vBulletin migration from Unix to Linux?

[johnpike]

Hi,

I currently have a dedicated Unix server with vbulletin, Photopost and the OpenX adserver running on it. The OpenX adserver is fairly active as I use to serve ads for other sites of mine. The forum doesn't itself get a lot of traffic (~100 users, both guests and members, at peak time), and neither does the Photopost image gallery right now.

I'm looking to actively work to promote and ramp up both the forum and the image gallery. What's held me back in the past is the fact that the one time the image gallery was in full swing, it got one day so much traffic (a couple of thousands users in a short amount of time) that it nearly crashed the server. The forum, Photopost and most importantly, the adserver, almost ground to a halt.

These are I think the possible choices available to me:
1- Move both vBulletin and Photopost to a new Linux-based(cheaper) server
2- Move the HTML part on the Unix server and move the MySQL DB to a new Linux server.

I would like to keep OpenX where it is. Photopost is integrated with vBulletin, so I don't think I can separate it, nor do I really want to.

Which of the two options would be the easiest to achieve? Or make more sense?
How hard would it be to move the entire forum and Photopost to a new server? Which option would be more scaleable in case I manage to ramp up traffic and activity and need to get more servers?
Can I just do a complete database & file transfer from one server to the other and expect it to work?
Are there any steps/reconfigurations/tweaks/etc that would need to be done in moving from a Unix environment to a Linux one?
Anyone gone through a similar process?

Any input would be greatly appreciated!