Installation Question(s)

[AuctionHints]

I have been using WebBBS for years now and think it might be about time for a change. For under $300 I can purchase the license for my site and in addition can purchase the professional installation. That actually sounds pretty affordable and tempting but I do have a question.

On the VB website it states that the professional install does not include moving the info from my old forum. My questions are based on this:

1. When they perform the install do they place my logo at the top?

2. Is it possible to move the post from the past 5 years into some sort of archive on VB or somehow make them visible?

3. Does VB work with Google Adsense and if so does the install include placing the adsense links onto the board?

I guess a nice summary of my question is basically what is included in the professional installation besides the obvious?

Thank you in advance,
Jim Wilson
AuctionHints.com

[webfreak]

I guess a nice summary of my question is basically what is included in the professional installation besides the obvious?

Just the obvious.

1. No, but you can edit the location of the logo through the vBulletin admin CP.
2. All posts are automatically put into an archive.
3. Yes to the first part, no to the second.

[AuctionHints]

Thanks....

I looked at many of the forums listed as VB users and did not see any with Google Adsense links in them which led to that question.

Do you know how long it takes from the time the order is placed for the new forum to be up and running? (installed)

And is there a demo admin here somewhere that I could take a look to see how difficult it might be to customize the forum? (such as adding my logo, changing the colors and such)

And the old board's post go into a VB archive automatically? I did not see this anywhere in the FAQs and did not want to lose all of that info. (and did not want to alter the URL for my board is I could avoid it)

Thanks again,
Jim Wilson

[peterska2]

There is an admin demo available at www.vbulletin.com/admindemo

You old database can be imported via impex so that all your existing data is converted to vBulletin.

[webfreak]

No, I installed my forum myself, but you should get access to download the vBulletin software almost instantly depending upon which payment method you use.

Archive: http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/archive/index.php

ImpEx will not support WebBBS, as it does not use a database.

[AuctionHints]

Thanks for the replies...

I went in and setup a demo in order to allow me to "play" with the functions. This is indeed an extremely powerful piece of software. I have a feeling that it might end up like so many MS programs where I only use a small fraction of what its potential actually is.

I was thinking about hiring the professional installation - I assume that all they do is place the software onto my server, correct? In other words I would have to then go into the admin area and set all of the functions as I would like them.

Two things that I noted as I was going through the admin area:

1. I did not see where I would be allowed to add my logo image. Does anyone know where this function might be?

2. I did not see where (if at all) I would be able to add my Google Adsense links and/or affiliate links. I did see the large banners on some of the example forums but in the admin area I could not find where I would add them. If I purchase I would like to have the ads on every page if possible opening in a new window.

Any insight to the installation services will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Jim Wilson

http://auctionhints.com

[MaviJean]

Hi,

vBulletin installation manual can be found here : http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/main/install

It's pretty simple process.

And the answers of your questions is "template editor".

In the admin panel of vBulletin, you can see the template editing system in;
Styles & Templates -> Style Manager
By using style manager you may even change your logo or add adsense code to your forum.

Also simple title image manual can be found here : http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/m...var_titleimage

I would recommend searching in both vbulletin.com and vbulletin.org because these questions are answered with examples in some of the threads.

[feldon23]

That $135 professional installation does not cover importing your forum, setting up your logo, or anything. Basically it's $135 for 15 minutes of work or $540 an hour.

It's really not that hard to install vBulletin, import your data properly (not as an archive, but fully import it), and get up and running, but it will take patience and lots of questions. Have you got anyone on your forum that you trust who you can ask technical questions? Maybe you can find someone at vBulletin.org. Make sure your set temporary passwords and after that person helps you, change the passwords to something else.

[Steve Machol]

That $135 professional installation does not cover importing your forum, setting up your logo, or anything. Basically it's $135 for 15 minutes of work or $540 an hour.

Honestly that's not true. The vast majority of upgrades we do require much longer times, basically because the person messed up the upgrade the first time, installed hack and plugins that interfere with the upgrade, are massive forums that take hours to update the approprioate tables, and a host of other server related issues that affect the upgrade process.

We also make manual backups of the database whenever possible prior to running the upgrade process.

It's very rare that an upgrade we perform takes only 15 minutes.

[feldon23]

I thought the majority of the people requesting the $135 installation were installing a fresh forum. I did not realize upgrading people's forums was done either at all, or all that often.

[Steve Machol]

Geez, I thought you were taliking about upgrades. My bad.

In the case of installations, generally they are easier and I always recommend that people try this first before purchasing that option. They can always purchased this later if they really need to.

The major problem with installs are: the server is not setup for PHP and MySQL, there is no apparent and easy way to make a database and db user, and other issues related to the server configuration.

All in all though, they are easier than upgrades but don't often take just 15 minutes.