Newbie Question... So Appreciated!

astralography · Post by **astralography** » Mon Apr 16, 2018 10:19 pm

I have a forum in version 3.0.1 and it has been running perfect for 10 years.
My website hosting company is now doubling my price because I am now over 200 Gigs.
I have been running Mac OS 10.7.5 which I now realize has Apache installed and I have successfully transferred
the website to my own home host computer that has 8 TB of storage.

I don't want to have to worry about storage and paying $$$$$$$ for storage I already have. I also realized I can pay $50 a year
for cloud backup. In 10 years I have never had a virus on my computer, so I will take my changes and go with Apache.

Now here is my question...
It is my understanding that I will have to install some version of phpbb on my computer. I have no idea how to do this, but I assume I can download it somewhere. If I go with a newer version, I need to know how to convert the older format to the newer.

I also don't know what folder to install the new phpbb program into (Apache?) not sure where that is on my mac.

Can someone point me in the right direction? I have less that two weeks to do this before they shut down my forum.

thanks so much!

Dana

Lumpy Burgertushie · Post by **Lumpy Burgertushie** » Tue Apr 17, 2018 12:19 am

no offense but based on your questions it is obvious that you do not have the skill level to do this. it is not as simple as installing a program on your computer at home.

also, you most likely will not be able to run your board from your home server because most ISPs do not allow it .

I suggest you first find a new host. then upgrade your phpbb since you are many many versions out of date. 3.2.2 is the current version. it has been a couple of years or so since 3.0 reached end of life and even 3.1 hits its end of life in a few months.

robert

astralography · Post by **astralography** » Tue Apr 17, 2018 3:14 am

Thanks for you honesty...
I am sure I am not a phpbb tech person, but I do have an ability to follow instructions if they are presented in a logical manner

The current ISP said that I might have luck by simply pointing my domain to my computer's IP address. Sounds simple enough if I just stay with the old 3.0.0

I have a quality forum that no one has ever complained about it not being up to date. I have heard that upgrading phpbb can be a painful process often with things going haywire.

The forum has been transferred from one ISP to another completely in the past, but was not upgraded.
Basically people just talk, post pics or videos. I manage the backside with a couple of groups and a private area.

My domain is still pointed at the ISP, but I have a clone of my site on my hard drive with Apache and it works perfectly. If I use another computer, and put in my computer's IP address, I can see it is pulling pages and files from my hard drive perfectly, however, the forum is not attached because it is still being hosted on the ISP.

I really hope I can get it hosted on my computer so I can avoid the horrible tech support with them messing with my site, deleting videos without my permission, or just shutting it down because I am over some arbitrary limit they set at some point in time. I was promised unlimited storage when I signed up with them. Now there is a limit... and they want a lot more money. This site does not make money, it's more of a great resource for people who visit it. More a labor of love kind of site.

david63 · Post by **david63** » Tue Apr 17, 2018 5:28 am

As Robert says, most IPs do not allow you to run a server that way - not without a significant upgrade to your service (which will probably be more than you are, or could, be paying for hosting)

Are you on a static or dynamic IP address? If it is dynamic then you have that problem to contend with.

You also realise that you will need to have your Mac on 24/7.

Best advice is to find a new host, especially as it sounds as if you are having problems with your current one.

Post by **stevemaury** » Tue Apr 17, 2018 2:54 pm

1. For oh so many reasons, forget about hosting the board on your computer. For $5 a month you can get perfectly adequate hosting.

2. There is nothing that can go wrong with updates or upgrades, so long as you make backups. The instructions to upgrade 3.0.x to 3.2.x are here - https://www.phpbb.com/support/docs/en/3 ... /upgrade3/

3. Because 3.0.x is way beyond its end of life, the only support for it is upgrading to 3.2.x.

4. Pretty soon, there will not be a php (not phpBB) version available to run 3.0.x.

astralography · Post by **astralography** » Tue Apr 17, 2018 3:47 pm

Thanks for the advice.

As far as hosting, I can budget $300 a year for hosting.
The site is about 175 GB. It doesn't seem to work on any kind of shared network.

Any ideas?

Maybe some members here host sites?

thanks

Lumpy Burgertushie · Post by **Lumpy Burgertushie** » Tue Apr 17, 2018 4:09 pm

what in the world do you have on the site that is 175 gigabytes? that is very very large.

robert

GanstaZ · Post by **GanstaZ** » Tue Apr 17, 2018 5:11 pm

Why host videos or your own server/hosting if there's youtube & other similar platforms?

astralography · Post by **astralography** » Tue Apr 17, 2018 5:30 pm

It has teaching videos for members only... I don't want them on youtube or vimeo.
I don't understand how hosting companies can advertise unlimited when in fact it is far from unlimited.

I don't have a ton of traffic, but there is a lot of content in .mov format. I have 8 TB on my computer.. so storage in not
even close to being an issue if I host. Traffic usually I see about 20 or 30 folks on the site at a time, but they are not downloading
videos all at once. Mostly it is a one time download and then they have it. I would be surprised if 3 people have ever been downloading a video at the same time.

It's a hobby site that many are very thankful for being online. I am doing more of a community service than a money making business. It's not a business.. it's a hobby site really.

Post by **stevemaury** » Tue Apr 17, 2018 5:56 pm

Once more, and you will not thank me if you heed my advice because you will never know what I saved you from - do not host your board yourself.

astralography · Post by **astralography** » Tue Apr 17, 2018 6:46 pm

It used to cost me about $130 a year to have the site hosted.
Then they booted me and said I needed my own designated server, so they tossed me to another company they referred.
Now because of storage limits, not traffic, they are booting me again unless I pay thousands. I might just take the site offline
and sell a book version I suppose.

I'm frustrated with constant upselling and having my site arbitrarily shut down or content deleted by the hosting company.

astralography · Post by **astralography** » Tue Apr 17, 2018 6:55 pm

Thanks Steve,

I'll take your advice..
just need to find someone who will take my $300 a year.

Post by **Kailey** » Wed Apr 18, 2018 1:47 am

astralography wrote: ↑Tue Apr 17, 2018 6:55 pm just need to find someone who will take my $300 a year.

We cannot really recommend a host, but we do recommend that you visit WebHostingTalk.

astralography · Post by **astralography** » Thu Apr 19, 2018 6:23 am

Ok,

I created a new folder on my FTP at my current hosting server (not my computer)
I downloaded phpbb version 5.6.35. I unzipped it, and loaded it into a new folder with a new html index.
In that folder I renamed the phpbb folder to "forum".

Now when I go to the http://mywebpage.com/forum I just get a generic index page that shows all the phpbb files.

How do I initiate this or make it work correctly?

Should it not be guiding me to some kind of set up protocol etc?

thanks

janus_zonstraal · Post by **janus_zonstraal** » Thu Apr 19, 2018 6:30 am

with a new html index.

There is no index.html in phpbb

Did you upload the .htaccess file?