Change of Host / Server as a partial remedy to phpBB3 errors

[Mick]

Dedicated servers are expensive, do you really need to go that far? I’ve just searched “cheap dedicated server uk” and the first hit was quoting £35/month = £420/annum. There are plenty of shared hosting packages for less that £5/month that will handle anything phpBB can throw at it.

[P_I]

There are plenty of shared hosting packages for less that £5/month that will handle anything phpBB can throw at it.

One minor exception to this, I have yet to find a shared hosting package that allows installation/configuration of the Sphinx Fulltext backend. The Sphinx Fulltext backend is far superior to the default phpBB Native Fulltext backend.

[Aevik]

Our current host sent us a quote for £1710. + UK VAT per year (£2052. incl. VAT) a bit dearer than expected.
does this sound a typical price for a dedicated server?

Honestly ???
I have to admit I have/had no clue about the pricing for dedicated servers but £2000 per year ???

If your board provides a means of income to you, then it could be considered ... but if not ..is it worth that much to you?

Yepp, we were gob-smacked as well. Apparently dedicated servers are the dearest option out there.

They say their support team engineer would do the server migration.
As to whether or not this would be worth doshing out 2000 quid is another thing altogether.
The only justification would be having a server to ourselves, the files of which can be fully edited server side.
Files on a shared server cannot be touched, it seems.

The board is part of our eCommerce platform, so it will be monetised when the site goes live.

Dedicated servers are expensive, do you really need to go that far? I’ve just searched “cheap dedicated server uk” and the first hit was quoting £35/month = £420/annum. There are plenty of shared hosting packages for less that £5/month that will handle anything phpBB can throw at it.

That's just it -- we're not sure if we need to go that far.
We do need some assurance that this type of server error, or corrupt server file will not happen again,
or at least can be sorted if it should happen again.

There are plenty of shared hosting packages for less that £5/month that will handle anything phpBB can throw at it.

One minor exception to this, I have yet to find a shared hosting package that allows installation/configuration of the Sphinx Fulltext backend. The Sphinx Fulltext backend is far superior to the default phpBB Native Fulltext backend.

And a Sphinx Fulltext backend is.. what exactly?

[Paul]

Even with managed support 2k/year is pretty high. And not sure why you would go for a dedicated server. There are not many boards that actually need dedicated hardware, and will work fine on a virtual server, which should be much cheaper.
Also, keep in mind that in general, server management is not included by default in the price. This means you will need to maintain the server yourself. If you want it managed, in general you pay a lot more.

[P_I]

And a Sphinx Fulltext backend is.. what exactly?

Apologies for the topic drift. phpBB's search functionality depends on the admin's choice in ACP-->Search settings and in particular the Search backend choice. There are different options, each with pros and cons.

Read Sphinx search configuration for further information.

Sphinx fulltext search allows using the Sphinx Open Source Search Server for phpBB 3.1 search. Using Sphinx will improve the performance of searching as well as indexing particularly in boards with large databases. Sphinx server being both flexible and fast, provides a better alternative as a search backend.

Back to the topic's regular programming ...

[Aevik]

Apologies for the topic drift. phpBB's search functionality depends on the admin's choice in ACP-->Search settings and in particular the Search backend choice. There are different options, each with pros and cons.

I will look into that. Cheers!

Even with managed support 2k/year is pretty high. And not sure why you would go for a dedicated server. There are not many boards that actually need dedicated hardware, and will work fine on a virtual server, which should be much cheaper.
Also, keep in mind that in general, server management is not included by default in the price. This means you will need to maintain the server yourself. If you want it managed, in general you pay a lot more.

Thanks -- I suspect you're right on that point.
A VPS may be a better server option, and these are no-where near as dear as a dedicated server (obviously).

[5hocK]

the files of which can be fully edited server side.
Files on a shared server cannot be touched, it seems.

Website files? Use a decent ftp program and you can do this. I use Cuteftppro

It would involve creating an account, registering a test domain, and installing a test board.
Then throwing everything at the test board to see if it crashes.

Something like Xampp is what everybody uses.

They say their support team engineer would do the server migration.

You mean site migration. How big is this site?

[Mick]

And a Sphinx Fulltext backend is.. what exactly?

Exactly.

Nobody has mentioned Sphinx and the vast majority don’t care.

@OP: Please ignore.