Forums -Cost of Software & Hardware requirements?
Discussion
This is principally aimed at Petrolted, but if anyone else has any experience feel free to chip in.
My missus posts to a very busy weddings forum (1000 posts a day minimum on Hitched.co.uk) that seems to fall down occasionally and the search function hasn't worked for yonks (very frustrating).
It is no-where near as good as the Gassing Station Forum in terms of its functionality, features and user friendliness.
So what I'm basically asking is, how much would a non-competing Forum expect to pay for your software (I assume it belongs to Petrolted)on one of the equivalent functionality and how much bandwidth are you likely to need.
What I'm trying to do is get a bit more information, so that it is easier for "Hitchers" to persuade the owner of the forum to upgrade. I would have thought that PH tower adverts and the like would lead to more click throughs as well, meaning that any costs would pay for themselves.
My missus posts to a very busy weddings forum (1000 posts a day minimum on Hitched.co.uk) that seems to fall down occasionally and the search function hasn't worked for yonks (very frustrating).
It is no-where near as good as the Gassing Station Forum in terms of its functionality, features and user friendliness.
So what I'm basically asking is, how much would a non-competing Forum expect to pay for your software (I assume it belongs to Petrolted)on one of the equivalent functionality and how much bandwidth are you likely to need.
What I'm trying to do is get a bit more information, so that it is easier for "Hitchers" to persuade the owner of the forum to upgrade. I would have thought that PH tower adverts and the like would lead to more click throughs as well, meaning that any costs would pay for themselves.
I'm working on a new version of the Gassing Station which will allow me to host forums for other sites in future but that's some way off yet.
Forum software is pretty cheap in the scheme of things. Check out vBulletin or Ultimate Bulletin Board amongst others. They offer very sophisticated systems. The simplicity of the Gassing Station is largely achieved through not having many of the features that some of those forums have available. Keeping it simple makes it easier to use.
So you're looking at a few hundred dollars for the software.
Realistically you don't need mega hardware for 1,000 posts a day. You might get away with one multiprocessor box or better still a couple of reasonable spec boxes, one as a web server and one as a database server. Second hand kit @ £700 a box would do it.
The real cost probably depends on their level of expertise. Hooking this stuff together can require skills in a number of areas.
Forum software is pretty cheap in the scheme of things. Check out vBulletin or Ultimate Bulletin Board amongst others. They offer very sophisticated systems. The simplicity of the Gassing Station is largely achieved through not having many of the features that some of those forums have available. Keeping it simple makes it easier to use.
So you're looking at a few hundred dollars for the software.
Realistically you don't need mega hardware for 1,000 posts a day. You might get away with one multiprocessor box or better still a couple of reasonable spec boxes, one as a web server and one as a database server. Second hand kit @ £700 a box would do it.
The real cost probably depends on their level of expertise. Hooking this stuff together can require skills in a number of areas.
I've just had a look at the site. It uses Snitz forums which should cope ok depending which database they're using (free software even).
I bet they're using the version which hooks up to an AccessDB. That's probably groaning under the strain. They need to switch to MYSQL of MS SQL Server. MYSQL costs less than $200 to licence.
I bet they're using the version which hooks up to an AccessDB. That's probably groaning under the strain. They need to switch to MYSQL of MS SQL Server. MYSQL costs less than $200 to licence.
Also don't forget www.phpbb.com which is open source.
Out of interest Ted, can I ask how you got these forums to be so busy? Is there anything in particular that you think is responsible for its success?
Out of interest Ted, can I ask how you got these forums to be so busy? Is there anything in particular that you think is responsible for its success?
I host several large forums, some of the largest in their field..
vBulletin is an excellent choice, nice and cheap, customisable, speedy and feature rich.
You will require lots of Ram and CPU for a busy forums, and I would only ever advocate SCSI hdds (simply due to load, IDE takes CPU time, SCSI doesn't)
Its perfectly possible to start of small, and upgrade over time, without your users EVER noticing as you change boxes seamlessly.
Feel free to drop me a mail via profile if you fancy a chat about the hosting side, always happy to sort out a PHr.
Forums do use a bit of bandwidth, especially the busy ones, but its nothing too major in the grand scheme of things... I wouldn't expect PH to use more than a few mbit 95%, so anything smaller wouldn't be much of an issue, so long as the forums were Corporately backed / sponsored.
J
vBulletin is an excellent choice, nice and cheap, customisable, speedy and feature rich.
You will require lots of Ram and CPU for a busy forums, and I would only ever advocate SCSI hdds (simply due to load, IDE takes CPU time, SCSI doesn't)
Its perfectly possible to start of small, and upgrade over time, without your users EVER noticing as you change boxes seamlessly.
Feel free to drop me a mail via profile if you fancy a chat about the hosting side, always happy to sort out a PHr.
Forums do use a bit of bandwidth, especially the busy ones, but its nothing too major in the grand scheme of things... I wouldn't expect PH to use more than a few mbit 95%, so anything smaller wouldn't be much of an issue, so long as the forums were Corporately backed / sponsored.
J
gh0st said:
Do you run this site from your own premesis then Ted?
Nope, all the servers are in a secure site in Docklands hosted by www.carrenza.com
D-Angle said:
Out of interest Ted, can I ask how you got these forums to be so busy? Is there anything in particular that you think is responsible for its success?
It's a number of factors. It's incredibly difficult bringing a forum to life, particularly if there are well established forums elsewhere. There are a few techniques I use which I believe have been instrumental but there are no magic bullets. It's all about reaching critical mass.
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