Questions on hosting for a Forum

[asapcorp]

Hi,

I am looking for hosting space for my forum. I am very new to hosting and don't know too much about it.

My Forum has

400 users; 50 active users, not more than 15 on at a time
the site has been started 7 weeks ago, to give an idea of how fast it is growing.
I hope to have several thousand users in the near future.

I currently am running phpbb on 1and1. Just found out that their databases are limited to 100MB. Already, my board is using about 4MB (not a lot, but considering what I want in the future, I know 100MB will be a problem soon).

So, I am looking for a new host. A few questions:

What requirements should I look for?
When should I look to 'dedicated hosting'?

Any input is greatly appreciated.

[karl-marx]

Re: Questions on hosting for a Forum

What kind of forum software would you like to have?

[sweetnatie]

Re: Questions on hosting for a Forum

For the number of people you have now shared account is a good solution, later may upgrade to a bigger shared account. As far as I get the forum is your hobby and not your business, so shared will let you to keep to the budget.
One of the professional forum hosting solutions is siteground . Another option is to choose quality shared hosting from someone like accuwebhosting.com or valethosting.com.

[aleeonline]

Re: Questions on hosting for a Forum

i totally agree with natie .. you can offer a larger account .. its more tempting.

[Kdoubt]

Re: Questions on hosting for a Forum

There are plenty of hosts that will suit your needs for now, however, keep in mind in a shared environment there are oftain CPU/Memory limits. Some hosts have even been known to shut down your account completely.

I wouldnt put more than 100 users at any one time on a shared account. Once you hit the 100 (roughly) mark, you'll need the benefits of a dedicated server.

[bmint]

Re: Questions on hosting for a Forum

Dreamhost are great for large sites and you get a lot for what you pay.

[The Hosting Team]

Re: Questions on hosting for a Forum

A VPS might be a good option: more power than a shared account, but less expensive than a dedicated server.

[james0131]

If you have good budget than you must go through dedicated server were you can get huge space which help to run your forum smoothly and with dedicated server you will get help in future if your users and visitor increase that time you don't want to upgrade plan you have advance space with you

[arianagrand]

thank you!!!!!!!