Hosting questions

imported_Phil

Diamond Member
Feb 10, 2001
9,837
0
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I'm looking to host a phpBB-based forum on a new hosting plan, which currently uses around 20-25GB per month transfer, and about 200-300MB disk space.

Does anyone know of a good host that supports MySQL, phpBB, webmail and 30GB+ of transfer per month?

Also, is it possible to hide whois information (i.e. phone number, address etc) from whois lookups?

Thanks guys. :beer:
 

SarcasticDwarf

Diamond Member
Jun 8, 2001
9,574
2
76
Yes, it is possible. Most registrar companies offer the service for an extra fee.

The problem is not the transfer it is the server load. I will PM you with some info.
 

RossMAN

Grand Nagus
Feb 24, 2000
78,956
408
136
Originally posted by: Phil
Also, is it possible to hide whois information (i.e. phone number, address etc) from whois lookups?

NameCheap.com offers FREE WhoisGuard protection for the first year. After that it's CHEAP.
 

DeviousTrap

Diamond Member
Jul 19, 2002
4,841
0
71
Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
Yes, it is possible. Most registrar companies offer the service for an extra fee.

The problem is not the transfer it is the server load. I will PM you with some info.

Yup, any board that manages to use 25gb of bandwidth a month should be concerned with resources as it take quite a bit of traffic to get run through that much bandwidth with just text.

Depending your budget I'd probably look into a low end dedicated server.
 

imported_Phil

Diamond Member
Feb 10, 2001
9,837
0
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Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
Yes, it is possible. Most registrar companies offer the service for an extra fee.

The problem is not the transfer it is the server load. I will PM you with some info.

Thanks for the info! :beer:
 

imported_Phil

Diamond Member
Feb 10, 2001
9,837
0
0
Originally posted by: DeviousTrap
Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
Yes, it is possible. Most registrar companies offer the service for an extra fee.

The problem is not the transfer it is the server load. I will PM you with some info.

Yup, any board that manages to use 25gb of bandwidth a month should be concerned with resources as it take quite a bit of traffic to get run through that much bandwidth with just text.

Depending your budget I'd probably look into a low end dedicated server.

The forum in question uses a fair amount of smilies and emoticons. They could be pruned somewhat, but I don't have access to detailed stats unfortunately. I wonder if Gzip would help somewhat?

Budget is around $15-20/mo.
 

DeviousTrap

Diamond Member
Jul 19, 2002
4,841
0
71
Originally posted by: Phil
Originally posted by: DeviousTrap
Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
Yes, it is possible. Most registrar companies offer the service for an extra fee.

The problem is not the transfer it is the server load. I will PM you with some info.

Yup, any board that manages to use 25gb of bandwidth a month should be concerned with resources as it take quite a bit of traffic to get run through that much bandwidth with just text.

Depending your budget I'd probably look into a low end dedicated server.

The forum in question uses a fair amount of smilies and emoticons. They could be pruned somewhat, but I don't have access to detailed stats unfortunately. I wonder if Gzip would help somewhat?

Budget is around $15-20/mo.

Bandwidth itself shouldn't be a concern, gzip increases server load in order to conserve bandwidth.
 

imported_Phil

Diamond Member
Feb 10, 2001
9,837
0
0
Originally posted by: DeviousTrap
Originally posted by: Phil
Originally posted by: DeviousTrap
Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
Yes, it is possible. Most registrar companies offer the service for an extra fee.

The problem is not the transfer it is the server load. I will PM you with some info.

Yup, any board that manages to use 25gb of bandwidth a month should be concerned with resources as it take quite a bit of traffic to get run through that much bandwidth with just text.

Depending your budget I'd probably look into a low end dedicated server.

The forum in question uses a fair amount of smilies and emoticons. They could be pruned somewhat, but I don't have access to detailed stats unfortunately. I wonder if Gzip would help somewhat?

Budget is around $15-20/mo.

Bandwidth itself shouldn't be a concern, gzip increases server load in order to conserve bandwidth.

Hmm, I thought as much. I don't know that there's a great deal that can be done about the amount of traffic though, as the forum in question is mostly text.
Still, would Gzip have a noticeable difference on, say, a low-end P4 server?
 

DeviousTrap

Diamond Member
Jul 19, 2002
4,841
0
71
Originally posted by: Phil
Originally posted by: DeviousTrap
Originally posted by: Phil
Originally posted by: DeviousTrap
Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
Yes, it is possible. Most registrar companies offer the service for an extra fee.

The problem is not the transfer it is the server load. I will PM you with some info.

Yup, any board that manages to use 25gb of bandwidth a month should be concerned with resources as it take quite a bit of traffic to get run through that much bandwidth with just text.

Depending your budget I'd probably look into a low end dedicated server.

The forum in question uses a fair amount of smilies and emoticons. They could be pruned somewhat, but I don't have access to detailed stats unfortunately. I wonder if Gzip would help somewhat?

Budget is around $15-20/mo.

Bandwidth itself shouldn't be a concern, gzip increases server load in order to conserve bandwidth.

Hmm, I thought as much. I don't know that there's a great deal that can be done about the amount of traffic though, as the forum in question is mostly text.
Still, would Gzip have a noticeable difference on, say, a low-end P4 server?

Gzip can affect a powerful dual xeon, it really depends on the raw amount of hits. Bandwidth itself is very cheap and not worth trying to conserve, in my opinion.
 

imported_Phil

Diamond Member
Feb 10, 2001
9,837
0
0
Originally posted by: DeviousTrapGzip can affect a powerful dual xeon, it really depends on the raw amount of hits. Bandwidth itself is very cheap and not worth trying to conserve, in my opinion.

Noted, thanks :)
 

DeviousTrap

Diamond Member
Jul 19, 2002
4,841
0
71
Originally posted by: Phil
I should add that there are 250 users, 400 posts per day, and a database size of 66Mb.

Now those are better numbers, scratch most of was said above, 90% of the time any shared host will work.
 

imported_Phil

Diamond Member
Feb 10, 2001
9,837
0
0
Originally posted by: DeviousTrap
Originally posted by: Phil
I should add that there are 250 users, 400 posts per day, and a database size of 66Mb.

Now those are better numbers, scratch most of was said above, 90% of the time any shared host will work.

I'll disregard your PM then, but thanks for the offer :D

Okay. I know that HostPC is out of the question, Dreamhost seems... okay..., RealWebHost.net I don't know anything about but has been recommended to me. My ISP offers business-class hosting, but the amount of transfer is limited and the board's members are primarily in the US, so hosting it in the UK would be a daft idea, even if the ISP in question does have an SMT-16 link to NY.
 

RossMAN

Grand Nagus
Feb 24, 2000
78,956
408
136
I would take a look at WebKore.net which offers:

Account Information
:: Disk Storage: 2000MB
:: Monthly Transfer: 40GB
:: Domains: unlimited

:: Private Label nameservers (ns1.yourdomain.com, ns2.yourdomain.com)
:: WHM/cPanel PRO
:: Overselling allowed
:: Fully managed services (we will take care of installing SSL certs, Assigning IP addresses, etc...)
:: Free backups (second hard drive, and R-sync offsite backup). Daily backups.
:: FREE End-User support
:: FREE Domain name

SOFTWARE

:: Latest stable versions of cPanel/WHM
:: PHP4 4.4.1 and PHP5 5.1.2 (running as CGI)

Pricing
:: Monthly: $9.99 (promotional price)
:: Other plans available


Payment Options
:: Paypal
:: Credit Card
:: Money Order (must be received before account is activated. Must be prepaid for one year)
:: Check (same as money order)

Support
:: Trouble Ticket support system (24/7) Average ticket reply is 6 minutes. Staff onsite 24 hours a day.
:: Forums

GUARANTEES

:: 14 day money back guarantee
:: 30 minute or less response times (or your month is free)

BENEFITS

:: Full service hosting provider.
:: Affiliate program. Earn money for selling hosting services
:: Referral program : Get free months everytime you sign someone up. Makes the cost of hosting much cheaper

SERVERS & NETWORK

:: All servers are dual opterons 246, 2GB of ram. SATA hard drives. More than enough power for even the most demanding of websites.
:: All servers are placed in the Savvis datacenter. Have your site hosted on the same network that powers Wall Street.


ABOUT WEBKORE.NET

:: Webkore.net has been offering shared hosting for 3 and a half years
:: Webkore Internet Services is a premium company
:: No bad feedback

As always research, research, do your homework, send an e-mail to sales@webkore.net with a long list of nagging questions at 1AM and see how long they take to reply.
 

jfall

Diamond Member
Oct 31, 2000
5,975
2
0
Pretty much any host out there will support phpBB. Just do some research and find a good one to go with. Webhostingtalk.com is a good place to start.

The whois information really depends on the registrar of your domain. It's generally an option you can add for extra $$

Oh, and by the way. You might consider using something other than phpBB. It's commonly exploited and needs to be patched frequently. Invision Power Board or another licensed board may be a better option for you. If you are going to stick with phpBB just be sure to keep it patched.
 

imported_Phil

Diamond Member
Feb 10, 2001
9,837
0
0
RossMAN: Thanks, that's a pretty damned good deal! At the moment I'm talking to DeviousTrap, who has offered to host for a bit to see how traffic and disk space usage pans out and to see if a Telnap plan would suit the site. However, I'll definitely bear those guys in mind as it looks really good :beer:

jfall: Given that the board has been customised by the current owner, switching to a different forum software is going to be a pain in the ass. However, is there a way to port a phpBB install to Invision or similar?
 

dartworth

Lifer
Jul 29, 2001
15,200
10
81
vBulletin is the best forum script you can use.

Can I import posts/threads/members from other forum software?

We currently offer import utilities for more than 70 competitive products.

vBulletin 3.5.x

The vB3 import system is called ImpEx and currently can support the conversion of the following boards to vBulletin:

* IPB (2)
* phpBB 2.0.x
* Infopop eve
* IPB (1.1 -1.3)
* wBB (2)
* Ubb classic (6.3 - 6.7)
* Open Topic & Ubb.x
* DCFm (DCForum+ MySQL backend)
* YaBB SE
* Ubb threads
* vBulletin 3
* Snitz (MySQL)
* Ikonboard MySQL
* XMB
* CuteCast
* vBulletin (2)
* ThwBoard (3)
* SMF
* DiscusWare (file based - 4.00.x)
* vB (1.0 RC1)
* YaBB - Gold
* openBB
* dulexportal
* Digiposts
* Phorum
* Fusetalk
* WebWiz
* Ezboard (posts only, not members accounts)
* many more...
 
Aug 25, 2004
11,151
1
81
A Small Orange is also a good host. Expensive, but reputable. See Webhostingtalk for reviews. Telnap also gets another :thumbsup: from me.

Originally posted by: Phil
I should add that there are 250 users, 400 posts per day, and a database size of 66Mb.

That's not a heavy load :) As mentioned earlier in this thread, most hosts will take this load without batting an eyelid. Even Dreamhost, who strictly monitor MySQL activity and CPU use, would be an excellent candidate for you.

If you have a few days time, get accounts on a few hosts, try them all out. Then pick one and use the money-back policy on the rest. Make sure you read the TOS for each host before you do this.
 

imported_Phil

Diamond Member
Feb 10, 2001
9,837
0
0
Dartworth: thanks, I'll definitely look into it.
George: Good idea on trying them out. I'll see how Telnap pans out and have a play with the rest. :beer: