Hostgator Opinion

[alemcherry]

I am getting ready to dump hostgator. I have had problems from day one.

Moved from a shared server since the old ISP would not upgrade the software to support VB 4.x

Moved to a shared account with Hostgator. Site was too slow. Was advised to switch to a VPS.
Switched to a Level 3 VPS. Site was still too slow. Upgraded to a Level 4. Still having issues. Did a Server Optimization. Still slow.
All support will do is to ask me to throw money at the issue. Said I should be on a Level 5 VPS.
Fine, upgraded to a Level 5. Guess what, still slow. Install xCache. No improvment that I can see.
But then again my site has been down since last night. Ticket with support has been in the queue for over 4 hours.

I do have to say normally they are real responsive. Even though they cannot fix my issue.

But now I am looking at switching to Servint or urljet.

Probably your site needs a high end VPS or Dedicated server? A VPS of certain configuration is going to work -almost- same whether you are at Hostgator or anywhere else. Most sites when they outgrow shared hosting, will need a high end VPS or will need to go directly to a Dedicated server. Low end VPS, whether at Hostgator or anywhere else, can't serve a busy forum.

I guess before you move anywhere, you need to make an analysis of the server configuration you need. May be you can post it here in vb forum itself. Number of users online at peak would give a good indication of the server load.

URLJet is obviously a good choice, but they are not really cheap. As you said, Hostgator support is responsive and if you get the right server, it should be good enough.

[syrus.xl]

I am getting ready to dump hostgator. I have had problems from day one.

Moved from a shared server since the old ISP would not upgrade the software to support VB 4.x

Moved to a shared account with Hostgator. Site was too slow. Was advised to switch to a VPS.
Switched to a Level 3 VPS. Site was still too slow. Upgraded to a Level 4. Still having issues. Did a Server Optimization. Still slow.
All support will do is to ask me to throw money at the issue. Said I should be on a Level 5 VPS.
Fine, upgraded to a Level 5. Guess what, still slow. Install xCache. No improvment that I can see.
But then again my site has been down since last night. Ticket with support has been in the queue for over 4 hours.

I do have to say normally they are real responsive. Even though they cannot fix my issue.

But now I am looking at switching to Servint or urljet.

Have you ever looked at optimizing vBulletin? Running straight 'out-of-the-box' in a 'vanilla' state is what many people do, but basically it's just a shell for you to build upon, I never run any forum script without modifying settings, or adding code to make it run better. One thing that I don't do is add numerous modifications, they can cause high resources, especially if your forum is receiving heavy traffic.

vBulletin does come with a lot of features, but do you really need them all enabled? From my experience, the answer is 'no' - it is easier to tweak vBulletin to work better, without using all the features it has built-in. Using PHP accelerators is not always advisable, some work better than others, while some can be used together. Server tweaking really depends on what you are running, it's pointless tweaking a VPS or Dedicated box to run say for example Wordpress and expect it to run vBulletin just the same. Managed vBulletin hosting is exactly what URLjet specialize in, they don't just tweak your vBulletin installation, they optimize the server for it to run better. Hostgator is not really recommended for vBulletin, I have known so many people having issues with them over the years - they maybe cheap, but that's not always the best idea.

[napy8gen]

Just to throw in my experience. I have no problem with hostgator. of course my site is not big.

[EdQ]

Probably your site needs a high end VPS or Dedicated server? A VPS of certain configuration is going to work -almost- same whether you are at Hostgator or anywhere else. Most sites when they outgrow shared hosting, will need a high end VPS or will need to go directly to a Dedicated server. Low end VPS, whether at Hostgator or anywhere else, can't serve a busy forum.

I guess before you move anywhere, you need to make an analysis of the server configuration you need. May be you can post it here in vb forum itself. Number of users online at peak would give a good indication of the server load.

URLJet is obviously a good choice, but they are not really cheap. As you said, Hostgator support is responsive and if you get the right server, it should be good enough.

Have you ever looked at optimizing vBulletin? Running straight 'out-of-the-box' in a 'vanilla' state is what many people do, but basically it's just a shell for you to build upon, I never run any forum script without modifying settings, or adding code to make it run better. One thing that I don't do is add numerous modifications, they can cause high resources, especially if your forum is receiving heavy traffic.

vBulletin does come with a lot of features, but do you really need them all enabled? From my experience, the answer is 'no' - it is easier to tweak vBulletin to work better, without using all the features it has built-in. Using PHP accelerators is not always advisable, some work better than others, while some can be used together. Server tweaking really depends on what you are running, it's pointless tweaking a VPS or Dedicated box to run say for example Wordpress and expect it to run vBulletin just the same. Managed vBulletin hosting is exactly what URLjet specialize in, they don't just tweak your vBulletin installation, they optimize the server for it to run better. Hostgator is not really recommended for vBulletin, I have known so many people having issues with them over the years - they maybe cheap, but that's not always the best idea.

I have done the Server/vbulletin Optimization recently from info here. Posted in the Server Config forum.
You have to remember I have ran this site for many years on a shared server. So didn't think I would need a high-end VPS let alone ay VPS. I only moved from my older ISP because they would not upgrade MySql and PHP.

The only large change after I moved to hostgator was upgrading to 4.1x. So I guess in retrospect. Maybe it needed more resources.
In any rate, I have already dumped Hostgator. Had issues from day one. What made me ultimately decide was no support when my site was down for a day and a half. Ticket was in the queue for 12 hours. After 4 chat sessions. Nothing was done. I guess they could not get a hold of theplanet. I finally made the time to look at my logs and it was xcache causing the problems. Had them uninstall and I was fine. Funny how they had time to uninstall, answer two other tickets in my queue. Like I said before, they are normally responsive. Which is why I gave them over a month to help me. But in the end, they still have to fix the problem. Which they did not.
One more thing, I asked them to recompile PHP as an Apache Module. They had no idea what I was talking about.

So now I am at Servint. I chose them over urljet not because they are better. It was the costs. I wanted to start with a lower end VPS. If Servint didn't work out, I will be trying urljet.
Moved everything over to the Essential VPS. Opps. CPU loads were pretty high. So after letting them look at how the server was running, they recommended I go with the Signature VPS, since I needed more CPU. Memory was fine. And what do you know. Works great! And I even have not did a Server Optimization yet. They even installed xcache for free. Unlike HG which charged me $35.

I wish I would have moved sooner. I guess HG would be good for smaller sites. But they are not for me.

[AusPhotography]

HG shared is not good once your forum grows.
We are on a HG VPS L4 and its ok.
We may move to a XEN based hosting provider VPS in a year or so.

[Thomas J]

I am getting ready to dump hostgator. I have had problems from day one.

Moved from a shared server since the old ISP would not upgrade the software to support VB 4.x

Moved to a shared account with Hostgator. Site was too slow. Was advised to switch to a VPS.
Switched to a Level 3 VPS. Site was still too slow. Upgraded to a Level 4. Still having issues. Did a Server Optimization. Still slow.
All support will do is to ask me to throw money at the issue. Said I should be on a Level 5 VPS.
Fine, upgraded to a Level 5. Guess what, still slow. Install xCache. No improvment that I can see.
But then again my site has been down since last night. Ticket with support has been in the queue for over 4 hours.

I do have to say normally they are real responsive. Even though they cannot fix my issue.

But now I am looking at switching to Servint or urljet.

Perhaps you have a high traffic site that only a good dedi can handle

[EdQ]

Perhaps you have a high traffic site that only a good dedi can handle

I would believe that. But I have been running on a shared server for years.
Unless everyone is saying that you need a dedicated if you upgrade to VB 4.x because that is all that was changed.

[GregUURL]

Around the end of last year we ran a comparison on 3.8.6 vrs 4.0.8 Fresh installs, no content. These are from memory so I may be off a few requests but you get the idea.
3.8.6 needed around 22 mysql request to build the forum page
4.0.8 needed around 52 request to build the same page.

[EdQ]

Around the end of last year we ran a comparison on 3.8.6 vrs 4.0.8 Fresh installs, no content. These are from memory so I may be off a few requests but you get the idea.
3.8.6 needed around 22 mysql request to build the forum page
4.0.8 needed around 52 request to build the same page.

I thought it was a mySQL issue. But I had mysql running on one server and my web site running on another. My load was from the web server.
And I do agree, VB 4.x needs more resources.

If this ISP doesn't work out, I will be coming to you Greg.

[TheLastSuperman]

But then again my site has been down since last night. Ticket with support has been in the queue for over 4 hours.

I do have to say normally they are real responsive. Even though they cannot fix my issue.

But now I am looking at switching to Servint or urljet.

I've found that calling them out (nicely at that) on Twitter will end up getting you a prompt reply... remember that the power of social media is ever expanding .

Edit: http://twitter.com/hostgator

[EdQ]

I've found that calling them out (nicely at that) on Twitter will end up getting you a prompt reply... remember that the power of social media is ever expanding .

Edit: http://twitter.com/hostgator

They respond, but thats all they did. Never fixed my issues.

[8clock]

I already browsed your site, it is very helpful, but after reading the posts on Vbulletin.com, I hasitate to transfer my forum to hostgator.

[EdQ]

They are totally incompetent. I had two accounts with them, a Shared and a VPS. I requested my VPS be terminated. They confirmed, which one do you think they cancelled? Yep, my shared account. Idiots.
Its been all morning. My VPS is still active and my shared account is still gone.

So glad I moved my site. Otherwise I would be down right now.

[Thomas J]

If you have a high traffic site I would get a VPS instead of shared.

[Linuxftw]

In my opinion Hostgator are good.