When to move from shared to a dedicated host

[musicmanmg]

How big/busy would you say your forum has to become before you move away from shared hosting? Also when you do, would you go to a VPS or a dedicated server?

 

[Nitro]

I would start off with a VPS first, if my forum started to become too resource intensive on shared hosting.

Unless the traffic becomes that much larger that it warrants a dedicated server.

 

[musicmanmg]

I guess your shared host would tell you if you were becoming too intensive then?

 

[CyberFreak]

They will not always tell you in the sense of words... Some hosts will "tell" you by their actions such as by suspending your hosting account *cough* lunarpages *cough*.

 

[Nitro]

They will not always tell you in the sense of words... Some hosts will "tell" you by their actions such as by suspending your hosting account *cough* lunarpages *cough*.

This is usually the case. I just have to keep an eye on my stats to be on the safe side.

 

[Nathan-]

If you have more than 500 active members, time to move to a VPS.

 

[SpeakWhatsReal]

They will not always tell you in the sense of words... Some hosts will "tell" you by their actions such as by suspending your hosting account *cough* lunarpages *cough*.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

@OP

Shared hosting nowadays will most likely just do what fowler said... best bet would to get a VPS.

If you have more than 500 active members, time to move to a VPS.

Active as in online 24/7? If so, you would need a dedi.

 

[Nathan-]

No, not online all at once, but online daily. Just meant a board that has a total of 500 members that are all active posters, when I reached that point I had to upgrade to a VPS. Around 6k members now and still ok on my VPS.

 

[Austin01]

If you find yourself maxing out your bandwidth frequently or coming close then it's time to upgrade to a VPS. Or if your host starts to warn you of using too much resources and such, it's time to upgrade. A dedicated isn't really needed unless you have a great amount of actively posing members on a daily basis and you have GB's of traffic in a single day.

 

[Luke]

Believe it or not, ForumPromotion last time I checked was on Shared Hosting.

I would only put, say a massive project of mine of a dedicated server. Not any need for most forums.

 

[D]

If you have a half decent host and everything is configured correctly then you would be able to last on shared hosting for quite a while. Only recently have I thought about getting a VPS for my projects because I have a few sites that are growing exponentially on the same account, Traffic is almost soaking up all of our bandwidth.

 

[datoneer]

You will notice when your forum becomes slower.