Hi WHT folks!

I run a non-profit automotive related website and bulletin board (for owners of GM S-Series trucks - S-10, Sonoma, Jimmy, Blazer etc.).
http://s-seriesforum.com/

We are seeking a low cost hosting solution to host our site and vBulletin forum. (we are using iKonboard at the moment as it is "safer" to implement on a shared server)

As much as I love vBulletin, it's a major PITA since we likely need a dedicated host with the amount of users we typically have in the forum (30+ members online, 350+ members total). We used to have 1000+ members and upwards of 80 online at peek times.... but we had some problems with the database and hosting so we started from scratch. We are growing quickly again though...

So far it looks to me like the following deal from serverhost.com is hard to pass up:
http://webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14914

Can anyone help us out with our hosting dilemma???

Thanks in advance :D

Is no one willing to quote or offer suggestions?

We are also quite willing to offer free banner advertising on our site for any hosts who are willing to help us out....

Any help / suggestions / quotes are appreciated.

maybe you can get a Raq from http://www.rackshack.net ($99/month)

Not sure you will need a dedicated box, we have a client that is running vB with the following stats:

1,766 registered Members 20,620 posts in 3,225 threads.

He averages 30 users online but has maxed at 62 at one time.

In addition to this, his site generates 148,191 hits per day with about 21,062 page views.

Have no problem with him on the server, if you would like to discuss this, I will be happy to talk to you, drop me an email.

Robert Broome
Southern Web

Originally posted by s-seriesforum
As much as I love vBulletin, it's a major PITA since we likely need a dedicated host with the amount of users we typically have in the forum (30+ members online, 350+ members total). We used to have 1000+ members and upwards of 80 online at peek times.... but we had some problems with the database and hosting so we started from scratch. We are growing quickly again though...
How much space and bandwidth will you be requiring? Supporting your forums should not be difficult for a shared-hosting environment.

We would love to help. Please contact me at dherman@icomputerservices.com

Thanks!

Thanks for all the positive replies folks.... I will contact each of you via e-mail.

In any case, my concern with vBulletin in a shared hosting environment is as follows:

- Most shared hosts will only tolerate somewhere around 30 simultaneous users on the forum..... This restriction makes sense since the MySQL server is generally shared between 100+ users in a shared hosting environment. Obviously, a popular vBulletin site could really slow down the server for other shared clients.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), my site is currently averaging about 20 simultaneous users on the board. This number is quite low compared to how many we've had in the past (80+), but keep in mind that we started all over again with Ikonboard software (temporarily while we work out hosting issues). In about 2 weeks, we are back up to 400 users and will no doubt acquire many past members in the next few weeks. So, shortly we will be back up to our 50 or so simultaneous users again.

Really, what we need is some kind of semi-shared environment with only maybe 10 hosted sites on the same box.... Then we could have more open connections to the MySQL database without hurting the performance of other paying clients/sites. Can anyone offer something like this?

Sorry for all the writing, I get carried away sometimes :D

Originally posted by allera

How much space and bandwidth will you be requiring? Supporting your forums should not be difficult for a shared-hosting environment.

My best guess as to our needs for the next few months (we will probably grow larger) are as follows:
- be able to support a max of 60 users logged into the vBulletin forum at the same time (therefore, 60 simultaneous connections to the MySQL database)
- about 15 GB per month of data transfer if we have mod_gzip installed on the server to reduce page sizes and corresponding data transfer/bandwidth

As far as space goes, most all shared hosting packages would be enough. We don't plan on enabling the "image attachment" feature in vBulletin.... maybe we will allow small "avatars" though. I would say that 200 megs would be plenty. Typically, storage space is not the issue.... MySQL simultaneous connections and Bandwidth are very important though....

Thanks

Originally posted by s-seriesforum
Really, what we need is some kind of semi-shared environment with only maybe 10 hosted sites on the same box.... Then we could have more open connections to the MySQL database without hurting the performance of other paying clients/sites. Can anyone offer something like this?
Our mySQL tends to have under 20 connections on it at a time -- _plenty_ of space for more use. We can support your 60 connections should you need it. We also use mod_gzip.

Email me if you would like to talk further or if you have any specific questions regarding our service and pricing. I'm sure we can work something out. :)

allera@focalhosting.com

Originally posted by s-seriesforum
As far as space goes, most all shared hosting packages would be enough. We don't plan on enabling the "image attachment" feature in vBulletin.... maybe we will allow small "avatars" though. I would say that 200 megs would be plenty. Typically, storage space is not the issue.... MySQL simultaneous connections and Bandwidth are very important though....

Thanks

We host several high-traffic forums on our servers, some of them having over 200 simultaneous mySQL connections at the same time. Can you please let me know your eMail address? I would like to send you a custom plan offer that meets your needs. :)

allera & Kiwi, I have sent each of you an e-mail....

Thanks for your help :)

-Darren

<--- edited by s-seriesforum --->

oops, double post.... please remove.