I have never hosted a forum before -- please help me with advice!

[Katherine]

Hi all! I have a forum on my current e-commerce website that a local hosting company manages for me. My website and business have outgrown what they can do for me, so I'm looking to move. Unfortunately, none of my options also include a forum (like my current one does). My customers like having the forum and I want to start a new one when I move. I've been reading reviews around the web and xenforo looks like good software and I would like to try it.

That's about all I know. Seriously. I am stupid.

I have a hosting account at godaddy. I'm hoping some very knowledgeable and generous users can direct me on what to do next (tutorial links, videos, etc.)

 

[Liam W]

You would need to purchase the xF license, however I don't believe godaddy hosting is the best really. You may wish to look for someone else, but that's mainly a matter of opinion.

Once you have purchased the license, you have to install it to your server. This is simple, all you have to do is upload the files and configure everything. What software is the current forum using? You may be able to import some existing data.

There is also the xF user guide: http://xenforo.com/help/manual/

I have also sent you a PM

Laim

 

[Katherine]

Something I should know about godaddy? (don't forget, I'm stupid.)

 

[Liam W]

Something I should know about godaddy? (don't forget, I'm stupid.)

Most of the replies on this thread say the same

They run old software, have overcrowded servers and are generally not a good choice. For a forum, most shared hosts aren't. You would be best with a VPS (a managed one if you're not so good with technology ).

 

[Katherine]

VPS, meaning my own dedicated server?

 

[Liam W]

VPS, meaning my own dedicated server?

VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. It's like a dedicated server, but it's on one machine with loads of other VPS's on it as well. It functions the same as a dedicated server though - just with less resources, as they're shared between all users of the same machine.

 

[Jeremy]

Unless your site is large and gets a lot of visitors, you won't need a virtual private server (VPS). I've heard horror stories of GoDaddy hosting, but starting out your forum and business, I don't see much of a reason for VPS.

 

[Liam W]

Unless your site is large and gets a lot of visitors, you won't need a virtual private server (VPS). I've heard horror stories of GoDaddy hosting, but starting out your forum and business, I don't see much of a reason for VPS.

Yeah, I was just saying. The low down is, don't go with godaddy, but shared is most likely fine.

 

[Ernest L. Defoe]

VPS, meaning my own dedicated server?

Well it's like a mini dedicated server. You have your own little area on a server that a few others share with you. You have full control with your area of the server like OS, functions, etc. honestly until you understand things a bit better I would suggest a shared hosting environment but not with a company like godaddy. I would take a look at www.xfhost.net that is ran by @Mike Edge. The difference between him and other shared hosts is he doesn't over sell his servers. When it comes to hosting you get what you pay for.

 

[MikeMpls]

VPS, meaning my own dedicated server?

Avoid FatCow. As my forums grew (the major ones were in separate accounts, so they were not competing with each other for resources), there were lots of performance issues, e.g. blank screens returned and error exceptions in memory handling. When it was time to move, I discovered that many of their database backups were missing tables.

 

[Mike Edge]

I have a hosting account at godaddy. can direct me on what to do next

Move to another host Godaddy is the pits for hosting. They are a great domain register and should stick to doing that

 

[Garani]

I agree with Mike: GoDaddy is wonderful for Domain registration, and you should leave it at that. Now if you want to move to another host, I am sure that you can find different suppliers in the Third Party Service Offers. Shop around and you'll find the one that most fit your need.

Just a word of caution: if you are not confident to be a server administrator, do not go the VPS way, unless you want outsource its management to someone else.