BlueHost and VBulletin - OK? Thanks for any help/advice!

[NeilF]

Our current providers MySQL is just too poor, and they're doing nothing to address it. So we need a nice reliable provider with solid performance!


http://forum(dot)homepageofthedead(dot)com


Threads: 9,681, Posts: 132,192, Members: 1,817. The MySQL database is about 190mb currently after just about over 2yrs of use.

Typically we have about 5-40 users online (we had a VERY unusual peak about 8 months over over 360 though - not sure what that was!!! Odd!!!)

Posts a day are a couple of hundred. Our current provider supposedly limits us to 500 emails per hour, but I have no idea how close we are too that limit!

We use FlashChat and ShoutBox, but nothing else major has been added.

We just want a good solid host with good MySQL performance.


Anyone able to comment on if we fit BlueHost's TOS agreements now, and if our site got a bit busier if it would still be ok. ie: We'd want a bit of room to grow!

Also is there anyone here with a VBulletin that could let us have a look at it running on BlueHost?



Our site stats (for the entire website) for Feb:-
Total Hits 3,072,554
Total Files 2,343,497
Total Pages 1,246,668
Total Visits 50593
Total KBytes 13,623,373

Hits per Hour 4,414 / 14,977 (avg / max)
Hits per Day 105,950 / 173,885 (avg / max)
Files per Day 80,810 / 136,699 (avg / max)
Pages per Day 42,988 / 96,012 (avg / max)
Visits per Day 1,744 / 1,982 (avg / max)
KBytes per Day 469,771 / 578,102 (avg / max)

[Early Out]

Well, this forum is running on Bluehost, and it's vBulletin!

[NeilF]

Well, this forum is running on Bluehost, and it's vBulletin!

Yes, most of the time in cases like this it's not on the same servers (web server & mysql server) as we the users would be on... ie: I bet it has it's own dedicated MySQL server?

And what about using FlashChat and ShoutBox?

[Early Out]

Actually, these forums are on one of the older servers in the stable.

Not sure about FlashChat and ShoutBox - perhaps someone else will chime in with some info. You could also contact BH and ask - use Live Chat (big blue button on bluehost.com), though it might be better to do that during normal working hours on a weekday.

[NeilF]

Actually, these forums are on one of the older servers in the stable.

Not sure about FlashChat and ShoutBox - perhaps someone else will chime in with some info. You could also contact BH and ask - use Live Chat (big blue button on bluehost.com), though it might be better to do that during normal working hours on a weekday.

WOW! So the PHP and MySQL performance of this forum is basically what an average user would get... Very promising!

But for example, with nearly 200 people on this forum as I type this, would I be able to get that as well? ie: Hundreds of concurrent users?

So what would be ideal is to see someone out there (another user) who has a forum/site comparible to mine running!?! (With FlashChat and ShoutBox?)

[NeilF]

That's VERY odd! Just had a response from sales, and they stated there is no way they could handle my account? Huh? Odd! Hardly particularly busy!

(Also they gave me some links so I could look stuff up. (a) 2 of the 4 links were invalid. (b) most of the information I would require is in the TOS which you need to logon to see)

[NeilF]

Not impressed at all! Raised another support ticket clearly stating I was confused that all my first ticket resulted in was a "no, we can't host you", and with the second one, got back nothing more than:-


Sir we would count your site as a busy site for a shared hosting environment.

XXXXX
Level 1 Support
BlueHost.com
888-401-4678

Most questions can be answered by articles in our forum, knowledgebase,
and video tutorials:

Forum: http://www.BlueHost.com
Knowledgebase: http://www.helpdesk.bluehost.com
Tutorials: http://www.bluehost.com/tutorials
Server Statues: http://www.serverstatus.bluehost.com

When you have a new question or issue, please open a new support ticket.

How is my site too busy? I asked that specifically in the second ticket and still haven't got a clue!

Why as a standard response are half the links not even valid!

Why are the TOS username/password protected so I can't even see them?


Not a good first impression... Guess I'll look elsewhere...

[Early Out]

They're probably looking at the hit rate on your site and figuring (correctly, I presume) that you would probably keep bumping up against the CPU quotas on here.

It's tough to handle that kind of traffic in a shared hosting environment, and BH doesn't offer a dedicated server or VPS, which is probably what you'd need. Handling that kind of traffic on a static site wouldn't be a problem, but handling it for a dynamic site might be a deal-breaker. More info on the CPU quota here (http://helpdesk.bluehost.com/kb/index.php?x=&mod_id=2&id=498).

[NeilF]

They're probably looking at the hit rate on your site and figuring (correctly, I presume) that you would probably keep bumping up against the CPU quotas on here.

It's tough to handle that kind of traffic in a shared hosting environment, and BH doesn't offer a dedicated server or VPS, which is probably what you'd need. Handling that kind of traffic on a static site wouldn't be a problem, but handling it for a dynamic site might be a deal-breaker. More info on the CPU quota here (http://helpdesk.bluehost.com/kb/index.php?x=&mod_id=2&id=498).

Shame they couldn't comment on it themselves :confused:

Well my site runs very nicely at my current shared host, except their MySQL performance sucks!

[antonth]

i have 5 domains at bluehost and on two of them i have installed vbulletin and both are working 110% so you should be fine but if you have trouble setting it up you should talk to them at http://www.vbulletin.com

and if you want plugins or just mod your vbulletin go to

http://www.vbulletin.org

[NeilF]

i have 5 domains at bluehost and on two of them i have installed vbulletin and both are working 110% so you should be fine but if you have trouble setting it up you should talk to them at http://www.vbulletin.com

and if you want plugins or just mod your vbulletin go to

http://www.vbulletin.org

I find it very odd too... I carefully listed the specs/usage of the site and twice contacted sales. Both times they said they could not host my site, neither time stating why.

On the second request I specifically asked why could they not host my site (due to my confusion - it's not particularly big/busy), but no answer was given.

So elsewhere I go!

[antonth]

i could try to help you if you want ? you could send me priv message and we could talk on msn ?

these are my sites

http://www.spjallid.is

http://www.ice-airsoft.net

[NeilF]

i could try to help you if you want ? you could send me priv message and we could talk on msn ?

these are my sites

http://www.spjallid.is

http://www.ice-airsoft.net

Thanks for the offer, but:-
1) If they don't want my business after two attempts I'm not trying again.
2) From a quick look at your sites they do look a bit smaller/quieter than mine.

[antonth]

yeah they do i was just putting them up :) just to show you that vbulletin works

i hope they will get bigger in near future :)

but sad to see that you are not satisfy with bluehost..

i only can say i am very happy with the service

hope that you have your site up and running 110% and everything is going fine for you

cheers Anton

[NeilF]

yeah they do i was just putting them up :) just to show you that vbulletin works

i hope they will get bigger in near future :)

but sad to see that you are not satisfy with bluehost..

i only can say i am very happy with the service

hope that you have your site up and running 110% and everything is going fine for you

cheers Anton

Cheers... I have to go with my gut feeling, as I was trying to be hosted by them, and on both attempts I got rejected with basically no reason why.

If they can't spare me 1 minute now, what about when I really need an asnwer...