What kind of server are you using for your forums?

[robbie787]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

[WelshPaul]

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.

[KaileyT]

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

[2600]

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

[JLA]

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>]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[2600]

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.