VPN stands for virtual private network, and the technology behind it can be very complicated (as you saw if you clicked on that link above) but the concept is actually pretty simple. A VPN allows you to connect securely to an otherwise closed network.

For instance, I work for a very large company and we have an internal network where our company-wide applications and our network-based storage reside. Normally, none of these resources can be accessed from outside the company’s network; if I tried to access it directly from home, for instance, I would not be able to get in.

However, my company has set up a VPN which allows us to connect remotely to our private network. I use a VPN client (a piece of software which handles creating the secure connection) to login to my work network, and suddenly I can do pretty much everything from home that I can do while sitting at my desk in the office. I still do the vast majority of my work in the office, but having the VPN gives me flexibility that I wouldn’t have otherwise. We had an unusually severe snowstorm last December that pretty much shut down the town for 3 or 4 days (hey, we live in Portland–we are NOT prepared for serious snow!). We have employees in many states, though, not just in Portland, so we still had to be able to support them as much as possible. The VPN allowed me and a small team of co-workers (along with 2 employees who live close enough to our building to walk into the office) to process critical checks and to respond to urgent questions, even though most of us couldn’t get to work.

Pretty cool, huh?

The other side of the coin, of course, is that work sometimes follows me home. Doh!

Oh well, I think it’s worth it for the benefits. Every other Monday when we’re processing payroll–and I have to monitor it until it completes–I am nothing but thankful that I can do that from home. It usually finishes shortly before bedtime!

DNS stands for Domain Name System. A domain, or domain name, is the human-readable address by which you access websites. For instance, firstbytes.com is a domain name. Domain names are meant to be easy for humans to read and understand–and remember–making it relatively easy for people to find a particular website.

While domain names make it easy for humans to find websites, they don’t help computers much. All computers connected to the internet are assigned an IP address, such as 67.205.34.43. These addresses are what computers on the Internet actually use to communicate with each other. It’s a lot like dialing a telephone number to call a person, really. The name is easier to remember, but the phone system needs you to use a number.

The Domain Name System is like an automatic phone book–you type in the words, the DNS server translates, “OK, what she really means is this IP address“–and, so long as all the parts are communicating well, you are on your way to the website you requested without having to remember some crazy string of numbers.

There’s quite a bit more to it than this, such as how DNS is organized and precisely how it functions, but these are topics for a more in-depth article.

So what is a blog?

The word “blog” is a shortened form of “weblog,” which literally means a log (or journal) that is posted on the web. Blogs have been around for some time, but have really taken off in the last few years. Some people use them precisely as journals, posting about their personal lives, families, etc. Others use them to focus on a particular subject.

Regardless of the subject matter, blogs typically have some defining characteristics in common. The main page of a blog is usually a list of recent posts, with the newest listed at the top. Most blogs can be searched and are often categorized and tagged to help visitors find posts of interest. Blogs may have one author or multiple authors.

Anyone can start a blog and post anything they like, which can be very freeing. No publishers or editors stand in the way of getting your words out. At the same time, that lack of editorial oversight means that it’s up to readers to decide whether the information provided on a blog is worthwhile.

Personally, I love reading blogs and it’s a rare day when I don’t stumble across a new and interesting one. We have been having a lot of fun planning this one, and hope you’ll find it worth your time.