Introduction to Computer Networks for Non-Techies

A public key infrastructure is the system of certificates, certificate authorities and revocation mechanisms that lets a party verify which identity a public key belongs to before trusting it.

Authentication is the process of confirming that a user, device or service is who it claims to be, typically by checking something it knows, has or is.

Multi-factor authentication requires proof from at least two different kinds of factor, such as a password and a device-generated code, so that stealing one is not enough to log in.

Subnetting divides an address block into smaller networks by choosing how many leading bits identify the network, written as a prefix length or a subnet mask, so that each subnet has its own range of host addresses and its own routing entry.

Routing is how packets move between networks: each router holds a table of known destinations and the next hop toward each, learned by configuration or by a protocol, and forwards each packet to the most specific match.

Switching is the forwarding of frames within a single network segment by a device that learns which hardware address sits on which port and sends each frame only where it needs to go.

Managed hosting is any plan where the provider runs the server on your behalf, covering updates, hardening, monitoring, backups and tuning, so the thing being sold is administration time with a machine attached rather than the machine itself.

Cloud hosting is the model in which servers, storage and databases are created on demand through an API from a provider's pooled hardware and billed for the time they exist, rather than rented as a fixed box by the month.

A web server is the program listening on a network port for HTTP requests and answering them, either by returning a file from disk or by handing the request to application code behind it.