Can somebody please explain...

[SQ4]

some things to me? I'm planning to put together my first community board and will be purchasing a vB license shortly. My knowledge is pretty shallow when it comes to computers, so for example, if a hosting package has 300MB of disc space and 10GB of bandwidth, what exactly am I more concerned about when it comes to number of members browsing, posting, etc?? I assume the 300MB is for the graphics and design of my board?? And the bandwidth is for the members visiting and posting?? And if you could give me a estimate on how many members a 300MB/10GB plan can handle? I've read myself dizzy trying to decide on a host, so maybe if I learn what the heck I'm looking for, as far as needs, I won't be having the problem I'm having trying to decide on a plan. Please excuse my ignorance everybody. And thanks to all that helps!

SQ4

[Liquid-Host.net]

When it comes to the number of members browsing you should keep an eye on the bandwidth. And You look at the space that is allocated for when people post and for your images etc. Also having an image heavy forum will increase your bandwdth usage.

For a new community 100 Mb space upwards is fine and about 10Gb bandwith Upwards is ok aswell. However as your forum size increases, you can always upgrade your hosting package. Some hosts allow you to upgrade with no setup costs

Hope that helped :)

[fiNal]

vbulletin itsself doesn't need much space, about 5MB... 295MB space should be enough for about 150'000 posts, depends on your search engine and on attachments. i specified 0 chars for minimum search word, so my searchindex-table is pretty large (86MB with ~200'000 posts). if you specifie 3 or 4, searchindex keeps smaller, cause all words with less than 3/4 chars won't be stored in searchindex-table

the most important thing are attachments... the attachment-table is 300MB, the whole database is 500MB :) if you disabled them at all, you'd save a lot of traffic and space. or set maximum size on 500kb, delete old attachments (older than 90 days or something like that).

[SQ4]

Thanks guys now it's starting to make since :) So the MB's is not only for the vB program and the design/layout, but also for all the post and attachments stored on the bulletin board? And the GB's is the actual transfers/viewing/browsing on the board? So then since I'm gonna be a new community a 300MB/10-12GB plan should be good for my needs? Roughly how many members can this plan hold? Or does the member count don't even matter, it's all about the posts/attachments?? I think I almost got it :)

SQ4

[SQ4]

And also...what's cPanel??

[Liquid-Host.net]

Member count is only an issue if youve got alot of active members posting alot of attachments etc.

cPanel is a special area which allows you to do powerful tasks very easily with the click of a few buttons

[fiNal]

@SQ4: just think logical :) A member entry needs only a username, password, email-address and the other stuff a member enters in his registration - some bytes, not many. but only this post is already larger than all the userinformation in my profile :)

attachments are of corse the hugest part of every board. you could write about 10 pages in word and your text would still need less space than a simple, small image.

i cant give you statistics about traffic of a vbulletin, i dont have any... but it will take some time until you reach the 10GB per month limit. traffics depends on the activity of your users

and cpanel means control panel, you can administrate your board there (adding new forums, change user permissions, add moderators & administrators, view log files & statistics, change options, and much much more). a bit like control panel in windows :)

[SaintDog]

Just to give you an idea of how much space and such an 11,000 member community takes, vBulletinTemplates.com, last I checked, was under 140MB so 300MB should last you for some time unless you plan on allowing 1+ MB uploads :).

I can't comment on the bandwidth since I don't have logs, but you should be set on space. Bandwidth does not get used up as much as most people think it does, it is not something that comes and goes rather quickly unless your website is very active.

[qxh]

cPanel isn't the Admin CP, they are different. cPanel is a control panel for your account and your hosting from where you can setup email accounts, subdomains, etc. The Admin CP is where you administrate your board, adding new forums, etc.

[kevinj]

Just to give you an idea of how much space and such an 11,000 member community takes, vBulletinTemplates.com, last I checked, was under 140MB so 300MB should last you for some time unless you plan on allowing 1+ MB uploads :).

I can't comment on the bandwidth since I don't have logs, but you should be set on space. Bandwidth does not get used up as much as most people think it does, it is not something that comes and goes rather quickly unless your website is very active.

Wow, only 140mb? god, that is great...web space was the only thing that i was concerned about (which i have 1gb). That should last me forever :).