vBulletin forum transfer help and hosts

[Soul_Survivor]

Hi all

Thought I'd start here rather than a dedicated vBulletin/hosting forum as you all seem a little more genuine :cool:

Looking to work with someone to help me move the vBulletin forum I run. It's a reasonable size (6,000 members - 380,000 posts) and currently running on version 3.6.8. I'd be content with keeping this version but would ideally like to upgrade to the latest version if it doesn't cause too many problems (perhaps a 2 stage plan might work better).

The forum has been hosted by a friend but after a server crash nearly 2 weeks ago I lost FTP and admin access and haven't been able to fix it (meaning I have no advertising displaying!). As the hoster seems to be to busy to restore my acess, I've decided it's time to try and take control of my own site and pay for expert help where required, assuming that is I can get all the database info from him :|

So I need someone with a good knowledge of vBulletin to help me move the forum to a new host. I will also need to know exactly what data I need from the previous hoster in order to move it, i.e. the SQL/database stuff, I have all the skin design info and the contents from the /forum folder on the FTP

I'd also be keen to hear of any recommendations for a host, looking at www.webfusion.co.uk but only because the name came up a few times on forums. Only trouble is I've got no idea what sort of bandwidth I'm using although but main site (excluding the fourm) is around 2Gb and I have around 60,000 visitors to the forum.

Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated, I've relied on so called friends help for too long and need to have some control over my own site, I have a nasty feeling that I could lose my entire forum one day, if I haven't already :eek:

Oh the forums all about nitro radio controlled cars/trucks and if you'd like to do a bit of a contra deal for design and marketing help, I'd be only too happy, I used to run the website as part of a company but that closed down so now it mainly just for fun

Cheers
Dan

[Peter Bowen]

Hi Dan,

I did a vbulletin migration. It went quite simply just following the instructions but it did take several hours - and that was migrating it from one domain to another (and a software upgrade) on the same physical server.

I'd expect that you're looking at considerably longer moving from one shared hosting environment to another especially if they limit file upload size etc.

It might be worthwhile tackling this in two stages - migrate on the existing version of your software, and when that's running smoothly go for the upgrade.

For now I'd recommend that you get a complete backup of your database at the very least.

Cheers

Pete

[That Guy]

Firstly you should have a folder called public_html you will need to backup this.

Then also your database for the forum.

You will then need to upload the files to the new host and restore the database.

As for a host check my signature for the best you will find.

PM me more details and I can help you sort this :)

[Carl-CSNM]

How many visitors/active members can the site have at any 1 time?

Are you using any third party modifications (mods) on the forum?

Any decent web host will be able to transfer your website over for you, with very little if any downtime with no loss of data. I'd strongly recommend you update vBulletin to the latest stable version as running popular out of date scripts will result in the forum getting compromised from exploits in old versions of the software.

In terms of what you need from your current host, just ask for a full backup of your domain (website files & databases). :)

[openmind]

We can certainly help you move your forum but based on the level of visitors and size of the forum I would have said that you would better looking for a managed VPS server or dedicated solution.

Both of these options are on our site but please do not hesitate to get in touch to have a chat about a smooth migration :)

[Dwebs-Ltd]

Looking to work with someone to help me move the vBulletin forum I run. It's a reasonable size (6,000 members - 380,000 posts) and currently running on version 3.6.8. I'd be content with keeping this version but would ideally like to upgrade to the latest version if it doesn't cause too many problems (perhaps a 2 stage plan might work better).


Assuming you have a decent number of active users you are going to need to look at a decent VPS or Dedicated / Managed server.

You will not get the performance you need out of shared hosting.

As its a vBulletin forum you will not have any issues with Linux or Windows based hosting as it performs exceptionally well on both.

We could do a Managed Win server for £199/Month that will do the job depending on your active user figures plus visits/day.

[Soul_Survivor]

Thanks for all the info guys, £199 a month is well beyond a sensible budget for the site, I was aim for more like £30-£50 per month :eek:

I have around 2,000 active users, about 1,000 unique per day. No third party add on's as far as I'm aware.

I've now asked for a full backup and access, three times and am starting to get a bit frustrated!

[Dwebs-Ltd]

Thanks for all the info guys, £199 a month is well beyond a sensible budget for the site, I was aim for more like £30-£50 per month :eek:

I have around 2,000 active users, about 1,000 unique per day. No third party add on's as far as I'm aware.

I've now asked for a full backup and access, three times and am starting to get a bit frustrated!

You are going to struggle with those figures on anything but a dedicated really.

Possible you could look at a high end VPS or maybe a low end dedicated from rapidswitch if you want to manage it yourself.

[openmind]

Thanks for all the info guys, £199 a month is well beyond a sensible budget for the site, I was aim for more like £30-£50 per month :eek:

I have around 2,000 active users, about 1,000 unique per day. No third party add on's as far as I'm aware.

I've now asked for a full backup and access, three times and am starting to get a bit frustrated!
Our VPS servers are here:

http://www.openmindhosting.co.uk/uk-dedicated-hosting/vps-servers.cfm

I wouldn't go for the Bronze server simply as I don't think it will have enough resources for what you need.

Silver would be better but Gold or above would be best. Assuming you went for the Gold VPS you would be looking at £24.95 vat plus £49 + vat for the VPS management service...