Total noob question

[LoganHess]

So once I have purchased the software, I need to file for a domain name.

Ive heard that my best bet would be with godaddy.com
Now once I have registered for that, do I download/upload the software to the website or how does that work.

As far as hosting goes, I have decided to go with HostRocket.
I just need those two questions answered and any other tips would be most appriciated.

Please and thanks!

[Chazel]

Since you're a novice, I'd recommends going with a host that offers a domain. I'm sure HostRocket offers you to purchase a domain before you purchase hosting, so I'd do this instead of configuring the pointing, etc.

After you've bought vBulletin and hosting, you can upload the files directly onto your server. It's done through a FTP which is basically a drag-n-drop client that allows you to move files from your computer onto your hosting.

[Simtech]

Buying a domain is just securing the name... that usually costs about $5-$10 a year. That just gives you exclusive rights to whatever domain name you chose.

To have that domain name actually be a website you will need to purchase a hosting plan. That basically is space on a server somewhere that you lease. You then change the nameservers to point to that location and then when someone types in your domain name it'll send them to that server location.

It sounds complicated but it's not... I just suck at explaining this sort of thing.

As far as godaddy (and other low cost companies such as Powweb) you need to watch out for the really cheap hosting packages. I've run forums on several servers and vbulletin has an issue with something called a waitserver_timeout (or something like that).

A low timeout number will cause database errors. I tried running it on both Powweb and Godaddy's cheapie server setup and it was caused a lot of problems once I got over a few hundred members.

I now lease a virtual dedicated server from a godaddy reseller (volumedomains.com) and I host the site with vbulletin on there with no issues at all. I also use the virtual dedicated server to host a bunch of other websites that I have as well. It's expensive (about $400-600 a year) but I can play with all kinds of domains and add as many email addresses that I want & even create/delete addresses instantly.

What kind of budget were you looking at as far as hosting costs?

And like Chaselafon said, you then need a FTP program and you just drag & drop the files over, kind of like how you copy/move files from one folder in your computer to another folder. CuteFTP is a nice program and there are several free ones available as well.

Whatever hosting service you choose, make sure they allow you to create MySQL databases and you may want to see what version they are supporting.

Again, it sounds worse than it is & once you see how things are laid out it's actually pretty easy.

[TomJames]

GoDaddy hosting would work fine for you until you get above ~ 40 users online at the same time. However perhaps I was just lucky with them, either way they worked fine for me when I used them.

Just think of the domain as the directions / pointer / house number and the hosting service you will be buying as the house you'll be storing your data within. (Crap explanation I know, sorry )