Possibly migrating from phpBB2, have some questions.

[HondaATC]

Wow, this is nice. Been having alot of problems with my phpbb2 forum lately. If I am to buy VB it will be the unlimited license because my forum is fairly popular and will undoubtly be running for years to come. I need something secure, stable, feature rich, and detailed easy to understand support that will stand behind me and give me an answer when I need one. I'm pretty good at computers and html but hard coding .php files and screwing with things in the Mysql database is out of my league without proper guidance.


#1: How many people have converted a phpbb2 datebase over to VB? What version to what version? What all exactly was brought over? Any problems in the conversion? Did this conversion keep users existing passwords for their accounts? How large was your phpbb database in mb, forum members, posts? What approach did you take to doing the conversion? How long was your forum "down" during this conversion?

#2: What is your opinon on the support for VB? I've heard mention of a premium support for an extra $30 a year. What is this, what does it consist of, what are the differences between it and "standard support"? Is the Average respsonse time shown on the main Vb homepage the standard or premium support? When you have contacted support, what kind of problems had you been experiencing? How long did it take for you to fix this problem once you had supports help?

#3: My forum is run off-site on a different webserver then my main website. I have had complaints in the past about phpbb2 being to "CPU intensive" for my webhosting. Is VB better or worse for CPU useage VS phpbb2? What about bandwidth? Does VB have a feature like GZIP that phpbb2 uses to compress files and keep the bandwidth useage down? If so, what is this feature called and how does it compare?


#4: What is the updating like in VB? Is there a file I download and run that automaticly patches everything, or do I have to do it manually like in phpbb2? What if I have mods installed, what kind of approach do you take to updating then? How often are updates released for VB? What do these updates normally consist of, are they normally "bugfixes" or do they add functionality also?


Thats all for now, I'm sure I'll think of some more things later. Thanks in advance.

[Steve Machol]

I'll let our customers answer most of these so you get their viewpoint, but on #2 there is not cost for Premium Support (which is support via the support system.) The $30/yr is for the right to download new versions of the software for a year. It is optional and you get the first year access for free with a license.

There is an extra cost for Telephone Support which you can order when you purchase your license or after.

[HondaATC]

So, after a year there is no more support, and no more updates for the software, at all? Unless you pay another $30 a year?

[cirisme]

So, after a year there is no more support, and no more updates for the software, at all? Unless you pay another $30 a year? The $30 is for updates... not support. Support comes with the license.(except for phone support)

[HondaATC]

Oh ok, so then as long as you hold a license to run the forum, you have support then? Thats good.

[cirisme]

My forum is run off-site on a different webserver then my main website. I have had complaints in the past about phpbb2 being to "CPU intensive" for my webhosting. Is VB better or worse for CPU useage VS phpbb2?
From what I understand it is much better, but I haven't use phpBB so I couldn't tell you. :)

What about bandwidth?
The main variables really are independent of the software. Such as the average size of avatars, posts, attachments, etc. Things of that nature. :)

Does VB have a feature like GZIP that phpbb2 uses to compress files and keep the bandwidth useage down? If so, what is this feature called and how does it compare?
Yes, uhhh... GZip compression. It works pretty well, and is fully configurable via the admincp so you can increase the level of compression.

What is the updating like in VB?
Just upload whatever files need to be updated and run the upgrade script.

Is there a file I download and run that automaticly patches everything, or do I have to do it manually like in phpbb2?
Depends, most of the time the affected file(s) is posted as an attachment and all you will need to do is replace your file with the file they provide.

What if I have mods installed, what kind of approach do you take to updating then?
Mods aren't officially supported, but running a fully hacked forum I personally mark all changes in the code with a comment, and that makes it extraordinarily easy to update. Perhaps this question is better at vbulletin.org though :)

How often are updates released for VB?
When they are needed :)

What do these updates normally consist of, are they normally "bugfixes" or do they add functionality also?
New versions may contain new features and will almost undoubtedly contain bugfixes.

[Steve Machol]

Yes. Note however at some point if you are running an older outdated version of the software we may ask you to upgrade in order to get further support. This happens when newer versions of PHP and MySQL come out and change the way older versions of vB work. Also newer versions contain bug fixes as well.

[ManagerJosh]

Welcome to vBulletin Honda

There are plenty of vBulletin boards out there that have converted over at phpBB. Try searching for phpBB import in this forum and you'll probably come back with a few thousand results.

I've heard the import process takes no more than an hour, however all import processes will vary as each upgrade depends on the server, how large of a forum, and what versions of PHP/MySQL is being runned on the server.

Most people use the online support feature and that's all you really need. There's a direct link inside the Members Zone where you can submit a support ticket. Average time to get priority support is about 40 minutes, however the highest I've seen was one hour, twelve minutes at peak times.

My experience with support, my goodness, I love the fact it is unlimited, the people are just so helpful, and heck, they will even go in and fix the problem for you if you are in doubt (or the problem is severe).

vBulletin is MUCH better at handling larger capacities and especially efficent with and not as server intensive as other forums I've seen. Technically you don't need to use GZIP on vBulletin however some people do to conserve bandwith.

As for upgrading vBulletin, it is just the matter of overwriting the previous files. If you have codehacks, you will need to manually reimplement them.

After overwriting the files, just run a simple upgrade script and you are finished :)


Wow, this is nice. Been having alot of problems with my phpbb2 forum lately. If I am to buy VB it will be the unlimited license because my forum is fairly popular and will undoubtly be running for years to come. I need something secure, stable, feature rich, and detailed easy to understand support that will stand behind me and give me an answer when I need one. I'm pretty good at computers and html but hard coding .php files and screwing with things in the Mysql database is out of my league without proper guidance.


#1: How many people have converted a phpbb2 datebase over to VB? What version to what version? What all exactly was brought over? Any problems in the conversion? Did this conversion keep users existing passwords for their accounts? How large was your phpbb database in mb, forum members, posts? What approach did you take to doing the conversion? How long was your forum "down" during this conversion?

#2: What is your opinon on the support for VB? I've heard mention of a premium support for an extra $30 a year. What is this, what does it consist of, what are the differences between it and "standard support"? Is the Average respsonse time shown on the main Vb homepage the standard or premium support? When you have contacted support, what kind of problems had you been experiencing? How long did it take for you to fix this problem once you had supports help?

#3: My forum is run off-site on a different webserver then my main website. I have had complaints in the past about phpbb2 being to "CPU intensive" for my webhosting. Is VB better or worse for CPU useage VS phpbb2? What about bandwidth? Does VB have a feature like GZIP that phpbb2 uses to compress files and keep the bandwidth useage down? If so, what is this feature called and how does it compare?


#4: What is the updating like in VB? Is there a file I download and run that automaticly patches everything, or do I have to do it manually like in phpbb2? What if I have mods installed, what kind of approach do you take to updating then? How often are updates released for VB? What do these updates normally consist of, are they normally "bugfixes" or do they add functionality also?


Thats all for now, I'm sure I'll think of some more things later. Thanks in advance.

[]SK[]

I converted my forum from phpbb 2.0.6 to 2.3.4? then to vb3 RC4 now to Gold. Went smoothly, I dont have any phpbb mods installed though.

[Floris]

version 3 of vbulletin is gold now and Jelsoft offers an import service to convert from phpbb2 to vbulletin 3

[geovadim]

When I imported a phpbb board into a vbulletin board I had only one error: polls broke. To be exact, the questions in polls mixed in a strange manner. It is true, this happended november last year, so it is possible that vb team improoved the import scripts.

[HondaATC]

Thanks for the feedback, I will do some searching on threads concerning importing phpbb.