Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : Somewhere to host a phBB forum

[Caneton]

I would like somewhere in Britain or France preferably.

I doubt for the first year I'm going to have a massive amount of traffic or need a massive amount of space but if it has a limit it'd be nice if it was upgradeable. I mainly want reliability and a little bit of speed but masses of it isn't essential. I doubt even at full capacity in a few years that I will expect more than 100 users on at peak time and 90% of the day no more than 20 or 30. i can change if that becomes the case anyway.

sorry if this seems very rude way of asking the question but needed to get it all out of my head before i forgot anything. I don't know alot about web hosting and I don't want a company who muck me about and I couldn't think of a better place to ask than here obviously. also any advice you can give me on what sort of thing I should be looking for and whether the unlimited bandwidth and space offers are just too good to be true


Basically any information you can give me is more than I had before you will have posted so it will be appreciated

thankyou

[SercoNetworks]

Hello and Welcome to WebHostingTalk.

All you need at the moment is a Shared Hosting Plan and the majority of shared hosting providers should allow you to run phpBB without any problems.

Good luck with the success of your forum

[Caneton]

what on earth is a shared hosting plan? And why do I need that at the moment and not something else?

Also what size and speed should i really be looking for?

[SercoNetworks]

Originally Posted by Caneton

what on earth is a shared hosting plan? And why do I need that at the moment and not something else?

Also what size and speed should i really be looking for?

Imagine you are a resident of an apartment complex. All of you live in the same building, share the same resources like electricity, gas, and water. Shared hosting is a lot like that; on a shared hosting account, multiple websites are all placed on the same server. Those websites then share all the resources the server has to offer, like CPU, Memory, Disk Space, Disk I/O and the internet connection.

You need that at the moment because other alternatives (a VPS or Dedicated Server) would be overkill.

How much space you need would greatly depend on the type of forum you are planning to run, and would be almost impossible to estimate. Many providers will allow you to upgrade at a later date if you need more space and/or bandwidth.

*Shared hosting example from VPS.NET

[HostXNow]

You need a Shared cPanel hosting account. Try to get one that includes an auto script installer like Softaculous or Installatron (I recommend Softaculous) as they allow you to install scripts like PHPBB in just a matter of seconds.

[Caneton]

can you reccomend one with good customer services and not stupidly overpriced?

With something like phbb will the server backup the forum itself or do i have to do that for all content?

I feel a bit overloaded on info already but obviously it's not that complicated it's just the fact I'm tired.

Ok shared hosting makes sense. Will it matter if its hosted in the US if I'm in europe? Or is it better to have it over here.


In theory i guess if it's in the US then peak times would be different than for other people using the server but obviously the price fluctuates that way round as well

I did look at bluehost but I could look at 10 places and wouldn't know if one is riddled with downtime and the others are amazing. I'm lost in a sea of hosts and have no clue what's what

sorry to sound like such an idiot as well but I'll learn quickly enough

[Sparrow-Sean]

*Shared hosting example from VPS.NET

VPS.NET does not offer Shared Hosting

[Caneton]

or ipage or justhost?

I'm a little bewildered I must admit

[SercoNetworks]

Originally Posted by Caneton

With something like phbb will the server backup the forum itself or do i have to do that for all content?

Most providers have automated backups, however I cannot stress enough how important it is to maintain your own regular backups.

Originally Posted by Caneton

Ok shared hosting makes sense. Will it matter if its hosted in the US if I'm in europe? Or is it better to have it over here.

Ideally, you should be hosted on servers in the same country as your target market or majority of users.

Originally Posted by Caneton

sorry to sound like such an idiot as well but I'll learn quickly enough

Not at all, many people new to web hosting have the same questions, it's nice to answer them.

Originally Posted by Sparrow-Sean

VPS.NET does not offer Shared Hosting

Sean, I was giving them credit for the example I posted, which was written by VPS.NET, Terry I believe.

[J Gwynne PC Repair]

A good shared web hosting plan with reasonable amounts of space and bandwidth a one click script installer would also make it much easier to get up and running (instaling phpbb in a few clicks) softaculous is my favourite and has hundreds (165 to be exact) scripts.

joe

[HostXNow]

Originally Posted by J Gwynne PC Repair

softaculous is my favourite and has hundreds (165 to be exact) scripts.

175.

[J Gwynne PC Repair]

really? i thought it was only 165?

scrap that just checked www.softaculous.com "175 scripts and still more in the making !" - from www.softaculous.com

cheers HostXNow

joe

[HostXNow]

Originally Posted by J Gwynne PC Repair

really? i thought it was only 165?

scrap that just checked www.softaculous.com "175 scripts and still more in the making !" - from www.softaculous.com

cheers HostXNow

joe

I check for the latest scripts in WebHostManager

http://IP:2086/cgi/softaculous/index.php?act=softwares

No problem.

[Sajaki]

Originally Posted by J Gwynne PC Repair

A good shared web hosting plan with reasonable amounts of space and bandwidth a one click script installer would also make it much easier to get up and running (instaling phpbb in a few clicks) softaculous is my favourite and has hundreds (165 to be exact) scripts.

joe

I don't speak for phpbb.com, but please note that they do require you to have installed your forum yourself. Scripts like Fantastico etc.. are not supported.

You can learn how by installing it a local installation first, with Wamp/Xampp for example, and then uploading your finished forum once you're done styling it.

In the long run, this is the better approach because you actually learn something instead of clicking on a script installer.

[JeffTheMan]

Originally Posted by Sajaki

I don't speak for phpbb.com, but please note that they do require you to have installed your forum yourself. Scripts like Fantastico etc.. are not supported.

You can learn how by installing it a local installation first, with Wamp/Xampp for example, and then uploading your finished forum once you're done styling it.

In the long run, this is the better approach because you actually learn something instead of clicking on a script installer.

Alot of people dont have the time to sit down and spend all their day to figure something out, especially if there's no bachelor degree earned, or alot of experience behind it. Most people want their site up. So Fantastico, and Softuclous makes it easier for people just to click and install so they can get right down to business.