vBulletin capacity for high traffic site

[JohnBee]

Hi, I am involved in a project that would involve 10K+ active members. Rough estimates are showing that the estimated simultaneous logins could range between 750 - 1000.

First of all, I wondered if such a community was feasible to run using vBulletin as a content management engine. This would include pulling data from various forums to populate the front page as well as community statistics.

My next question would be whether or not such a set could run on a VPS server and if vBulletin offers any kind of load balancing options to help distribute resource across individual accounts.

At this stage I am trying to evaluate whether or not using vBulletin as an interactive community engine is even feasible.

[Steve Machol]

I doubt a VPS will be sufficient for that many concurrent users. You will almost certainly need to go to a full dedicated server.

As for using vB as a CMS, that would require using add-ons. You can check over at vbulletin.org for this.

[---MAD---]

vBulletin can handle 1000 users online, yes but the question is can your hosting handle it. If you have good hosting, it should be fine .

[JohnBee]

I doubt a VPS will be sufficient for that many concurrent users. You will almost certainly need to go to a full dedicated server.

As for using vB as a CMS, that would require using add-ons. You can check over at vbulletin.org for this.

vBulletin can handle 1000 users online, yes but the question is can your hosting handle it. If you have good hosting, it should be fine .

Mixed messages. I guess I'll go with the vB staff statement.
I don't mean to sound disrespectful, but are there any other community options(systems) that run on less resources?

[Zachery]

750-1000 (2-3 min of each other) online users is going to require a big server regardless of the software you use. If you actually have 500~ concurrent mysql connections you're going to need some beefy servers.

[JohnBee]

750-1000 (2-3 min of each other) online users is going to require a big server regardless of the software you use. If you actually have 500~ concurrent mysql connections you're going to need some beefy servers.

Okay so co-location seems to be the way to go. What would be considered a beefy server and can it be accomplished in a 1u footprint?

[!-s-robert-!]

vBulletin can work fine with high traffic site, you can look digitalpoint.

[jasonlitka]

Okay so co-location seems to be the way to go. What would be considered a beefy server and can it be accomplished in a 1u footprint?

Most 1U systems only hold 1-2 hard drives. For a larger site you'll want RAID 10 which means a minimum of 4 drives.

[Freezerator]

I would recommend a dual server setup for that kind of load. One for the mysql, the other for www. DB server with lot of ram (4gb) and www server with about 2gb ram and fast processor.

[texasf1racer]

I would recommend a dual server setup for that kind of load. One for the mysql, the other for www. DB server with lot of ram (4gb) and www server with about 2gb ram and fast processor.

Be sure to save some money after paying for all this to cover your other bills for the month.. lol!

[---MAD---]

Mixed messages. I guess I'll go with the vB staff statement.
I don't mean to sound disrespectful, but are there any other community options(systems) that run on less resources?

We both said the same thing but in different ways .

[Spiros]

I don't mean to sound disrespectful, but are there any other community options(systems) that run on less resources?

Yes, of course. But you have to accept the fact that these systems are not as secure or feature rich as vBulletin is. That's a rule, the more powerful the software is, the more powerful the hardware has to be in order to run it properly.

[feldon23]

Surprised nobody caught this, but you say co-location. Co-location is when you buy your own server with SCSI hard drives and RAID and 2GB of RAM ($$) and hand-deliver it to the web hosting company and they hook it up to their network and then pay per month for access ($99+/mo). So you are really paying twice. And you have to fully maintain it yourself. Since you mention VPS, which is a low-cost alternative, I don't see you doing this.

I think what you want is a dedicated server ($129-$249/mo) where THEY build the computer (usually a rack-mount pizza-box type PC) and you are paying for it.

If your site just gets too busy, then you will eventually need 2 servers, one for Web, one for Database, and they will balance the load better.

[texasf1racer]

Surprised nobody caught this, but you say co-location. Co-location is when you buy your own server with SCSI hard drives and RAID and 2GB of RAM ($$) and hand-deliver it to the web hosting company and they hook it up to their network and then pay per month for access ($99+/mo). So you are really paying twice.

lol, thats why I said this earlier....

Be sure to save some money after paying for all this to cover your other bills for the month.. lol!

[JohnBee]

Surprised nobody caught this, but you say co-location. Co-location is when you buy your own server with SCSI hard drives and RAID and 2GB of RAM ($$) and hand-deliver it to the web hosting company and they hook it up to their network and then pay per month for access ($99+/mo). So you are really paying twice. And you have to fully maintain it yourself. Since you mention VPS, which is a low-cost alternative, I don't see you doing this.

I think what you want is a dedicated server ($129-$249/mo) where THEY build the computer (usually a rack-mount pizza-box type PC) and you are paying for it.

If your site just gets too busy, then you will eventually need 2 servers, one for Web, one for Database, and they will balance the load better.

We have been looking a an 8 core/ 4 SCSI 1u server running vmware esx to run multiple systems and distribute load. Since this is a one year trial project and we decided it was better for us to invest in the hardware since a dedicated hosting plan under comparable hardware would costs significant more and if all else fails, we can use the hardware for other purposes. The second server is definitely an option we are looking at as well.

thanks for all the great advice, it's a work in progress.