Hi, I am considering starting a message board, and I have a few questions regarding obtaining a server.
1. How much disk space should I get?
2. How much monthly data transfer do I need?
Thanks.
With that many users online at once bandwidth and space are NOT your primary concern...
NO webhost I know of will let you have that many concurrent users on a active pages on a shared server. The server load would be LARGE ... HUGE
If the Webhost was on the ball and kept accounts from dominating the box ....You would be forced to a dedicated server really soon .....
That many concurrent forum users on a shared server that has 200 or more other accounts on it would be really bad performance wise. All the other folks on that server would hate you if they could figure out you were the one dominating the processor.
I have small forum with 10-25 people online at a time and was forced to spliting a dedicated server with a another guy. Most people dont have stand alone forums. They also have photo galleries or web sites or other things that are associated. All those things add up to more bandwidth and space.
Where can i get a good price on a blackbery BES ::
The package includes: - BlackBerry Enterprise Server for Microsoft Exchange Look at the entries titled: BlackBerry Enterprise Server v3.6 w/5 Licenses
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/389163.htmlHOME |
Hidiing my location on the net::
The key is that you must locate a proxy server located in the UK so that the BBC will give you access. You might also look into if the BBC offers access
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/723075.htmlHOME |
Email GoDaddy and ask them - the biggest account they have is 150 mb of space and 2 gig of traffic for $10 .. That will NOT go far with a forum and there is NO upgrade path which assures down time when you have to upgradeto a diff host. Tell them you expect to have 10,000 users in 12 months and see what they say
My $0.03
Yeah it certainly does vwsmity and if you want me to make a recommendation for you I will.
I am currently looking to change my present Webhost who I have been with for many years as there are a few limitations on all their accounts that I was not initially aware of, that are now causing me problems. This is NOT to say I wouldn't recommend them to people, in fact they are very good indeed. I am currently trialing with a US based host who so far have been simply magnificent. I am not fully contracted with them, but if the service I receive from them when I do is the same as what they are doing for me now - then all I shall say is WOW.
UK recommendation: www.oneandone.co.uk (http://www.oneandone.co.uk) - Professional Package. Coming in at £16.99 (approx $25) per month (there are cheaper packages - Business for example at half price).
US probable recommendation: www.asmallorange.com (http://www.asmallorange.com) - simply superb customer service. Ask for Tom and say I sent you if you call them up.
Hope this helps....
I am a web host. If your paying $20/month you can get enough space for 16 vBulletins. :)
$20/month
4gb Space
30gb Bandwidth
Unlimited MySQL Features
Unlimited FTP Accounts
Unlimited Email Accounts
cPanel 9
This also comes with forum, email, messenger and phone support..
Yes but will you support him if he starts hogging the resources on the server? I'm quite sure you'll start getting complaints from other customers on the same server if he starts utlizing all of the CPU time.
Win2K Server, problem I think with network card ::
The network card itself is a "Intel(R) PRO/100+ Server Adapter (PILA8470B)". . You can look it over here, and there's a 14-day free trial:
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=142887HOME |
Need MS Access to connect automatically to SQL ::
And as it's on an internal system, I'm assuming that anyone who can run the Access database has the rights to look at the data in the SQL Server app.
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=597388HOME |
Installing even 100 vBulletin forums on one server doesn't mean anything if they're not doing anything. :)
thanks. so is 150mb of storage and 2gig of transfer sufficient for the numbers I spoke of???
i've since found a different server, for less cost that has better specs. TOD hosting. Anyone have experience with them? They offer like 1 gig storage and 15gig transfer for $8/month. Does this seem more viable?
Also, I am only projecting 200 users at once in the distant future. It will take probably a year to break 100 at once.
Thanks for all the advice guys!
.. probably not vwsmity...!
Where did you see those figures...
Okay, so is $20 a month unrealistic? My main concern is, I'm not exactly sure if having a message board is a means of making money, or if I will have to fund the thing all on my own?? It is going to be kind of a hobby, so either way is fine with me. Thoughts??
20 bucks a month depending where can get you 1-2gigs of storage and maybe 20-30 gigs of bandwith. :)
You can try asking over at webhostingtalk.com or in here. you can also try asking at theadminzone.com
:)
With 10,000 members you get nowhere near 250-500 members on at once. That number will most likely rope in an average of 75-100 users at once, if the content is compelling of course. Web prices took a jump recently, my main issue is bandwidth... I end up spending $50 a month because my bandwidth is often 35-40gb. These prices need to drop a lot lower, especially as more and more people are getting on broadband everyday.
well, I want to stay under $20/month
I plan on trying to get as many users as possible as quickly as possible, with the goal being approximately 10,000 users in a couple of years. Total users online at once to be approximately 250 - 500.
Does this give you a better idea?
I am looking at using Godaddy
To start for a few months maybe, my smaller site goes though about 5gb a month, and my larger 10-20 a month (i dont have exact stats). However a very busy site will need way more than 2gb of bandwith. Instant Messaging Privacy::
In addition to that, all messages pass through the AIM server. Technically, AOL can easily look at what you are writing. Also, anyone providing the links
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/722941.htmlHOME |
Going with someone who specializes in small webhosting packages like that isn't going to get you were you plan to be at all. You could definitely start out with something like that...but you're going to have to go through the trouble of moving to a different server once you start to grow. That's ok if you don't mind the downtime but if you intend on having that many users it's not a matter of how much you mind it.
If you intend on building something that's going to get that large, you're better off just going with something large enough to handle the load right from the start.
The Planet (http://www.theplanet.com) out of Dallas, TX has a sub company called Server Matrix (http://www.servermatrix.com). They offer some really good deals on dedicated servers. The Planet hosts some pretty large sites like HardOCP and The Inquirer so you know they're not some little fly-by-night operation. Some friends and I have had a FreeBSD 4.x server with them for over a year and have yet to have any problems that were directly related to anything they did.
This is really a 'how long is a piece of string question' vwsmity. It depends upon many factors, some of these being:
1 - what budget do you have available
2 - how many users will you have on your forum
3 - how many posts will be created daily
4 - how many visitors you think you will get
5 - how quickly and aggressively do you want to build up your membership (for expansion reasons)
etc etc...
You need at a minimum, a Webhost who provides a single MySQL database and the ability to run php.
Do a search of "web hosts" here at vb.com and you will find many threads covering that very subject. If you want a specific recommendation, post a reply here and either I or someone more qualified than I can point you in a certain direction.
Interestingly TOD hosting has no reviews on webhosting talk or the other sites. They have not been around long it seems..
Their servers are ONLY 1 processor boxes with only one gig ram.
As I mentioned before - send them an email and ask them how many concurrent users you can have on VB under that plan...
Here is the section of the AUP you need to look at
todhosting.com domain hosted accounts operate on shared resources. Excessive use or abuse of these shared network resources by one customer may have a negative impact on all other customers. Misuse of network resources in a manner which impairs network performance is prohibited by this policy and may result in immediate termination of your account without warning.
You are prohibited from excessive consumption of resources, including CPU time, memory, disk space and session time. You may not use resource-intensive programs which negatively impact other customers or the performances of todhosting.com systems or networks. todhosting.com reserves the right to terminate or limit such activitiesI would check on places like webhostingtalk.com and see wheich hosts are rated highly by folks ding what you intend to do...
It would be interesting to see a poll here to see how many 100 concurrent user forums are on those kind of accounts..
Doug
Just found some related links
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?&threadid=253749&highlight=concurrent+users
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?&threadid=240027&highlight=concurrent+users
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?&threadid=231318&highlight=concurrent+users+vb
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?&threadid=13770&highlight=concurrent+users+vb
Im pretty sure this is NOT what you wanted to hear but Im trying to save you the issues I had when I started 4 or 5 years ago...
Well, I'd say no, $20 per month is not unrealistic at all. You can get 10GB bandwidth and plenty of file storage space for that amount no problem. Not sure that would cater for 250-500 concurrent online users though...:eek:
As for your board making money or not - this depends on how you intend to make any money i.e. what method are you going to use to generate revenue...? Sponsorship, banner ads (google for example), subscriptions etc - again this very much depends on several factors such as your content, your audience, any value-add you provide to your membership, and how 'liked' your forum is.
I imagine many people here make money from their boards, some more than others.
Market yourself, get yourself known, invest in your board to generaqte a thriving online community and there's no reason at all why you couldn't be making some money within 6mths to a year. I started 18 months ago and have 2,300 members, nearly 100,000 posts and have had over 3.5 million hits - sure, that may be small by some standards, but it's totally gobsmackingly brilliantly fantastic to me...:D and as I don't get many visitors from outside my content interest, all 2,300 membersw have a propensity to purchase something related to my content... :);)
 Get Smart About Monitoring Virtual Machines
 Microsoft Gets Ex-Streamly Cozy with U.K.'s MediaWave
|
What to look for in a server?