what package is right for me??

[David Lama]

I currently have a forum with over 2000 members, but only around 30-40 on at any given time.. and I have over 90,000 posts. the bandwidth and all that I dont know since i have a free forum and want to transfer it to here.

[David Lama]

was this the wrong forum to post this thread in

[kmaw]

I don't know... maybe others don't either... but I have a feeling it's not shared hosting... probably a semi-dedicated solution

Email sales@hostgator.com

[Serra]

Nope, it is fine, just give us a bit to reply.

A 2000 member forum is actually sort of large. I assume that the 30-40 members online is your peak members, not your average. Average doesn't really matter, what we need to discuss is your peak time online members. You could average 30 members at any given time, but have a peak hour with 200 members online. The difference between 30 and 200 is a lot!

Ok, what plan is best for you? You need to consider three things.

1. Peak users online.
2. Processor usage.
3. Max connections.

The bad news is that 2 & 3 are something you wouldn't have considered until now.

Processor usage - If you have a fairly standard forum with no added scripts or addon modules, then your process usage will not be a problem with 40 members online. If not, then processor use will get you suspended on most shared accounts.

Max connections - HG allows 30 mySQL connections at one time. If you have a fairly standard forum, this will allow you to have about 300-400 people online at any given time. If your forum is highly modified, each user could pull 10 connects at one time, though for an extreemly short time period. However, if three users click at the same second and each is opening 10 connections, then you are screwed. A properly setup forum, should only open one connect for a sort time, like .2 seconds per user.

Given these stats here are the advantages of each of the accounts:

1. Shared accounts. (Baby and Swamp) - Limits on processor usage, so your forum could get suspended if it uses too many resources. Limited mySQL connections, so it could show error screens if too many connections happen at one time. These accounts are cheaper.

2. Semi-Dedicated - Much higher level of processor usage and unlimited (or so) mySQL connections. No chance of being suspended, except for spamming or really high processor usage. More expensive about $74.95 per month.

3. Dedicated - No limits on anything, except spam. Basically, you do what you want and if you overload your box, the forum will just run slowly. Very high processor usage available and no limit on anything else. Plus tons of bandwidth. This is the MOST expensive, about $174.00 per month.


So, your budget will help you decide what is best for you. If you start with a shared plan and blow it up (over use the processor), your forum will be down for about 4 days while you move it to a semi-dedicated or dedicated account. If you overload the connections on a shared plan you will not be suspended and you can move it as needed.

[David Lama]

thanks for replying

Originally Posted by Serra

HG allows 30 mySQL connections at one time.

only 30? the description in the shared packages says "MySQL Databases unlimited"

excuse my ignorance if that refers to something else.

and yes my peak users are around 20-30.

what exactly is Processor usage? I plan on having a forum using vbulletin software. and i only want a forum. basically a discussion board. i wont be posting videos or any crazy scripts, besides the ones needed for vbulletin of course. and im not too sure about the max connections thingy

[tomowa]

excuse my ignorance if that refers to something else.

Not ignorance, just not knowing

In your forum (or anything that uses a MySQL database), when you 'click' your mouse to view a page, you connect to the database to pull the required data out of it to create the page. This is the 'connections' mentioned. HG limits you to 25 or 30 (not sure) maximum concurrent connections. Each connection is fractions of a second. So if 30 people click to view a page at the same time, that is too many connections.

HTH, Tom

[Serra]

Originally Posted by David Lama

only 30? the description in the shared packages says "MySQL Databases unlimited"

Its like a rental car. You get unlimited milage, but may only carry 4 passengers. Unlimited number of databases, 30 connections at one time.

Originally Posted by David Lama

and yes my peak users are around 20-30.

You should be fine on a Swamp account then.

Originally Posted by David Lama

what exactly is Processor usage? I plan on having a forum using vbulletin software. and i only want a forum. basically a discussion board. i wont be posting videos or any crazy scripts, besides the ones needed for vbulletin of course. and im not too sure about the max connections thingy

Each time a script runs, it uses processor power. For normal sites, that's not a problem. On sites with scripts, that can add up to too much usage. For 20 or 30 users, you shouldn't have a problem with a swamp account.

[Pitrow]

Just as an FYI, I run a PhpBB on one of my sites, it sounds similar to what your asking about. Currently just under 1500 users, peak of about 40 and an average of about 10 or 15 on at once. Although I only have about 25,000 posts because I prune them often.

This is on my reseller plan. I've never had a problem with processor usage (knock on wood). I typically use between 10 and 15 GB of bandwidth each month, and have about 100 MB of diskspace used. Most of that is from picture attachments.

Sounds to me like you could get away with Hatchling or Baby account.

HG allows 30 mySQL connections at one time, is it still allow 30 now?

[Sam]

Originally Posted by msibm

HG allows 30 mySQL connections at one time, is it still allow 30 now?

Yes there is still the limit, but i think it is 25

[GatorChrisD]

Yea the limit is 25 concurrent mysql connections

[OneManShow]

Originally Posted by GatorChrisD

Yea the limit is 25 concurrent mysql connections

the limit is 25 with the shared account, what about Aluminum reseller account ? is there any limit? the limit is 25 for every domain in my reseller account or for each one have a 25 mysql connections?
thanks in advance.

[Sam]

Originally Posted by OneManShow

the limit is 25 with the shared account, what about Aluminum reseller account ? is there any limit? the limit is 25 for every domain in my reseller account or for each one have a 25 mysql connections?
thanks in advance.

Yes the limit is on reseller servers, and the limit is per user (not the reseller account in whole)

[slapshotw]

Remember that 25 concurrent connections means you can have hundreds of people browsing your site at a time.

[GatorDaveC]

Originally Posted by OneManShow

the limit is 25 with the shared account, what about Aluminum reseller account ? is there any limit? the limit is 25 for every domain in my reseller account or for each one have a 25 mysql connections?
thanks in advance.

This 25 concurrent connection restriction is referring to the database user name, not the account user name. So in short, any shared or reseller account should have more then 25 concurrent connections, if you had multiple SQL users.

A MySQL connection should really only last a split second, if your queries are not efficient or your scripts are not closing the connection and the connections hit 25, it will simply not allow your account to use any more SQL activity, until the DB User is under 25 connections.

I usually only see SEO scripts hit this connection if their crons are stacking on top of each other due to having the script fetch too much remote content or not giving the server enough time to complete the crons (Which is most likely due to having too many remote URLs fetched).

If you are using a well developed forum script, you shouldn't have any issues, but please watch out for inefficient plugins.