New to Vbulletin

[mike_0678]

Hi everyone my name is Mike and I'm here to hopefully learn what I need to know before purchasing this product. I plan on starting a forum in the near future and have settled on using vbulletin. Mind you I am very green to everything associated with doing this so bear with me. I am grateful for anyone who is willing to hold my hand and walk me through the process of doing this. My email is below for anyone who can help me. If anyone knows of a place for me to go to learn the basics I'd much appreciate a link or something. I don't know where to start..

m.kelley2010@gmail.com

Thanks,
Mike

[Steve Machol]

Before you get started developing your own message board, the first thing I recommend is using our vBulletin demo to get familiar with everything it takes to run a message board. It can be a complex task, and you need to be sure you're ready to tackle it.

You can set one up for your own use from this page:

http://www.vbulletin.com/admindemo.php

The demo is active for 24 hours. If you feel you need more time, reply to this ticket with the DemoID and ask for an extension.

You will also want to use our manual as a reference while learning the controls. The manual can be found here:

http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/

It covers most of the basic controls for operation of the software.

Once you have decided to purchase, there are 2 license choices.

Owned License ($180 USD):
This license is a perpetual license. With it, you can run the software forever. It includes email support and 1 year of software updates.
After the initial year, you can optionally renew access to software updates for a fee. The fee is currently $40 USD if done within 60 days of the expiry date or $60 after. You will still get email support even if you decide to not renew.

Leased License ($100 USD):
This license is good for 1 year. After the year is up you must either renew the lease, upgrade to an owned license or remove the software from the server. It also includes all software updates and email support for the term of the license.

You can order the software here:
http://www.vbulletin.com/order/

You will also need webhosting and a domain name. vBulletin requires a web server that includes PHP (minimum version 4.3.3) and MySQL (minimum 4.0.16) installed. As long as you choose a host that meets these requirements you will be able to install and run our software.

You can purchase the domain name at the same time you contract hosting. Most credible hosts now support both PHP and MySQL, and can run our software. We do not make official recommendations, but we do have a hosting review forum here:

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=11

You can also look at http://www.webhostingtalk.com, an independent review site. Sometimes you will find hosting specials there that aren't available elsewhere on the web.

[mike_0678]

Thank you very much..Another quick question.What hosting service would you suggest. I think I may go with godaddy.com and their deluxe hosting plan. Below are the features they offer. They do not list PHP, so should I just assume they have it?


Plan Features
• 100 GB NOW 150 GB Space
• 1,000 GB NOW 1,500 GB Transfer
• 500 Email Accounts
• Unlimited Web sites (https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/hosting/shared.asp?app%5Fhdr=&ci=10142#)
• FREE! Software
• 25 MySQL Databases
• Unlimited Email Forwards
• Forums, Blogging, Photo Galleries
• Go Daddy Hosting Connection (https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/hosting/shared.asp?app%5Fhdr=&ci=10142#tabs)
• $25 Google® AdWords® Credit (javascript:openGoogleAdWords();)1
• $50 Microsoft® adCenter Credit† (javascript:openMicrosoftAdCenter();)
• FREE! Google Webmaster Tools (javascript:void(openGooglePopup()))

[deej290]

godaddy does have php, it's on the top of their site in the "Extensive Language Support!" bit at the top of the site.

[Jason2]

We do not make official recommendations, but we do have a hosting review forum here:

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=11

I've heard quite a few bad things about GoDaddy, although I've never tried them myself. I personally would recommend: www.lunarpages.com

Good luck!

[copiertalk]

You can also take a look on http://www.webhostingtalk.com/ and read some of other peoples thoughts and examples. Try and get as good a host as you can. You will not need them often but when you do it is often an emergency and it has to be fixed now.

[Sticky1]

Mike.....Mike, NO ONE is greener than me. I just started a board with vbull. It took me 3 days to install the software mostly because of the host. Editing the config file was the problem. I dont know about routing and directions.....and that stuff, however my host helped me out a lot. I could have called vbull but it was a host issue according to the manual. I followed the install manual and now the board is running. Remember most is case sensitive. In all I made the right choice.:D