Glossary
Glossary
When you’re new to managing servers and WordPress infrastructure, the terminology can feel like a foreign language. This glossary gives you plain-English definitions for every technical term used across the FlyWP documentation — so you always know what something means and why it matters to you.
Server and Infrastructure
Server
A computer — physical or virtual — that runs your websites and applications. In FlyWP, each server hosts one or more WordPress sites. Think of it as the machine in the cloud that powers everything your visitors see.
VPS (Virtual Private Server)
A virtual machine sold as a service by cloud providers like DigitalOcean or Vultr. You get dedicated resources (CPU, RAM, disk) on shared physical hardware, but your environment is isolated from other users — so a noisy neighbor cannot slow down your site.
SSH (Secure Shell)
A protocol (a set of rules for secure communication) for connecting to a remote server over the internet. You use SSH to run commands on your server from your local terminal. FlyWP also provides a browser-based SSH terminal so you do not need to install anything locally.
Firewall
A network security system that controls which incoming and outgoing traffic is allowed based on rules you define. FlyWP lets you configure firewall rules to block or allow connections on specific ports — for example, blocking all traffic except web requests and SSH.
Docker
A platform that packages applications into containers — lightweight, isolated environments that bundle everything the software needs to run. FlyWP uses Docker to run each WordPress site in its own container, which keeps sites separated and makes them easier to manage.
DNS (Domain Name System)
The system that translates human-readable domain names (like example.com) into IP addresses (like 192.0.2.1) that computers use to find each other on the internet. When someone types your domain into a browser, DNS is what points them to your server.
CDN (Content Delivery Network)
A globally distributed network of servers that caches and delivers your site’s static files — images, CSS, JavaScript — from locations close to your visitors. Instead of every request traveling to your server, nearby CDN nodes serve the files, reducing load times significantly.
Cloudflare
A popular CDN and DNS provider. FlyWP integrates with Cloudflare to manage DNS records, proxy traffic for DDoS protection (blocking malicious traffic before it reaches your server), and improve site performance.
Web Server and PHP
Nginx
A high-performance web server that FlyWP uses to handle incoming HTTP/HTTPS requests and route them to the correct WordPress site on your server. Nginx is what receives a visitor’s browser request and decides how to respond.
PHP
The programming language WordPress is built on. FlyWP supports multiple PHP versions and lets you choose which version each site runs — useful when a plugin requires a specific version.
PHP-FPM (FastCGI Process Manager)
The process manager that runs PHP code for your WordPress sites. It maintains a pool of PHP worker processes ready to handle incoming requests, so your sites respond quickly instead of spinning up a new process for each visitor.
OPcache
A PHP extension that improves performance by storing pre-compiled PHP code in memory. This means PHP does not need to parse and compile your WordPress scripts on every page request — the compiled version is already waiting in memory.
FastCGI
A communication protocol that lets Nginx pass requests to PHP-FPM for processing. It is faster than the older CGI approach because it keeps PHP worker processes running between requests instead of starting a new process each time a page loads.
Database and Caching
MySQL
The relational database (a structured system for storing and querying data) that stores all WordPress content — posts, pages, users, settings, and more. Each WordPress site on your server has its own MySQL database.
Redis
An in-memory data store (meaning data lives in RAM rather than on disk) used for object caching and session storage. Redis dramatically speeds up WordPress by keeping frequently used database query results in memory so MySQL does not need to run the same query repeatedly.
Object Cache
A caching layer that stores the results of expensive database queries in memory, typically using Redis. When WordPress needs the same data again, it reads from the fast in-memory cache instead of querying the database. Most high-traffic sites benefit from enabling object caching.
Page Cache
A caching mechanism that stores fully rendered HTML pages so FlyWP can serve them to visitors without running PHP or querying the database at all. This dramatically speeds up page load times for repeat visitors and reduces server load during traffic spikes.
SSL and Security
SSL/TLS (Secure Sockets Layer / Transport Layer Security)
The encryption protocols that secure data transmitted between a visitor’s browser and your server. When active, your site loads over https:// and shows a padlock icon in the browser. SSL/TLS protects login credentials, form submissions, and any personal data your visitors send.
Let’s Encrypt
A free, automated certificate authority that issues SSL/TLS certificates. FlyWP uses Let’s Encrypt to provision and auto-renew certificates for your sites at no cost — you never need to manually purchase or renew an SSL certificate.
File Access
SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol)
A secure protocol for transferring files between your local computer and your server. Unlike regular FTP, SFTP encrypts all data in transit so credentials and file contents cannot be intercepted. FlyWP provides SFTP credentials for each site, letting you connect with tools like FileZilla or Transmit.
Scheduled Tasks and Processes
Cron Job
A scheduled task that runs automatically at specified intervals — hourly, daily, weekly, or on a custom schedule. FlyWP lets you set up server-level cron jobs for recurring tasks like database optimization, log cleanup, or running custom scripts.
Supervisor / Daemon
A process manager that keeps long-running background processes alive on your server. If a process crashes, Supervisor automatically restarts it.
WordPress-Specific
WordPress Multisite
A WordPress feature that lets you run a network of multiple sites from a single WordPress installation. All sites in the network share the same WordPress core files and database prefix, but each has its own content and settings. FlyWP supports Multisite installations.
Bedrock
A modern WordPress boilerplate (a pre-configured project template) that uses Composer for dependency management and organizes files differently from standard WordPress. FlyWP supports Bedrock-based installations, making it a good fit for developer-focused workflows.
WP-CLI
A command-line tool for managing WordPress without using the browser admin panel. You can install plugins, update WordPress core, manage users, run database commands, and much more. FlyWP uses WP-CLI internally and you can run WP-CLI commands yourself via SSH.
Deployment
Git Deployment
A workflow where you push code changes to a Git repository (GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket) and FlyWP automatically pulls and deploys those changes to your live site. This is the preferred workflow for teams using version control — it keeps deployments consistent and auditable.
Webhook
An automated HTTP callback triggered by an event. In FlyWP, webhooks notify your server when a Git repository receives a new push, so FlyWP can trigger an automatic deployment without any manual action on your part.