[Suite] Installation & migration from phpbb - Hosting problems! Advice welcome.

[051119]

Jointly with someone else I successfully run a vBulletin site (we have 1,700 active members and about 700 members log in per day), and I would like to convert another site I run (not as popular, about a third as many active members) from phpBB to vBulletin.

1st problem (PHP version)
I chose to go with a local supplier for my web hosting, however unfortunately when I tried to install vBulletin I discovered they are running PHP 4. Yes, I could install an older version of vBulletin but does this not seem silly? When I asked if he could upgrade to PHP 5 I was told "
Not really, this would mess up loads of our other sites." Does anyone have any thoughts on this matter?

2nd problem (Disk quota)
He has not given me enough disk quota to even upload the vBulletin /upload folder! So I asked for more, but he thought my demands were too great, saying "The forum and database should be no more than about 50Mb" His entire server is 4GB and that has "hundreds of sites" on it. OK, right now I have a limit of about 25MB and 50MB would at least let me 'install' vBulletin, but not with much in the way of data...! Does anyone know how much I am likely to require? The forum I am wishing to import (currently using phpBB) has approx 370,000 posts and approx 1,500 members. When I backed this up, it was approx 50MB (compressed zipped SQL file) or 1100MB (uncompressed SQL file). I guess I initially have to have this data on the server in order to import it (do I need the compressed or uncompressed file?) using Impex, and until the import is done I can't delete that file, so is it possible to estimate what the usage will be both during install and when finished based on the size of the database detailed above?

3rd problem (being told to use another forum!)
Someone is telling me to use YaBB. The reason given is that it is "solid, reliable forum with great features / add-ons and it runs perfectly on our server" - can anyone give me a good counter-argument to that? (Other than, I paid for vB, it's my choice, and I like vB so am not changing? Some additional reasons would be rather helpful!) As I've never used YaBB I don't really know what to say. I am, obviously, happy with vB.

I have paid approx £180 up front for 12 months hosting. That works out at US$290.

Once I get these issues resolved, I would like to import an old phpBB version 2 forum using Impex into vB 4. Has anyone achieved this, will it be straightforward?

Thanks in advance!

[Steve Machol]

1, 2 and 3. Find a better host. Their responses are inexcusable.

[051119]

1, 2 and 3. Find a better host. Their responses are inexcusable.

Well, yes, I am inclined to agree, but it's not quite that simple. This website is, without giving too much a way, a site that represents a group of people who have a particular interest, and the person providing the hosting is someone known to those people and respected. I deliberately chose this host because if there is a problem with the site, their office is literally 2 miles down the road from me, and he was recommended. I think the problem is that his business provides local companies with websites and these companies will just spend £loads on a very basic website without giving it much thought, he won't have any other forums on there I reckon. It didn't occur to me that he would seriously underestimate the requirements of a forum. However he claims that YaBB will only use 50MB with all our data, can this really be so? It seems far-fetched to me. Problem is I need a good solid response before I can just ask for my money back, and others will be asking what's going on and I need to provide them with answers.

If I can go back to him and say I need X amount of disk space, and also perhaps some negotiation on the PHP issue, I may be able to find a solution...

Any help gratefully received!

[Steve Machol]

Even if they changed PHP versions (which they already said they won't) that amount of space will not last long. I really don't have a workaround for a horrible host. Sorry.

[051119]

Well, yes, but my colleague said I should ask for 5GB, to which the host said no way. I think, in hindsight, 5GB was too much to ask for. The question is what can I reasonably expect to use with a forum of that size (370,000 posts / 1500 members), e.g. would 500MB be enough? And can Impex import the compressed sql file (as that's under 50MB)?

[Loco.M]

1, 2 and 3. Find a better host. Their responses are inexcusable.

ditto
even crappy godaddy hosting would be better than this option, and that's saying a LOT because I can't stand godaddy hosting..lol

[Steve Machol]

My forum has that many posts and the database (minus any attachments and files) is already 800k.

Trust me, you are going to have nothing but problems with this host. They probably already have MySQL limits that you don't even know about yet - connections, resources, etc. Nothing good is going to come from sticking with this host. Best to make the change now.

[Trevor Hannant]

As a fellow Brit, I'd be very interested in finding out who on earth is charging that price for the little you're getting

[051119]

Trevor Hannant - I will PM you.

We switched hosts, and the new host is fine.

However when running Impex we get this error:



Fatal error: Call to undefined method stdClass::set() in/mounted-storage/home146/sub013/sc78456-EZBL/whatever.com/includes/functions.phpon line7344

That file is part of the original forum (phpBB) hosted on the old server.

Anyone know how I can resolve this?

Thanks

[Trevor Hannant]

Call to undefined function/method/class errors typically come from corrupted files - try re-downloading the ZIP file from the Members Area and re-upload all files (except install/install.php and includes/config.php.new) making sure you overwrite all files currently on your server.

Does this resolve the problem?