Hosting advice?

Okay, my board has grown, and grown. It uses about twice the bandwidth of most boards it's size because we have lots of images, and we allow spam in some forums, and other reasons.

We recently hit the cealing with our current host, and we've had other issues with them as well. We need to move to a better, bigger host and I thought this would be the prefect place to ask for recommendations and suggestions.

[bashy]

What are you looking for?
Type of hosting?
Cost?
Linux or windows?
Minimum requirements, e.g. whats the minimum email, database, ftp and so on, that you require?
Control panel preference?

Whats ya sites stats?

[hambil]

Around 325 active members, 50 - 100 on at the same time peak, plus upwards of 100 bots at times (mostly yahoo slurp and google).

We're on linux now, and that's fine with me.

I don't care much about the cPanel as long as it supports phpMyAdmin, a dozen email accounts or so, and about that many ftp accounts.

Bandwidth usage about 31gigs a month and climbing by about 5gigs a month every month.

[bashy]

Ok...this is who im with atm, i am on a Semi dedicated but will be upgrading to a fully dedicated very soon...

There support is very good, i am incontact with them pretty often with regards to server loads and what have you, there quick at responding...

Not sure how much tou want to spen, but there Dedicated start at $149.99 with $49 setup fee

Obviously they do shared hosting at a reasonable price and theres the semi dedicated again at about $70 i think im paying....

These are call www.westhost.com dont you dare say thats who ya with now lol

I do have a few more if needed!!

[hambil]

Nope, we're not with westhost

And we're currently paying 300+ a year for a shared server.

[bashy]

Ok i am assuming thats dollars...
I think you would be best on a semi dedicated like what im on atm..
As long as you dont use VBShout then the resources shouldnt be an issue
I use vbshout but for my staff only....

The reson a i am saying semi dedicated is to save you upgrading again in the future, if you can afford it then do it!! with westhost its a virtual server with is better than a shared server, theres less sites sharing for 1 and 2 you get a lot more resources......Have you had a browse, what do you think?

heres a few more to look at...keep ya options open
http://devotedhost.biz/ (shared shoting)
http://jumpline.com/vds_hosting.php VDS (Virtual dedicated) cheaper option to full dedicated
http://www.redwoodvirtual.com/ Prices seem ok, but there site looks a little mickey mouseish
http://webhosting.lycos.co.uk/expert/comparevds/ (lycos VDS) pretty good from what i can see
http://www.wedohosting.com/website-h...-dedicated.htm (VDS again)

[hambil]

Originally Posted by bashy

Have you had a browse, what do you think?

I think dedicated servers are expensive, ouch.

*Sigh*, looks like I'll just have to pony up, or find a better shared server.

[Zachery]

What is your budget and I'll try to give you some recomendations and places to look for hardware.

[hambil]

We could maybe go as high as $500 or $600 a year.

[bashy]

You should be able to get VDS for that, which is a cheaper option to the fully dedicated

There is also www.hostgator.com there ok...