vB and Mac OSX?

[letsconnect]

I'd like to set up a forum (at present, I'm running a free ProBoards forum, but hate the fact that it could be deleted for any perceived "transgression" of ProBoards rules and regulations). vBulletin is the best forum software I've come across yet. However, I'm on Mac OSX and I read somewhere that vB software is only compatible with Windows and UNIX.

What's the story?? And - is it difficult to set up a vBulletin board (I've got zero knowledge of setting up a domain, getting a server, FTP, etc.)?

Thanks!

[digitalpoint]

Mac OS X is a flavor of *nix. Either way, it runs flawlessly on Mac OS X. http://forums.digitalpoint.com is being run on Mac OS X.

[letsconnect]

That's a relief!!

For a total and utter newbie, how do I go about this? I'd imagine the first step is to get a domain name (with someone like GoDaddy, say), and then a webhosting plan that supports MySQL and php?? And I suppose I'd need an FTP programme like CuteFTP for Mac And then? If someone in the know could give a *rough* walk-through of what's involved, in layman's terms - I really don't know what I'm in for, and quite frankly, even the FAQ section is gobble-dee-gook to me...

[Zachery]

The install docs are really stright forward, if you need help we are here

You don't specificly need an ftp program for a mac, you have the ability to transfer files builtin via Finder.

Baiscly, your going to do the following in some sort of order like I present.
1. make a database, your host should have some tools to do this.
2. make a user and asign it to the said database, again most hosts have tools to do this and if they don'tn they should be willing to do it for you.
3. edit the config.php.new file and add the database name, username for the database, and its password. rename the file
4. upload the files to the website via ftp or some method
5. run install/install.php
6. Have fun

[letsconnect]

Zachery - many thanks for that!!

1. make a database, your host should have some tools to do this.

I assume that refers to the MySQL thing (whatever that is...). Would the following hosting plan work (remember, I don't have a clue):

GoDaddy Economy Plan ($3.16/month if for 12 months or more)
Disk Space: 500 MB
Monthly Data Transfer: 25,000 MB (25 GB)
Databases: 1 MySQL
Server Operating System: Windows or Linux (doh! - does that affect me, considering my computer is Mac OSX?)
Languages supported: Windows: ASP, Linux: PHP

Or do I need something different? I'm a bit lost here...

2. make a user and asign it to the said database, again most hosts have tools to do this and if they don'tn they should be willing to do it for you.
3. edit the config.php.new file and add the database name, username for the database, and its password. rename the file

Does anyone know if the GoDaddy plan above has the required tools

4. upload the files to the website via ftp or some method

Which files??

6. Have fun

That's the only part I'm sure about, LOL!!

[Zachery]

Stay away from godaddy as far as hosting goes, they are good for domain names and thats about it. You should try to find hosting that provides cpanel This is a really userfriendly website administration tool.

The vBulletin files, they are in the upload folder.

[feldon23]

vBulletin is the best forum software I've come across yet. However, I'm on Mac OSX and I read somewhere that vB software is only compatible with Windows and UNIX.

Two separate concepts are being mixed together here...

vBulletin doesn't "run on your computer" (except in special circumstances). You connect to it, use it, view it, and administrate it through your web browser. It does not matter what OS your computer is running (although OS 9 doesn't have any web browser capable of taking advantage of many of the new features in vBulletin 3.5). All of the settings for vBulletin are done by loading up a recent version of Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, Opera, etc. and visiting your website.

Now, a few people do like to install vBulletin (and web hosting software) right on their computer. This can be done on Mac OS X, Windows, etc. But this is not practical for running your own website unless you really want hundreds of people a day connecting to your computer through your DSL/Cable connection.

Speaking of web hosting, please avoid GoDaddy webhosting. Many limitations!!


Don't you love uncredited quotes like "I read somewhere" because there's no way for us to challenge it, we don't know who said it, what website posted it, etc.

[letsconnect]

Many thanks for the tip regarding GoDaddy webhosting. I'll avoid it.

Any suggestions for a good host? I suppose what's most important to me is that it doesn't have downtime (I've come across a few boards I can't connect to at times) and which features the cpanel Zachery mentioned.

The other thing I'm worried about: what would happen if one's webhost went out of business? Are all the posts and threads stored on their server, and would they be lost for good???

feldon23 - many thanks for clarifying that (regarding the server) - it's all a bit overwhelming if you're doing this for the first time.

[Reeve of Shinra]

try site5.com or asmallorange.com - both come highly recommended.

[letsconnect]

asmallorange.com look good... but again (this may be a stupid question, but I'll ask it again): what would happen if one's webhost went out of business? Are all the posts and threads stored on their server? Would they be lost? Could the webhost lose them due to technical problems? Sorry if this sounds paranoid, it's just something I don't have a clue about... or do you use FTP to back up threads on your computer?

[feldon23]

asmallorange.com look good... but again (this may be a stupid question, but I'll ask it again): what would happen if one's webhost went out of business? Are all the posts and threads stored on their server? Would they be lost? Could the webhost lose them due to technical problems? Sorry if this sounds paranoid, it's just something I don't have a clue about... or do you use FTP to back up threads on your computer?

You use FTP to backup the entire forum to your computer as a database download. I backup every night.

You can set up a cron (scheduled) task to make a forum backup every night and put it somewhere convenient to download. You can even set up automated downloads to your computer. Lots of options.

But whatever you do, backup*!

The backup button built into vBulletin, like all web-based backup features, is not safe for any forum larger than about 10,000 posts because web-based scripts may be limited to only running for 30 seconds at a time. 30 seconds is not a sufficient quantity of time to backup even a relatively small forum.

[steven s]

asmallorange.com look good... but again (this may be a stupid question, but I'll ask it again): what would happen if one's webhost went out of business?

They are gone. Most hosting sites provide somekind of control panel to administer your site. A program like cPanel has a backup function. You can backup your entire site with one click of the button. Also all of the last 5 hosting companies I have had use phpMyAdmin which has an export function or you can still it yourself. That is one way to backup your data files. So your backups consist of two parts. PHP scripts and your forum database. Bottom line, it is YOUR responsibilty to make regular backups. Most sites do regular backups but you shouldn't rely on it. In my 10 years I've never had a site go out of business while I was a customer. Usually you see the service go from bad to worse and you leave them before they pull the plug.

I am currently using www.realwebhost.com. Have been very pleased with them. Before rwh I used www.glyphdot.net. Both have excellent customer support. For a FTP program I use Fetch as I have been doing for 15 years.

[letsconnect]

Ah, OK ! I'll just have to figure out how this FTP thing works, but it shouldn't be a big problem...

asmallorange.com say that "Shared hosting orders are temporarily disabled while we add more server capacity to handle the increasing number of orders we receive each day. We expect orders to resume by the end of the week once our new systems are installed. " - is that any cause for concern?

And -can anyone give some guidance on which web hosting plan to choose (on A Small Orange) -

Tiny: 75MB Space, 3GB Bandwidth
Small: 400MB Space, 10GB Bandwidth
Medium: 1000MB Space, 25GB Bandwidth
Large: 2500MB Space, 60GB Bandwidth

My ProBoards forum at the moment has about 20 posts a day (up to 50 on a good day), but obviously, I hope that this will pick up once I've changed to vB (it's really hard to do SEO with Proboards since the Proboards update, so I'm not in the Google top10 for my search terms anymore).

Suggestions appreciated!

[letsconnect]

1996 328ti - thanks for all the tips re. Fetch and realwebhost. I'll check it out !!

[feldon23]

Small is a beginner vBulletin forum.
After 6 months to a year, depending upon traffic, you'll need Medium.