set of servers you act on together. See Server groups and clusters.
Cluster and Kubernetes
Kubernetes is a system that runs containers across several servers as one; a cluster is such a group of servers, built in dPanel with k3s or RKE2.
Container
An application packed together with everything it needs, so it runs the same on any server; Docker is the best-known tool for them.
IaC (infrastructure as code)
Writing down how servers are set up as files, so the same setup can be repeated; dPanel records its work as Ansible files.
The AI assistant
Ask dPanel
The AI assistant built into dPanel, which answers questions and proposes changes for you to approve. See Ask dPanel.
Approval card
The box in the chat that shows a change the assistant proposed, with Approve and Reject buttons. See Approve or reject changes.
dnocs (CLI)
dPanel's command-line tool, which you run in a terminal to work with dPanel and its assistant. See Use AI in the terminal.
llms.txt
A plain-text index of this documentation for AI tools; llms-full.txt holds every page.
Frequently asked questions
A word I need is missing. What do I do?
Ask Ask dPanel "What does … mean in dPanel?". It answers from this documentation.
Are "build" and "artifact" the same thing?
Yes. dPanel's pages say build or artifact for the same ready-to-run package made from one commit.
Are "deployment" and "release" the same thing?
Yes. Both mean a build placed on a server and started.