92f-fan wrote:Hits mean nothing - if you had a static html page with a thousand graphic elements and it was seen 1,000 times thats a million hits. In that example you had 1000 page views, from some fraction of that many humans. If you had a PHP page like this one with 10 to 20 queries per page, the server load goes up in a non linear fashion. Busy sql likes fast drives, fast drives cost $.
I was quoting dedicated server pricing. A decent dedicated server that can run significant sql queries per hour costs a minimum of $200 a month and Charles has stated that he has help with some of the technical pieces, so I added $100 for that, and to properly manage a site like this you need some paid software along with the open source stuff so add in some license fees here and there.. Many Webhosts charge for backup space so if you offer daily or multiple t8imes per day backups that adds $$. you stated to drop off a zero from my estimate. This site has over a million posts, Id love to see a web account for under $80 that would support that kind of mysql load.
While your site may run happily on a VM or a slice of a server it likely doesn't see hundreds or thousands of updates an hour. A mid size forum often sees that kind of traffic.
My point was about more than just this site but most sites that exist on the internet cost some $$.
And most are run by people or businesses who expect to make $$ to pay for food and lodging. And maybe beer. That $$ often comes from Advertising and Ad blockers impact that. Without ads soon the only sites left will be behind paywalls or enthusiast sites like this one, some of mine and yours that are bankrolled at a loss...
And in my opinion that would be a shame.
Cudos on finding an inexpensive solution for hosting your site.
I see you are running cloudflare - is that the free version ?
Agree on everything you said. I realized my reply came off a little curt - sorry :)
Previous version of phpBB that I have messed with weren't too hungry on database performance requirements, but I don't have any experience with the later ones. Before I stick my head too far up my butt I'll just agree with what you said! My site isn't heavy on SQL usage at all aside from the Map page.
I will say on the dedicated server pricing that I have used these guys for heavily-used production boxes at my employer and they've worked great for a great price. Don't let the name turn you off: https://joesdatacenter.com/dedicated-server-packages/
And yes on the free Cloudflare. The free package has offered everything I've needed so far
