Could anyone recommend a good server company for a large forum and website -

The forum is at approx 8,000 members.

We are with 1&1 at present but seem to be experiencing more and more problems of late.

Tonight for example the site has gone down right at the end of a charity auction (approx 250 online)

Any recommendations?

If you don't mind telling me, how much do you pay for hosting? (not trying to put my nose in business that shouldn't be known)

One thing I would suggest if your site is big enough to rent a VPS or even a dedicated server. And if you need any of those, I know a few good places. For web hosting though it would really depend on your site load, database size, bandwidth usage, etc.

Quoted from evixion

If you don't mind telling me, how much do you pay for hosting? (not trying to put my nose in business that shouldn't be known)

One thing I would suggest if your site is big enough to rent a VPS or even a dedicated server. And if you need any of those, I know a few good places. For web hosting though it would really depend on your site load, database size, bandwidth usage, etc.

We pay approx £70 per month.

I can supply the other info to you once i get back on the site (currently out of action)

Ok no rush. I assume you may be wanting a UK based solution and not American.

For $15 USD I know a VPS can be purchased which gives you web site access as well as a shell account and the ability to install any extra software/packages you may need and for $99 USD a dedicated server can be purchased (similar to VPS except VPS is shared and a dedicated server is all yours).

I can research good solutions for you with any country.

Quoted from evixion

Ok no rush. I assume you may be wanting a UK based solution and not American.

For $15 USD I know a VPS can be purchased which gives you web site access as well as a shell account and the ability to install any extra software/packages you may need and for $99 USD a dedicated server can be purchased (similar to VPS except VPS is shared and a dedicated server is all yours).

I can research good solutions for you with any country.

Thanks mate

The Country isnt vital - all we want is a good system in place - The site is currently down at least once a week, including tonight which was an important night with a good sale organised by a couple of members.


I will furnish all the info once i have it

Many thanks for the help.

Having done lots of research, trial and error with UK hosts, there really aren't very many good ones. I've been with 4 different UK hosts and been forced to move elsewhere each time. So I wouldn't recommend UK hosting.

I live in the UK and the climate here, business costs, staff requirements etc... means that UK hosting is generally very expensive, very unreliable and when you think you've found a good one, their data centres are probably US or Germany based.

All the sites I run, which include some very worldwide sites are all now US based and I've never had any problems. Houston, Texas seems to be the world's home of hosting. The majority of websites online are hosted in Texas, mainly due to "ThePlanet", the world's biggest data Center, hosting provider being based there. All my sites are with HostGator now, a very reliable host, very good customer service via phone, chat or tickets. HostGator are a massive host, and very highly spoken of online, and guess what? Their servers are in "ThePlanet" data centres too...

Yes they have shell access via SSH, they run CentOS and already have every software package I've ever needed already installed, Zend, Python, iOn Cube, Ruby, Rails, MySQL, Curl, PHPMyAdmin, cPanel, GD, Perl, PHP etc...


To summarise, I'd avoid UK hosts like the plague...
Have a look at HostGator, or follow other recommendations, up to you.

As far as we know its on its own server, we have only recently bought the site so dont have full access as yet to everything.

We have been told it has unlimited bandwidth and a substantial webspace left?

Thats all we know for now.

Just to chuck a question in maybe more so for Iconica being British based but obviously open to all - What is your view on 1&1 - and what costs are involved in the Hostgator etc?

Many thanks

I run a VPS with around 10 sites, a few voice chat programs, misc shell scripts, and a medium size gamining community from a host called Tektonic. They are good but occasionally (since it is a VPS), the host server will get attacked and lag down the site causing the forum to load after 10 seconds (which is a huge deal to me).

As far as OS goes, that is preference (I prefer Debian myself ). Me or iCONICA can assist you if possible

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Having done lots of research, trial and error with UK hosts, there really aren't very many good ones. I've been with 4 different UK hosts and been forced to move elsewhere each time. So I wouldn't recommend UK hosting.

I live in the UK and the climate here, business costs, staff requirements etc... means that UK hosting is generally very expensive, very unreliable and when you think you've found a good one, their data centres are probably US or Germany based.

Ahem... that is 100% untrue and a very biased opinion.

Quoted Text

To summarise, I'd avoid UK hosts like the plague...

another wild allegation that should be listened to with a pinch of salt.

I have had, and indeed still have websites, that now run into the hundreds, all running on UK hosts, and problems? what problems?

iCONICA once again, the personal issue that you have, has spilled over again, please consider what you write before hitting the "post reply"

Im on a dedicated server at 1&1. No issues.

Their mail does have issues..

Nat, I do not have any personal issues. I'm a web developer and have had the privalidge of working at a web hosting company (In manchester, too), so I understand the issues they face. From a personal perspective, I have had a 100% bad experience rate with UK based hosts and lots of UK hosts are moving their data centres outside the UK, providing only sales and customer service as the "UK" part of the UK hosting...

I don't understand how that's a biased opinion. If I remember rightly, don't you have a small web hosting company yourself, "A nice place"? Or are a reseller of UK hosting? If so, then that's your reasoning for being so defensive and you are in fact, the biased one.

Please stop referring to my advice against UK hosting as "personal issues that have spilled over". It's getting quite offensive now. It's an open forum and everyone is entitled to their own views. The poster is more than welcome to make up their own mind on how seriously to take my post. There's no need to belittle my post.

1&1 have their servers located in Germany. They are a massive web host with impressive data centres. The company I work for now hosts their clients' sites with 1&1. Their speed is consistently fast and the uptime as high as you need it... Their telephone support lacks enthusiasm but if you're unlikely to ring that, then you're fine.

Quoted Text

Please stop referring to my advice against UK hosting as "personal issues that have spilled over". It's getting quite offensive now. It's an open forum and everyone is entitled to their own views. The poster is more than welcome to make up their own mind on how seriously to take my post. There's no need to belittle my post.

Sure I can do that, but when you have also taken away your wild statments about hosting companies in the UK.

FYI, yes I do have a company called A Nice Place that does resell hosting? but I do a lot more than that, a lot more, that I do not publish here (think about it)

On a global state, each country will indeed have good and the not so good <firms> but to state that your words

Quoted Text

To summarise, I'd avoid UK hosts like the plague...

are wrong, and indeed as a mod here, you have again over stepped the mark, to give a one sided view, that IS NOT IN ANY WAY ENDORSED BY EBLAH

OMG  

Nat, can I ask why you're defending UK hosts so passionately? Beyond owning a hosting reselling company yourself, which of course makes you massively biased...
The OP asked for opinions on hosting and I gave mine. What's your problem? Giving out the impression that even the E-Blah team itself isn't very stable, with you starting open arguments doesn't help E-Blah at all.