What kind of server are you using for your forums?

robbie787 · Post by **robbie787** » Tue Oct 15, 2019 10:43 pm

Close to completing my first forum just a few tweaks and it should be ready. But my server is what is worrying me on how much traffic it can possibly handle. It is a VPS with Intel 2x Core, 8GB Ram, 80GB SSD. After plesk install there is 4GB Ram left with over 70GB SSD left. I am guessing many on here have had forums going for years.

Does anyone mind sharing what server they are running and how much traffic their forums have handled? I am in 2 minds to weather or not upgrade to a dedicated server as I plan to run multiple forums eventually. I wish there was a way to stress test how many users the server can handle at once.

Look forward to seeing what others reply here.

Wirral Talk · Post by **Wirral Talk** » Wed Oct 16, 2019 1:28 am

I've always used shared hosting and very recently changed to shared cloud hosting. My sites serve about 30GB/month, memory and cpu use is almost negligible.

I've never seen the need for VPS but I guess I'm a pretty light user.

Here is CPU graph for the last 24 hours ...

bubbathegimp · Post by **bubbathegimp** » Wed Oct 16, 2019 1:54 am

I have very little traffic, Barely a handful of us active.. I'm on a shared server.
They are upgrading this weekend from AMD to Xeon E5 processors (Dunno which) & SSD drives this weekend.

alvo · Post by **alvo** » Wed Oct 16, 2019 2:44 am

I started with a shared server, but it took up too much server resources and I had to go to a VPS. I then ended up having to upgrade RAM a couple of times. I now have a dedicated server with an Intel Xeon GS-1220 processor, 8GB RAM, 500 GB SSD DRIVE. It serves about 5 million pages a month without issues.

<spam link removed>

edit :: my apologies for including a link to the site running on the server I mentioned in case anybody wanted to see exactly what was being done.

sakm · Post by **sakm** » Sat Oct 19, 2019 7:38 pm

If you're just starting a forum then the server is the least of your worries at the moment

It sounds like a decent spec and would handle a fair bit of traffic

JLA · Post by **JLA** » Sat Oct 26, 2019 7:49 pm

For our phpbb2 board - we have been using Windows based systems since 2004.

WelshPaul · Post by **WelshPaul** » Sun Oct 27, 2019 2:23 pm

alvo wrote: ↑
Wed Oct 16, 2019 2:44 am
I started with a shared server, but it took up too much server resources and I had to go to a VPS. I then ended up having to upgrade RAM a couple of times. I now have a dedicated server with an Intel Xeon GS-1220 processor, 8GB RAM, 500 GB SSD DRIVE. It serves about 5 million pages a month without issues.

<spam link removed>

edit :: my apologies for including a link to the site running on the server I mentioned in case anybody wanted to see exactly what was being done.

Odd that the link to your board was removed and classed as spam considering you have been a member since 2006 and the very post above this one has a link to their board in their signature.

Post by **kinerity** » Wed Oct 30, 2019 1:05 pm

Our (private) board at my job runs on a dedicated server. Specs below:

2 x Intel Xeon 12 core processors
128 GB RAM
2 TB total HDD (configured in a Raid 6 array)
4 x 10GB NICs

John connor · Post by **John connor** » Wed Oct 30, 2019 8:48 pm

Netbook running an Intel Atom with 2 GB of RAM and public_html on a SD card connected to DSL Internet.

JLA · Post by **JLA** » Wed Oct 30, 2019 9:44 pm

John connor wrote: ↑
Wed Oct 30, 2019 8:48 pm
Netbook running an Intel Atom with 2 GB of RAM and public_html on a SD card connected to DSL Internet.

How big is your database?

</Solidjeuh> · Post by **</Solidjeuh>** » Wed Oct 30, 2019 10:56 pm

Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2630 v3 @ 2.40GHz (8 core(s))
Plesk Obsidian v18.0.20_build1800191029.11 os_CentOS 7
16 Gb Ram

Lumpy Burgertushie · Post by **Lumpy Burgertushie** » Wed Oct 30, 2019 11:01 pm

robbie787
please remember that most of the replies here are talking about boards that have been in place for quite a while and have a lot of posts and a lot of members etc.

for just starting out you can not expect to have a board that requires more than most shared hosting planes provide. Even if your board becomes very popular it may take a year or more before you need to start thinking about increasing resources.

so, don't panic just yet.

get a decent shared hosting account anywhere but godaddy and get the board started and see how it goes over a few months.

good luck,
robert

3Di · Post by **3Di** » Wed Oct 30, 2019 11:04 pm

John connor wrote: ↑
Wed Oct 30, 2019 8:48 pm
Netbook running an Intel Atom with 2 GB of RAM and public_html on a SD card connected to DSL Internet.

I use it to diagnostic my car`s engine in case.

JLA · Post by **JLA** » Wed Oct 30, 2019 11:44 pm

Lumpy Burgertushie wrote: ↑
Wed Oct 30, 2019 11:01 pm
robbie787
please remember that most of the replies here are talking about boards that have been in place for quite a while and have a lot of posts and a lot of members etc.

for just starting out you can not expect to have a board that requires more than most shared hosting planes provide. Even if your board becomes very popular it may take a year or more before you need to start thinking about increasing resources.

so, don't panic just yet.

get a decent shared hosting account anywhere but godaddy and get the board started and see how it goes over a few months.

good luck,
robert

If someone is willing to put in the time to optimize their code then the hardware requirements are surprisingly minimal - even with nearly half a billion postings. But yes, I agree that many people will never approach the limits of a vanilla phpbb installation on shared hosting.

John connor · Post by **John connor** » Thu Oct 31, 2019 5:23 am

3Di wrote: ↑
Wed Oct 30, 2019 11:04 pm

John connor wrote: ↑
Wed Oct 30, 2019 8:48 pm
Netbook running an Intel Atom with 2 GB of RAM and public_html on a SD card connected to DSL Internet.
I use it to diagnostic my car`s engine in case.

There's an App for that.

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