A few questions - help appreciated

[mincecfc]

I was a moderator on a football (soccer) vbulletin forum that has been pulled offline by the owners. (I don't want to discuss why particularly). The forum had some 13,000+ members.

I stated up a phpBB from a free site as a temporary measure and we now have 1131 users after 2 days online, and 10,000+ posts already. I don't know anything really about buying and hosting.

I would like capacity for at least 5000 - 15000 members and for it to allow a huge amount of posts.

What do I need in terms of hosting then?
What is it likely to cost?

Tell me any other pertinent information please.

We are based in the UK, but have members from all over the world.

Help sincerely appreciated.

[ChrisLM2001]

How many are online at a time? And what is your resource usage now (do you have a server with 1GB or more of memory and is it a P4 or Xeon)? And what is your cookie timeout setting? Do you also want to host something other than the forum too?

For a really popular site (like you have over 1000 members online at a time), you really have no choice but to have a dedicated mysql server with at least one web frontend server. The bottleneck is with mysql, it sucks up resources like there's no end so you can't skimp there without horrid performance issues.

For a lot of members online at a time, get a xeon for a mysql server and at least 1 web server. That can get pricey (like in the $500/mon range).

You'll want a server with RAID with at least 2 HDDs, because of the nature of your request (i.e., many posts). Check to see about a NAS storage with a host, so you have ample space to send backups too.

US hosts tend to be cheaper, so if you want to save some money try getting a server in the US.

Chris

[rocket2]

try aqhost.com
ask for 500mb webspace
15 gb throughput
1 email address
with cpanel, php, cgi, apache and mysql
should come around 25 a month

[joeychgo]

Also, you may want to take a look at the RATE YOUR WEB HOST (http://www.vbwebmaster.com/links/browselinks.php?c=2) section, where other vbulletin owners have listed and rated various web hosts.






-:D

[mincecfc]

Thanks for the replies guys, but due to my panic, I started making phone calls and I have secured hosting from a company here in Scotland for £80 per year ($140). I spoke with someone who estimated we use 20Gb of bandwidth per month but I insisted on an unlimited bandwidth deal.

I also asked for a 500Mb database.

My original post was made shortly after the panic of the original forum going down. I have now analysed the members database and realised that the vast majority of the members were merely lurking and only some 4000 were actually posting.

We are still on the temporary board for the moment, but hope to have vBulletin on our own server (host) running by early in the week coming. :)

[ChrisLM2001]

but I insisted on an unlimited bandwidth deal.

In case you didn't know: there's no such thing as "unlimited bandwidth". That means you'll be back here in a couple more months looking for another host, as soon as your page hits and/or bandwidth goes beyond their unwritten limit.

There should be a law to ban that type of false advertizing.

Chris

[KingSpade]

There should be a law to ban that type of false advertizing.

Chris
Most people I know would agree to that, myself being one.

It is physically impossible to offer unlimited bandwidth. In the end, someone has to pay for it and it is usually the end user/customer as hidden deep within the claim is a clause about excessive bandwidth use and CPU processes.

If you're looking for a high bandwidth solution, look for a host that provides specifics. Any host offering Unlimited Disk Space or Unlimited Bandwidth should trigger and alert.

It's not only deceptive but more so a marketing scheme to get you to buy it. There used to be a website about such practices, though I do not recall the website off-hand.