Looking for a VPS recommendation

[Redrum81]

I'm having a really hard time picking a web host for our forum. I am resurrecting an old forum I used to run. At it's height we often had 100+ users on at any given time with about 15,000 registered members. I don't need a huge amount of bandwidth to start but I'd like something that is easily expanded for the future. For that reason I've been looking at virtual private servers. I'm in Canada, and the main user base will be from there. I'd like something partially managed as I am pretty good with linux, cPanel etc, but I don't have time to do all the server maintenance myself. I've looked at Media Temple because I used them in the past for shared hosting and had a good experience, but I see bad reviews on here for their vps and grid servers. All my domains are through godaddy but they have terrible hosting reviews. I don't have experience with any other vps providers. I've read countless posts on here but the responses seem to be all over the map.

So, can anyone help point me in the right direction? Who deserves my money? And who has the best options for expansion when the site outgrows it's starting resources?

I will be running vBulletin 4.2.x

[Brad Padgett]

I easily recommend host pair. I run a virtual private server (VPS3) on their network and I can tell you from experience that if you are looking for a host that provides 100% uptime and not a single minute of downtime then host pair is the right decision.

I've been hosting with them for almost a year and have seen good reviews from many other people as well. They are very affordable and cheap. They provide great service and you can choose between managed or unmanaged. Be aware that on every host you choose you will have to pay anywhere between $10-15 extra for cpanel unless they provide it in the cost but this is rare. Host Pair is a great option. You can view my website in the signature and maybe do a ping test to see how fast they go.

I'm on VPS3 which provides me with 100 GB disk space, 1 TB bandwidth, and 2 GB of RAM. There are no server limits such as godaddy and all the options are available as far as php, javascript, perl and other coding includes. All the cpanel tools are included if you opt for cpanel. There are alternates if you do not choose cPanel. There is another control panel he installs for his clients that do not want to pay the extra fee which works just fine. You can also get softaculous like I did for a cheap $2/month price. It comes with 1 IPv4 but usually one is enough. You can buy additional ip addresses for $24/year

He has done well to provide me with CloudFlare DDoS protection which I have to say has protected my website very well. Also included is Mod Security which is a tool to stop SQL injections and so forth. If you purchase cpanel you also get WHM (WebHost Manager) which includes a built in firewall. Lastly, you receive full server root access for SSH commands in linux whether you opt for cpanel or not.

Overall, I just wanted to give you a basic description of host pair if you choose to check them out. I haven't seen my site go down since I bought it and we've had people try and attack us and remarkably every one of them failed to the provided protection.

Good luck to you Redrum. Feel free to message me if you have any questions. (hostpair.com)

[webmastersun]

@Redrum81

I would suggest you some managed VPS hosting offers like Buzybee-kevin, Geekion or Hostslim.

With 100+ users, you may need 3GB+ of RAM which can accommodate more users online all the time.

Also they are offering packages start from $5, price is affordable and I think you should consider it.

Hope it helps!