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  1. #1
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    Sep 2009
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    Can i run a forum on shared hosting account?

    Can shared hosting handle a forum with decent amount of traffic.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
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    Yes you can host a forum on a shared hosting account but as the forum gets bigger and more popular, and the Database grows, you will probably be asked to move the site or pay more for the resources you are using. These are good problems to have when your website gets more popular
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  3. #3
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    Oct 2009
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    That depends on how much traffic is considered decent traffic. About how many users are on the forums at any given time?

  4. #4
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    Oct 2009
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    Shared hosting is more than enough for most forums. Monthly bandwidth and the amount of visitors you get are the important factors.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
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    Yes, you can. Most forums are hosted on shared accounts for years before they have to move to a dedicated server or VPS. This will only happen if your forum grows too big (lots of members posting) and popular (lots of connections at one time), which really isn't easy to do, at all (ask any forum owner). Chances are, you will not have any problems hosting your forum on a shared environment, specially if it's a brand new forum.
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  6. #6
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    Dec 2007
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    You can but keep in mind that there are add-ons for forums that can cause issues such as a shoutbox or a poorly coded plugin. A basic forum should be able to last quite some time on a standard shared hosting account. My advice is to always maintain your own off-server backups (including databases) just in case. Most providers will give you the chance to upgrade/move but some of them out there will shut you down without warning making it impossible for you to get to your data.

    Good luck.
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  7. #7
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    Sep 2009
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    Quote Originally Posted by MikeDVB View Post
    ...always maintain your own off-server backups (including databases) just in case....
    Best advice you can give anyone about anything computer related.
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  8. #8
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    Nov 2007
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    Quote Originally Posted by waqyum View Post
    Can shared hosting handle a forum with decent amount of traffic.
    ya sure you can,may i know how much unique hits per day?
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  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
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    Yes you can and everyone here has given you some good advice as they usually do.

    when you mean decent traffic what exactly do you mean. From experience I ran a site (forum) on a shared hosting account with no problems, I was getting around 2.5k visitors and sometimes just 1.5k. I did start having some performance issues once traffic jumped to 6.5k, plus I had a number of add ons that also caused additional DB queries which lead to performance issues.

    if your starting out, shared is your best bet, then you can eventually upgraded to another hosting plan, good luck.
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  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
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    I've hosted my forum on shared host back in the day but eventually if it gets popular enough, you'd need your own VPS at least.

    And i second Mike's advice...I remember a few years ago I lost a few weeks of data because of a server wipe and I haven't had any database backup. Was a long time ago but feels like it happened just a few days ago.

    So yeah, take backups no matter how good the host is.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Devon, UK
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    In one word: yes. The quality of shared hosting providers can vary dramatically, going with a higher end (albeit more expensive) host will mean that you can keep your forum on a shared platform for longer, going with a bargain basement host will only mean you have to move sooner.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Oct 2000
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    In my experience most forums rarely if ever grow beyond the resources provided in most basic to standard level hosting accounts. The rare ones that do usually end up requiring their own server and or servers!
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  13. #13
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    Mar 2009
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    Would agree with everyone else here ... shared is fine starting out. The majority of new forums I see now have fewer than 20 members on at any given time and less than 200 visitors.
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  14. #14
    You should be able to depending on the host.

  15. #15

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Posts
    61
    to start out, I would suggest a shared hosting plan. When performance starts to show its age, its time to think about upgrades.

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Ashburn, VA
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    If your getting less than 50,000 hits a day your most likely going to be fine on a shared plan.

  18. #18
    I all depends on how many visitors you would receive daily.
    For a busy forum, I think a VPS is needed.
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  19. #19
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
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    Quote Originally Posted by AirJordansHead View Post
    I all depends on how many visitors you would receive daily.
    For a busy forum, I think a VPS is needed.
    see no one in the topic describes busy or active. whats your thought of a "busy" forum. cause if the topic starter takes your advice and he thinks his forum is "busy" he will be wasting a ton of money. just give like how man members online at the same time ect.

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Canada
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    Aren't most issues with Shared hosting and forums come down to concurrent users online at any given time?

    That would be one thing to watch for when hosting your forum under the Shared hosting environment.

    Of course, as others pointed out, over time you will most likely need to upgrade or move to a new host if the current one cannot support your upgrade needs.
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  21. #21
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Posts
    95
    I ran my forum on shared hosting for almost 3 months, but a vps is always preferred in case you have a high traffic and wants a great uptime with blazing fast speed...

  22. #22
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
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    Ferenginar
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    Quote Originally Posted by waqyum View Post
    Can shared hosting handle a forum with decent amount of traffic.
    Yes it should.

    It depends on concurrent users (how many users are on the same time) and add-ons such as shoutbox.

  23. #23
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Posts
    42
    yes you can. but it depends on your size of your data and your plan you buy.
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  24. #24
    I think that you should count on shared hosting account when you need to welcome 50,000 hits per day. I don't think that shared hosting will work for you if you have more than 50,000 hits.
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  25. #25
    Join Date
    May 2008
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    Melbourne, Australia
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    I think that you should count on shared hosting account when you need to welcome 50,000 hits per day. I don't think that shared hosting will work for you if you have more than 50,000 hits.
    It's not so much the hits, Though the Modules, Users online at any given day, time, hour, minute or second and so on.

    Sure, Shared hosting can sustain a large amount of hits though you also need to look at the performance of the board and what it has in place. If the board is heavy with modules then it is bound to use more resources such as ram and cpu therefore 50,000 hits could be quite dramatic especially in a shared environment.

    If a board had no modules and was not heavy on the amount of users that was active on the board at any given time, Then sure it could be sustainable.
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