What's the main *disadvantage* of Xenforo cloud vs self-hosting?

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If you run multiple sites using different scripts you usually will want self hosted since you already have the hosting infrastructure in place.
I’d you are only going to use XF and don’t want the hassle of actual hosting administration the cloud can be the better choice.
 
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Off the top of my head:
  • The ability to install and run software other than Xenforo.
  • The ability to install any add-on, not just those approved by Xenforo. In one example, I tried to install and setup the backup addon from 8wayrun for someone, but Xenforo said it was not supported. That killed the ability to make automatic daily off-site backups.
  • Being able to setup a highly optimized MySQL configuration.
  • Being able to setup highly optimized PHP, and caching methods.
  • Control.
 
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Pros:

  1. You don’t have to do all the upgrades. The staff do it for you.
  2. Price wise it’s pretty good.
  3. You can migrate your old forum to it
Cons:
  1. You have to use things that are xenforo approved.
Me personally if i had troubles with the software i’d use the xf cloud.
I’m considering putting one of my forums on the cloud.
Why? It will make it easier for me to upgrade.
 
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duderuud said:
And that may be the biggest one. You are completely at the mercy of a UK company.

It's easy and takes a lot of headaches out of the equation but losing control isn't something I don't want.
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But the cloud platform is built with servers hosted by a US company.

So technically both US and UK companies.
 
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For me, from my perspective:

Self hosted stuff can be moved wherever and whenever you like, to any decent server. You have your own backups and all.
That is also the biggest downside of self-hosted - it's all on you (updates, backups, security etc.).

"XenForo cloud" is basically a SAAS (Software As A Service) and not very easy to migrate from to a self-hosted or a different SAAS platform. So, if the SAAS provider kicks the bucket, you're screwed. You rely on their backups and all.

Also note that "Cloud" is just another PC in a basement, somewhere. :)
 
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its a great way to learn how to setup/run/manage a website ....for beginners.

I use self hosted and i'm a first time site ower. I came into this not knowing ****. Everything is pretty straightforward with guides every step of the way. if you have a brain comming in, everythings super easy. if you get stuck, you can always ask in the respective forum. staff and others are always here to help.
 
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Now, this is an interesting question. Note that the following commentary is coming from someone who moved from self hosted to cloud some time ago, so I'm no fanboy of either system, but just telling the facts.

  • If you want to shut down your forum for a while for whatever reason, it's easy for self hosted. Just take backups of all the servers (I had a web server and a MySQL server, for example) and then shut them down and perhaps even delete them to save money, ready for use just as they were when the time comes (hence the backups). Not so for cloud as once the payment stops, your forum will be deleted after a short time. You might be able to come to some arrangement to prevent this, but it all comes down to specifics that XF agree to and there's no guarantee that you'll get what you want. Also, while XF will give you a backup of your database on demand, you have no access to the actual XF installation, or the server. This means that you will not be able to recreate your forum easily elsewhere if you have a self hosted license as well, since things like the forum structure, styles and crucially, attachments are stored on the server and you'll lose those. It's basically a trap that keeps you on cloud, whether meant that way by XF or not.
  • You can't make a local copy to experiment with, say to test new styles, or just hack at it in ways that you can't with the live version for testing purposes. Wanna test new add-ons to get the bugs out of the system in a sandbox environment? Can't do that.
  • You can't shut down the server temporarily if you need to, or firewall it from the rest of the internet except yourself if you need to. You'd have to log a ticket and request these things and I don't know if XF would be willing to do that for you and even if yes, it's not immediate.
  • Backups are not done to your specifications, which can be pretty important, if you want to make extra backups around big changes, or hold off, for special reasons. They're done once every 24 hours.
  • You're beholden to XF's cloud T&C's, which might not be great if you have a controversial forum. Mind you, every server provider has something similar, so this might not be so different, really.
  • This one's a matter of opinion: you don't get the sheer joy of running your own server and learning loads about this, which for me, was like a garden in the sense that there was always something to tweak and fiddle with, with examples mentioned above; real hardcore techie stuff and I loved it. :) I miss it, too.
  • There's probably others that I haven't thought of here.

I know this question asks about the negatives only, but I think it's only fair to list some important positives:
  • Great for newbies who don't want to go through all that learning curve to run their own server, especially if they're not technically minded, like most of us here are. Just fill in a form, pay your money, instant forum!
  • Great security.
  • Great performance and reliability. Not had any downtime since I went cloud over a year ago and it's fast and responsive. Just click on it in my siggy to see what I mean.
Ultimately, choose the solution that's best for you.
 
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FTL said:
Also, while XF will give you a backup of your database on demand, you have no access to the actual XF installation, or the server. This means that you will not be able to recreate your forum easily elsewhere if you have a self hosted license as well, since things like the forum structure, styles and crucially, attachments are stored on the server and you'll lose those. It's basically a trap that keeps you on cloud, whether meant that way by XF or not.
Click to expand...

Are you saying that you can't request a full backup, including the files on the server? So, basically, if you ever decide to move to self-hosted you will actually lose part of your site (attachments, avatars, etc)? I can't imagine that being true.
 
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mjda said:
Are you saying that you can't request a full backup, including the files on the server? So, basically, if you ever decide to move to self-hosted you will actually lose part of your site (attachments, avatars, etc)? I can't imagine that being true.
Click to expand...
Yes, that's exactly right. There's no access to server files, ever. That's bad, huh?
 
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mjda said:
Are you saying that you can't request a full backup, including the files on the server? So, basically, if you ever decide to move to self-hosted you will actually lose part of your site (attachments, avatars, etc)? I can't imagine that being true.
Click to expand...

For the important stuff, it's a good idea to have backups that work.
How often?
That depends on how much data/changes/updates you are willing to lose.
How many?
At least two, in two separate locations - at least for the important stuff.

Does the XenForo cloud let you auto-download backups to your local or "cloud" storage regularly?
If yes, can you restore those backups on a self-hosted forum version/installation?

Relja
 
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BikeGremlin said:
Does the XenForo cloud let you auto-download backups to your local or "cloud" storage regularly?
If yes, can you restore those backups on a self-hosted forum version/installation?
Click to expand...
You can request a full backup at any time. It’s a manual process for us but it basically happens in however long it takes to receive the ticket (depending on business hours) and however long it takes for the download to become available (depends how big the site is).

Once you have the files and database they can be restored anywhere including to a self hosted installation or another forum platform for migration purposes.
 
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