Looking for a new host...250-400 users online usually

[barnest2]

It's been several years since I've looked for a new host and our site has grown quite a bit. I'd MUCH prefer to work with a host used to dealing with and optimizing for Vbulletin. What are some good places to start? It's obvious we're looking at a dedicated server and I'm expecting to pay $300-400 a month.

Here is some info about our board:

Users online usually: 250-400
Threads: 159,160
Posts: 2,251,958
Members: 10,590

[Tim L. Walker]

Hey, I've got a vB site that's almost that big, and about that busy... I host that site, and all of my sites, in fact, with www.realwebhost.net - You could get a great dedicated server for around $300/month, I would think. Customer support is great. They're very good at dealing w/ my requests wrt my vB site... Joey is the main guy there... ask for him, and he'll be able to set you up.

[encryption]

are you proficient with server management or are you looking to get support from the host (most webhosts will charge extra for server management)

[barnest2]

are you proficient with server management or are you looking to get support from the host (most webhosts will charge extra for server management)

I can generally hold my own given something like Plesk or Cpanel...

[encryption]

If you're going to totally manage the server on your own, then it doesnt matter if the host / datacenter is proficient with server management/vbulletin or not. It's you who's doing the management so other than hardware failure, input from your webhost will be minimal because hardware failure will be the only time you will contact your webhost.

If you're just comfortable with CPanel / Plesk, then you would need someone who helps out with server administration/management, in this case, the scope of your requirement and level of dependance on your webhosting company is slightly more than what it is above.

Lastly, it's not particularly easy looking for a host who will "support" vbulletin because its a third party software. They will assist with optimzation of services but I dont imagine there are too many out there who are particulary experienced or willing to spend a lot of time in tuning software on the server to improve the performance of vBulletin. That for the most part, will still be your responsibility.

Next thing is hardware, with a $400 budget, you could get a dual xeon server within that price but it all depends on how fast your forum is growing. If growth is nominal, then you can still get by with a single processor server with any of the well known datacenters and manage it on your own. However if you are experiencing solid growth i.e. 30-40 members registering everyday, then I would recommend getting a dual xeon because it will make life easy in the long run i.e. you won't look to get a more powerful server anytime soon.

Hope that helps.

[KingSpade]

Keep in mind, you will need to optimize MySQL, Apache and PHP a bit to actually hold the concurrent users. A stock server normally will not cope with a 200-400 user load, even with a dual-xeon setup and extra memory.

If you're in the 400 concurrent user zone, then I would go ahead and go for a dual-xeon or move instantly to a dual opteron setup (AMD) as they perform slightly better than the xeon's.

With that, I would stock the server with at least 2GB's of memory, 4GB if you can afford it and your budget will cover it.