Okay thinking about hosting my own site?

[bremereric]

After a database crash and three long days of waiting on my web hosting...I have debated about building my own server...getting another dsl line run to the house and hosting my own site locally where I can have more control over everything including back ups. I already found this in a sticky thread.

Minimum:

• PHP: 5.2.0
• MySQL: 4.1.0

Recommended

• PHP: 5.2.6 or newer
• MySQL: 5.0.19 or newer

Okay what OS and give me an idea of the server hardware requirements...that way I can add up the numbers and see what it is going to cost me.

[Wayne Luke]

The OS is actually inconsenquential. Most customers host with either Linux or Windows but we have a few Unix and Mac customers out there as well. Hardware wise, any modern server should be capable of running vBulletin in a shared, dedicated, semi-dedicated or VPS environment. You'd want to be able to burst the RAM to 1 GB in most occurrences if you're not on a dedicated server. I recommend at least 100 MB of space to start with but 200 MB would be better.

The key to hosting though is to find a company that is willing to help you grow with additional storage, bandwidth and reasonable limits on resources. You want a company that isn't going shut you down the moment you exceed anything in your contract but instead is willing to work with you.

I wouldn't really recommend hosting at your own home though. If you go that route, you can build a good server with one of the i7 quad-core chips with hyperthreading. You'd want at least 2GB of RAM per processor core, a light weight and reliable OS, a 250-320 GB OS and application drive and at least 1 terabyte of storage in a RAID 1 array (two 500 GB drives minimum), 650 Watt modular powersupply and a 1500 VA sine wave UPS. This would approximate what a lot of the data centers are installing these days. If you can afford it, you'd want server quality hardware but that could double or triple your price over consumer quality parts. If you get a lot of traffic, a DSL line would clog very quickly though since they are often limited to 1 or 2 Mbps uploads. Might call your provider and see what a highspeed line would cost. Your data centers are using multi-Gigabit connections and some are moving towards the Terabit range.

[Zachery]

Don't, you should either co-locate, or rent a server from a company that is designed to be a hosting company. It isn't worth the effort of doing it at home.

[bremereric]

What if I have the bucks to do it? The host service now won't let me touch the database. They do the backups and in this case the restore. I already checked into a highly advertised one that sponsers a race car but will and they said they do not have a contract and would refund my money if I were not happy. I could also see if a business data line was availble for my in home use. I have guys at my work that would be glad to build me a server at no charge. I mean I pay for the hardware and software.

[Wayne Luke]

It is a lot more work than you think it is. I have a package with Knownhost.com. For half the cost of a business DSL line, they give me the service I need. I have full access and full control over my server. However if I need something done, I just drop them a line and they do it. Even if I wanted to host in my home Verizon isn't reliable enough to provide 99.9999% uptime.

[Kyle Matthews]

We had no issues at mid sizes (1000-2500 online) with SingleHop, managed hosting.

We currently have a separate server admin and dedicated boxes, but that's purely because of size and traffic.

[bremereric]

Well maybe the thread title should be changed to what hosting service sucks and which ones don't...hostmonster is the present and what would you guys suggest I switch to?

[motowebmaster]

Running your own server is an entirely different than a sub-$10/mo shared host. Try one of the well-known shared hosts like URLJet or MediaTemple, I've helped setup vbulletin on both:

http://mediatemple.net/

http://www.urljet.com/

If you're interested in running your own server, sign up for an inexpensive VPS service and do some hands-on with non-critical data. For example, setup a test forum or blog with an open-source script. When you've got a plan, start over on your preferred VPS or Dedicated Host and move your production sites over.

I'm partial to Linux, but use whatever you enjoy working with.

[IcEWoLF]

It is a lot more work than you think it is. I have a package with Knownhost.com. For half the cost of a business DSL line, they give me the service I need. I have full access and full control over my server. However if I need something done, I just drop them a line and they do it. Even if I wanted to host in my home Verizon isn't reliable enough to provide 99.9999% uptime.

Do you run any vBulletin websites with Knownhost?
What's your general experience with them so far?

[Wayne Luke]

Do you run any vBulletin websites with Knownhost?
What's your general experience with them so far?

My site isn't active but I have several copies of vBulletin installed there without problems.

As for the company, I don't have any problems with them. They answer questions quickly and issues are usually handled without problem. They have growth plans in place as well so if I do dedicate some time to my sites, I can grow my hosting as they do. I am using their VS3 plan currently.

[IcEWoLF]

Thanks for the reply Wayne!
Very helpful!

[bremereric]

Okay haven't been back in awhile. Finally got everything including a vbulletin license transferred over to me. Make like alot easier. Now that I have access to everything Hostmonster isn't that bad. I just had a dead previous owner whom didn't care. I have full access to the database...filemanager...mysql and myphpadmin and such. With that being said I am happy for now and still have lots of prepaid service and hosting left over. So I am cooling my jets for now. They actually have a new program that allows me to save a full or partial backup to my local computer.

[alemcherry]

Hostmonster is a cPanel based host and with cPanel login, you have access to your files, database and everything. Most probably you were not aware of cPanel features and glad that you didn't take the pain of running a sever from home for something that was easily available to you in the first place.