How does XenForo perform on a shared host?

[Grover]

I guess it's a difficult question...uhh answer, but since a year my vBulletin 3.8 powered website struggles on the shared server we are on. We have an average of 75.000 unique visitors/100.000 visits per month, 25 GB traffic per month and 5 million hits per month.

I am in the process now of needing to choose a VPS solution (to be honest... I have no clue about this at all... so I need a fully managed solution... not sure what's the best option in The Netherlands (I need Dutch support)... but anyway... I was wondering: If vBulletin struggles on a shared server with figures like these... will XenForo have the same 'problem' on a shared server with the same kind of figures? Or does it have a better performance for a shared server to handle it's traffic?

 

[Mike]

There's no reason it wouldn't work, though you will get better performance if they offer a PHP opcode cache like APC. (Really, vB would get much better performance there too.)

I couldn't really speak for whether it'd be better or worse per se. Hosts have all sorts of varying (and sometimes strange) metrics for "problem sites". In general, our pages do generate very quickly (hundredths of a second up to a few tenths at max).

 

[Brandon_R]

The framework is pretty solid so as long as there are not constant ajax calls to the server like chatboxes etc i would have to say it should work fine.

 

[Dean]

That seems like a lot of traffic for a shared hosting account.

 

[Forsaken]

That seems like a lot of traffic for a shared hosting account.

It really depends on the host; many hosts will overload their server with 5000+ hosting accounts, which barely is in the capabilities of the servers.

Some hosts also offer more stable solutions for larger sites that are on a budget; my host gives me dedicated RAM and CPU, and load-balancing if we are under attack from script kiddies.

 

[Grover]

How does being on a shared server affect the migration process?

There's no reason it wouldn't work, though you will get better performance if they offer a PHP opcode cache like APC. (Really, vB would get much better performance there too.)

I couldn't really speak for whether it'd be better or worse per se. Hosts have all sorts of varying (and sometimes strange) metrics for "problem sites". In general, our pages do generate very quickly (hundredths of a second up to a few tenths at max).

Thanks for your answer.

That seems like a lot of traffic for a shared hosting account.

Yes, I guess so. Although I have no clue what is much and what isn't much when it comes to a forum run from a shared server... I am not a technical person by any means really. However, I am considering to switch to XenForo, but I am a bit unsure what to do. If I am experiencing slow performances already on my shared server account, wouldn't that be 'dangerous' for the import-process (vB --> XF) as well? Or is being on a shared server only affecting the day-to-day performance of the forum, so I can run the import process itself without any problems?

If it will be a problem, then I need to look for a good Dutch VPS. I have no clue and also have problems finding good reviews on any VPS host in The Netherlands, somehow. It needs to be a managed account and from what I am reading, it seems that the costs of these begin with €100,00 per month overhere...

 

[Dean]

If I am experiencing slow performances already on my shared server account, wouldn't that be 'dangerous' for the import-process (vB --> XF) as well? Or is being on a shared server only affecting the day-to-day performance of the forum, so I can run the import process itself without any problems?

Possibly if you are setting up a test account and having the import occurring while your site is live. But during the actual import, won't your site be turned off?

If it will be a problem, then I need to look for a good Dutch VPS. I have no clue and also have problems finding good reviews on any VPS host in The Netherlands, somehow. It needs to be a managed account and from what I am reading, it seems that the costs of these begin with €100,00 per month overhere...

That is not cheap.

Just be aware that the way shared hosting works, on our previous shared hosting account, we had time slices and full resource access available on a mega-behemoth server. We currently have a certain % of resources all to out own on and cannot use more that a certain % of resources on a different mega-behemoth server on a vps. On our vps we do not have access to the entire servers resources.

It is quite difficult to compare vps vs hosting with regards to performance issues.

 

[Elizabeth]

Grover, why must it be a Dutch VPS may I ask. That is severely limiting your options. Just curious about your reasons. 

 

[Grover]

Grover, why must it be a Dutch VPS may I ask. That is severely limiting your options. Just curious about your reasons.

Somehow it feels better for me if I can just dial a Dutch number and get Dutch (my own language) speaking support from a trusted company. But I have no experience on dealing with a foreign hosting company, so it might be good to investigate that at some point.

 

[Elizabeth]

Somehow it feels better for me if I can just dial a Dutch number and get Dutch (my own language) speaking support from a trusted company. But I have no experience on dealing with a foreign hosting company, so it might be good to investigate that at some point.

While I waited for your answer, I did some googling...found this one: http://www.eurowebhost.eu/ I do not know anything about them but they are located in The Netherlands among other places. 

With that said, I personally use WiredTree and have been exceptionally pleased with my support.

 

 

[Brandon_R]

If you want an offshore host, try Ecatel.net.

 

[Forsaken]

Somehow it feels better for me if I can just dial a Dutch number and get Dutch (my own language) speaking support from a trusted company. But I have no experience on dealing with a foreign hosting company, so it might be good to investigate that at some point.

I'm not familiar with the dutch infrastructure, so I can't comment much, but chances are you'd be better off going for a German/British host, just because prices are likely to be cheaper then what you stated in your estimate.

Heres a host I will -gladly- recommend (I hosted a game server with them).

http://mchost.co.uk/servers.html#vps (Dedicated: http://mchost.co.uk/servers.html#dedicated); very inexpensive prices, great support (Turn around on our ticket was less then a few hours if it was within reasonable time in their business hours).

I'll ask around about Dutch hosts, but for the most part I really would recommend German or British hosting, just because you'll find the prices a bit more competitive. 

 

[yoghurtfarmer]

FWIW, I just had a huge spike in traffic today due to a popular thread. Our usual visitors (mostly guests) online hover around 10-14. Today we've had a peak of 262 and it's consistently been above 150. No doubt some of these are bots. The site seems to be running fine, better than bad days under normal load (which there are a lot of because of the unreliable nature of shared hosting).