royo
Tue 17th Jun '08, 5:05am
I’m going to go through some of the most popular hosting environments and talk a bit about each of them.
Shared Hosting
This is the most popular hosting environment as you can find offers by searching for “hosting” on Google. This is the ideal hosting environment for new forums, since you won’t have a large amount of users until your advertising starts off.
One of the things to look for is a control panel, the most favoured one is cPanel(http://www.cpanel.com (http://www.cpanel.com/)) as it is very user friendly and pretty much everything is self-explanatory, though others like Plesk and DirectAdmin are not bad either.
Remember, if the price seems too good to be true, it usually is. Paying 5$ for 6000GB of transfer is not possible, and you will never be able to use even 10% of that on most hosts. Try to find a decent provider that offers good packages for reasonable prices, since you won’t need hundreds of gigabytes of space when your forum will use less than 100 megabytes.
Pros:
-Cheap
-Good for start-ups
-Decent in speed, as long as it’s not heavily oversold
Cons:
-Shared environment makes it less secure
-Other users with heavy scripts can slow your site down
-MySQL and CPU limitations, usually around 30 simultaneous SQL connections allowed
Virtual Private Server
This is the next level above shared, where you get your own “slice” out of a server. You are no longer limited to your shared hosts’ Apache and MySQL configurations and respectively limitations.
You can still use a control panel like cPanel/Plesk/DirectAdmin, which will be pretty useful if you are already used to it, and which will help migration from a shared environment most of the time, through the use of various migration tools.
There are two kinds: Managed and Unmanaged. If you’re not very Linux savvy, you may choose to get a managed server, to make sure someone keeps the software updated and the VPS secure from attacks.
What you should look at is the amount of dedicated RAM you are getting, as this is what counts. Don’t fall prey to “burstable” RAM, as it is mostly marketing talking, and you will most likely never be able to use it. Even here, if the offer seems too good to be true, don’t jump into it, and instead compare various providers to get a good idea at what the price should be.
Pros:
-Allows higher resource usage
-Provides a more secure environment as opposed to shared hosting
-Ability to restart the VPS, as if it were your own computer, with the push of a button
Cons:
-More expensive than shared
-Requires tech know-how
Dedicated Servers
Whether you’re getting one or more for your large forum, you’re still a major step away from virtual private servers, since know all the resources of the machine are dedicated to you.
The managed and unmanaged part from VPS applies here too, and naturally, something managed will cost more than something unmanaged.
When is an offer too good to be true? Well, when you’re paying under 100$ per month for a server it usually means you are on used hardware, or low quality hardware.
Servers require more customizability in terms of hardware, since you dictate things like what processor you need, how much RAM, bandwidth allocated per month, and so on. You’ll most likely want to go with a dual core, either Core2Duo or a dual core Opteron from the 1200 or 2000 series to start off, and 2GB of RAM, along with a 250GB SATA drive.
Forums need a lot of tweaking to make sure you can squeeze out all the power out of your hardware, but don’t think that you can hold several hundred users online at the same time on a dual core like the one mentioned above. You’re looking to get a quad, with 6GB or more of RAM, and probably an SCSI drive, to make sure you can keep up with the database I/O.
Again, control panels work very well with servers, and you should get one if you want to be able to manage it easily.
Pros:
-Full use of machine resources
-Possibly the most secure environment, as it is completely unshared
-Ability to restart through a reboot switch, or IPMI
Cons:
-Expensive
-Requires even more tech know-how than a VPS
Colocation
If you have a self-made server, you can go ahead and collocate it with a facility close to you, as shipment fees can be pretty high. The thing is you own the hardware, and only pay them for electricity and connectivity.
When you go this path, you need to know that if your hardware breaks
down you need to replace it with spare parts, or buy from the datacenter if they have something in stock so you can replace a broken part, unlike with dedicated server providers which will replace it for no fees.
Pros:
-Lower monthly fees
-Easily move to a different location if you don’t like the service
Cons:
-Higher start-up cost, since you need to get the hardware
-Requires tech know-how
Some more useful stuff, which applies to all of the above:
Backups
No host will take responsibility for your lost files, unless otherwise stated, so make sure to do regular backups, weekly, or daily.
A RAID 5 or 10, require multiple drives, and can offer redundancy to your data in case of HDD failure, but these should not be viewed as good alternatives to backing up, so even if you have those blazing fast SCSI 15k RPM disks in RAID10, make sure you keep some backups somewhere safe.
Operating System
The best OS for a forum and a website in general is Linux in my opinion. I really like CentOS and RedHat Enterprise Linux, but FreeBSD and Debian are also great. The choice is mostly yours regarding the flavour of Linux you choose.
Windows is also “ok” though Linux is viewed as more of a high-uptime system, since you don’t run into some of the silly errors like on Windows, or updates that require a restart.
Location, location, location!
Some people prefer to have their site hosted somewhere close to their home, but for websites it doesn’t really matter that much if you are in UK and your site is located on a server in Central USA, as load times are still pretty much the same, the only thing that will be affected is speed to download and upload to the server.
You need to think about your viewers’ location and make that a priority. If you have 75% of viewers from Asia, you would prefer to place a server on the West Coast of US to make sure they don’t experience delays. If most of your viewers are from Europe, you could go with a server on the East Coast of the US.
I’m recommending USA because prices are usually cheaper there.
If I forgot something, let me know :). I can provide more information upon request about anything hosting related, so either make a post, or send me a PM if you don't feel comfortable talking about your current/future project's hosting needs publicly.
Other useful threads:
Host Experiences and Testimonials Thread (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21342)
Apache, PHP, APC, Xcache Install guide/tips (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=194205)
MySQL Notes & Tips
(http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69073)
Shared Hosting
This is the most popular hosting environment as you can find offers by searching for “hosting” on Google. This is the ideal hosting environment for new forums, since you won’t have a large amount of users until your advertising starts off.
One of the things to look for is a control panel, the most favoured one is cPanel(http://www.cpanel.com (http://www.cpanel.com/)) as it is very user friendly and pretty much everything is self-explanatory, though others like Plesk and DirectAdmin are not bad either.
Remember, if the price seems too good to be true, it usually is. Paying 5$ for 6000GB of transfer is not possible, and you will never be able to use even 10% of that on most hosts. Try to find a decent provider that offers good packages for reasonable prices, since you won’t need hundreds of gigabytes of space when your forum will use less than 100 megabytes.
Pros:
-Cheap
-Good for start-ups
-Decent in speed, as long as it’s not heavily oversold
Cons:
-Shared environment makes it less secure
-Other users with heavy scripts can slow your site down
-MySQL and CPU limitations, usually around 30 simultaneous SQL connections allowed
Virtual Private Server
This is the next level above shared, where you get your own “slice” out of a server. You are no longer limited to your shared hosts’ Apache and MySQL configurations and respectively limitations.
You can still use a control panel like cPanel/Plesk/DirectAdmin, which will be pretty useful if you are already used to it, and which will help migration from a shared environment most of the time, through the use of various migration tools.
There are two kinds: Managed and Unmanaged. If you’re not very Linux savvy, you may choose to get a managed server, to make sure someone keeps the software updated and the VPS secure from attacks.
What you should look at is the amount of dedicated RAM you are getting, as this is what counts. Don’t fall prey to “burstable” RAM, as it is mostly marketing talking, and you will most likely never be able to use it. Even here, if the offer seems too good to be true, don’t jump into it, and instead compare various providers to get a good idea at what the price should be.
Pros:
-Allows higher resource usage
-Provides a more secure environment as opposed to shared hosting
-Ability to restart the VPS, as if it were your own computer, with the push of a button
Cons:
-More expensive than shared
-Requires tech know-how
Dedicated Servers
Whether you’re getting one or more for your large forum, you’re still a major step away from virtual private servers, since know all the resources of the machine are dedicated to you.
The managed and unmanaged part from VPS applies here too, and naturally, something managed will cost more than something unmanaged.
When is an offer too good to be true? Well, when you’re paying under 100$ per month for a server it usually means you are on used hardware, or low quality hardware.
Servers require more customizability in terms of hardware, since you dictate things like what processor you need, how much RAM, bandwidth allocated per month, and so on. You’ll most likely want to go with a dual core, either Core2Duo or a dual core Opteron from the 1200 or 2000 series to start off, and 2GB of RAM, along with a 250GB SATA drive.
Forums need a lot of tweaking to make sure you can squeeze out all the power out of your hardware, but don’t think that you can hold several hundred users online at the same time on a dual core like the one mentioned above. You’re looking to get a quad, with 6GB or more of RAM, and probably an SCSI drive, to make sure you can keep up with the database I/O.
Again, control panels work very well with servers, and you should get one if you want to be able to manage it easily.
Pros:
-Full use of machine resources
-Possibly the most secure environment, as it is completely unshared
-Ability to restart through a reboot switch, or IPMI
Cons:
-Expensive
-Requires even more tech know-how than a VPS
Colocation
If you have a self-made server, you can go ahead and collocate it with a facility close to you, as shipment fees can be pretty high. The thing is you own the hardware, and only pay them for electricity and connectivity.
When you go this path, you need to know that if your hardware breaks
down you need to replace it with spare parts, or buy from the datacenter if they have something in stock so you can replace a broken part, unlike with dedicated server providers which will replace it for no fees.
Pros:
-Lower monthly fees
-Easily move to a different location if you don’t like the service
Cons:
-Higher start-up cost, since you need to get the hardware
-Requires tech know-how
Some more useful stuff, which applies to all of the above:
Backups
No host will take responsibility for your lost files, unless otherwise stated, so make sure to do regular backups, weekly, or daily.
A RAID 5 or 10, require multiple drives, and can offer redundancy to your data in case of HDD failure, but these should not be viewed as good alternatives to backing up, so even if you have those blazing fast SCSI 15k RPM disks in RAID10, make sure you keep some backups somewhere safe.
Operating System
The best OS for a forum and a website in general is Linux in my opinion. I really like CentOS and RedHat Enterprise Linux, but FreeBSD and Debian are also great. The choice is mostly yours regarding the flavour of Linux you choose.
Windows is also “ok” though Linux is viewed as more of a high-uptime system, since you don’t run into some of the silly errors like on Windows, or updates that require a restart.
Location, location, location!
Some people prefer to have their site hosted somewhere close to their home, but for websites it doesn’t really matter that much if you are in UK and your site is located on a server in Central USA, as load times are still pretty much the same, the only thing that will be affected is speed to download and upload to the server.
You need to think about your viewers’ location and make that a priority. If you have 75% of viewers from Asia, you would prefer to place a server on the West Coast of US to make sure they don’t experience delays. If most of your viewers are from Europe, you could go with a server on the East Coast of the US.
I’m recommending USA because prices are usually cheaper there.
If I forgot something, let me know :). I can provide more information upon request about anything hosting related, so either make a post, or send me a PM if you don't feel comfortable talking about your current/future project's hosting needs publicly.
Other useful threads:
Host Experiences and Testimonials Thread (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21342)
Apache, PHP, APC, Xcache Install guide/tips (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=194205)
MySQL Notes & Tips
(http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69073)