well, this is the first website i've ever honestly went to put online.
and i have no clue what requirements I need from a hosting server.

the site will host funny pictures, videos (under 5-10 mins), quotes, jokes, and a forum. There will be a login system, with email validation, and user ranks, both for controlling how much power you have mediating inputted media, as well as forum acsess. Forum members should be able to send pm's to each other. I will figure out how i'm going to make the forum later...
I will be using xhtml, css, possibly some javascript, php, and mysql for the site.

So I have three questions.
#1. I've heard somewhere that most hostng places have the default php mail shutoff, but I can change it so that it does have smtp auth. How do I do this?

#2. How much Disk Space for this, at least at the start? Bandwidth? MySql Databases? What other requirements for a hosting company do i need to have?

#3. What hosting services can satisfy #2? I'm looking for a shared, thats under $10 a month. Later, after the site is really going, assuming that will happen, I can always change it to a dedicated or w.e i need. but for now i need shared hostng under $10.

One I've looked at s TheHosted
However, even though they don't offer unlimited services, they are rather cheap... so i'm kind of cautious. Anybody know WHY there so cheap?

edit: oh and godaddy.com
big name, but aren't they overselling?

mmh.. Godaddy is a good choice if you can. Buy Deluxe Plan. It is only $7 per month. They provide 150 GB space and enough bandwith. That is more than enough for you at the start level. Once you grow the site, then you can buy a VPS or a DS.

yea i agree with you. most PHP email sucks. If you are planning to send more than 2000-3000 mails per month, then really you need a seperate email account. Otherwise the php mail will catch your neck.

You can use another SMTP account with PHP. It is simple.

Originally Posted by firebladeiii

mmh.. Godaddy is a good choice if you can. Buy Deluxe Plan. It is only $7 per month. They provide 150 GB space and enough bandwith. That is more than enough for you at the start level. Once you grow the site, then you can buy a VPS or a DS.

yea i agree with you. most PHP email sucks. If you are planning to send more than 2000-3000 mails per month, then really you need a seperate email account. Otherwise the php mail will catch your neck.

You can use another SMTP account with PHP. It is simple.

what about their interface?
i've heard bad things about it for domains at least

I think that first of all you need to find (chose web application) which will take care about all that things and then look for the web hosting sollutions which can handle that.

Originally Posted by Webmaster Chris

well, this is the first website i've ever honestly went to put online.
and i have no clue what requirements I need from a hosting server.

the site will host funny pictures, videos (under 5-10 mins), quotes, jokes, and a forum. There will be a login system, with email validation, and user ranks, both for controlling how much power you have mediating inputted media, as well as forum acsess. Forum members should be able to send pm's to each other. I will figure out how i'm going to make the forum later...
I will be using xhtml, css, possibly some javascript, php, and mysql for the site.

I tend to agree (to a point) that you should really be asking for hosting suitable for specific applications... unless you're planning on writing custom code for everything? (in which case I recommend that you don't take that option because plenty of other experienced people already made pretty much everything you seem to be asking for)

Forum hosting can end up quite resource intensive, and many shared hosts (especially the cheaper / overselling ones) will use this as an excuse to suspend your services when you use more resources than they'd like - although there does also come a point where a forum becomes too big for shared hosting (hint: it has nothing to do with bandwidth usage).

You should clarify how your hosting provider might handle this situation - some will just suspend your site without any warning, and then only put your site back online after you agree to pay more money via an upgrade with them.

Originally Posted by Webmaster Chris

So I have three questions.
#1. I've heard somewhere that most hostng places have the default php mail shutoff, but I can change it so that it does have smtp auth. How do I do this?

This is mostly a feature of specific web applications (e.g. forum software) so in this case the "how" would depend which you use... it would be setup in different places for different software. However for your own custom scripts the best advice I can give is to take a look at PHP mailing components such as Swift Mailer and PHPMailer.

Originally Posted by Webmaster Chris

#2. How much Disk Space for this, at least at the start? Bandwidth? MySql Databases? What other requirements for a hosting company do i need to have?

For a basic forum I'd recommend that 100MB+ is about the minimum to start with. Obviously more space is better, but 1GB ought to be very comfortable, and I'd be surprised to see you exceed that amount in the short to medium term for the site described - especially running it on shared hosting.

One thing to watch out for is the database size. On a forum the majority of your disk space usage will be in the database - but there are some providers (particularly some of the big names) which limit you to a max. DB size such as 100MB. This can be a problem. Make sure you check if your hosting provider has any artificial MySQL size limits, and if they do what they are + what your options would be when you reach that limit (e.g. can you have a bigger one if you pay them a little bit more, or would you need to move hosting provider... a bit of a pain!).

Originally Posted by Webmaster Chris

#3. What hosting services can satisfy #2? I'm looking for a shared, thats under $10 a month. Later, after the site is really going, assuming that will happen, I can always change it to a dedicated or w.e i need. but for now i need shared hostng under $10.

$10/month sounds like a reasonable starting point for a site like this, but obviously expect to pay more in future as you grow

You should have plenty of options in the $5 - $10 range, but my suggestion would be to aim towards the higher end of this budget if possible because cheap usually means problems in hosting.

[QUOTE=Webmaster Chris;759157]One I've looked at s TheHosted
However, even though they don't offer unlimited services, they are rather cheap... so i'm kind of cautious. Anybody know WHY there so cheap?
You should definitely avoid so-called "unlimited" services... I'm not clear if you're saying that TheHosted seem possibly ok because they don't offer unlimited, or if you actually want to buy unlimited hosting?

Their shared hosting plans don't seem too under-priced, but I would be cautious about the feasibility of their lower-end packages. As above, make sure that you check about MySQL size limits, and another important point I don't see mentioned on their site is backups... do they take any? How often + where to?

Originally Posted by Webmaster Chris

edit: oh and godaddy.com
big name, but aren't they overselling?

Godaddy are a big name, but keep in mind what for: domains. About 90%+ of the feedback I've heard regarding GoDaddy's hosting service is that it leaves a lot to be desired - particularly with respect to support. Unfortunately this is a common experience reported for a lot of the hosting giants (1&1 would be another example).

[quote=damien_ls;759431]I tend to agree (to a point) that you should really be asking for hosting suitable for specific applications... unless you're planning on writing custom code for everything? (in which case I recommend that you don't take that option because plenty of other experienced people already made pretty much everything you seem to be asking for)

Forum hosting can end up quite resource intensive, and many shared hosts (especially the cheaper / overselling ones) will use this as an excuse to suspend your services when you use more resources than they'd like - although there does also come a point where a forum becomes too big for shared hosting (hint: it has nothing to do with bandwidth usage).

You should clarify how your hosting provider might handle this situation - some will just suspend your site without any warning, and then only put your site back online after you agree to pay more money via an upgrade with them.



This is mostly a feature of specific web applications (e.g. forum software) so in this case the "how" would depend which you use... it would be setup in different places for different software. However for your own custom scripts the best advice I can give is to take a look at PHP mailing components such as Swift Mailer and PHPMailer.


For a basic forum I'd recommend that 100MB+ is about the minimum to start with. Obviously more space is better, but 1GB ought to be very comfortable, and I'd be surprised to see you exceed that amount in the short to medium term for the site described - especially running it on shared hosting.

One thing to watch out for is the database size. On a forum the majority of your disk space usage will be in the database - but there are some providers (particularly some of the big names) which limit you to a max. DB size such as 100MB. This can be a problem. Make sure you check if your hosting provider has any artificial MySQL size limits, and if they do what they are + what your options would be when you reach that limit (e.g. can you have a bigger one if you pay them a little bit more, or would you need to move hosting provider... a bit of a pain!).


$10/month sounds like a reasonable starting point for a site like this, but obviously expect to pay more in future as you grow

You should have plenty of options in the $5 - $10 range, but my suggestion would be to aim towards the higher end of this budget if possible because cheap usually means problems in hosting.

Originally Posted by Webmaster Chris

One I've looked at s TheHosted
However, even though they don't offer unlimited services, they are rather cheap... so i'm kind of cautious. Anybody know WHY there so cheap?
You should definitely avoid so-called "unlimited" services... I'm not clear if you're saying that TheHosted seem possibly ok because they don't offer unlimited, or if you actually want to buy unlimited hosting?

Their shared hosting plans don't seem too under-priced, but I would be cautious about the feasibility of their lower-end packages. As above, make sure that you check about MySQL size limits, and another important point I don't see mentioned on their site is backups... do they take any? How often + where to?


Godaddy are a big name, but keep in mind what for: domains. About 90%+ of the feedback I've heard regarding GoDaddy's hosting service is that it leaves a lot to be desired - particularly with respect to support. Unfortunately this is a common experience reported for a lot of the hosting giants (1&1 would be another example).

well, I was saying that they still seem to be overselling even though they don't offer unlimited prices.
and with GoDaddy, I think I can deal with the fact that their customer service sucks in exchange for good prices. However, thats only if they provide everything i need.
how do i find what they offer as far as database size limits ect?
it usually says how many mysql databases they give, but dosen't say anything about size limits..
and how many actual databases would I actually need?
one for user accounts obviously, but what else?

eh I went with godaddy.
might not be the BEST one, or have the BEST customer service.
but prices are cheap and they do have an extensive help section, which is great for new users IMO

Originally Posted by Webmaster Chris

One I've looked at s TheHosted
However, even though they don't offer unlimited services, they are rather cheap... so i'm kind of cautious. Anybody know WHY there so cheap?

Sorry I didn't see your post sooner. I simply pass on my big discounts to my clients. I love hosting and don't see why some places charge so much when there simply is no need. I know what my servers can hold and what I pay for them. I just don't mark things up like other hosts. I love my job and I love helping people learn like an old friend taught me. Good luck with Godaddy and let me know if you need anything I am more then willing to help. I don't oversell either, who wants servers loaded down with hundreds of sites.

Originally Posted by Webmaster Chris

eh I went with godaddy.
might not be the BEST one, or have the BEST customer service.
but prices are cheap and they do have an extensive help section, which is great for new users IMO

yes,you are right.The godaddy may not the best one.
But I want to know how many maney you can get now . I know it`s your
Privacy,if you don`t want to say,you can say nothing>.

Originally Posted by Webmaster Chris

well, this is the first website i've ever honestly went to put online.
and i have no clue what requirements I need from a hosting server.

Price is always a factor in choosing web hosts. You would be fooling
yourself if you told yourself otherwise (unless you have lots of money
to burn). However, higher prices do not mean that you'll get a good web
host. Higher prices do, however, mean that you have a better chance of
getting good support, since at least they will have the money to hire
more staff if they want to.

Originally Posted by Webmaster Chris

So I have three questions.
#1. I've heard somewhere that most hostng places have the default php mail shutoff, but I can change it so that it does have smtp auth. How do I do this?

So far, I have found the companies that I will recommend you to be reliable, honest and competent, with the people at the helm appearing to be people who understand the
software and issues that surround running web servers. Their prices are
not the cheapest around, but I find that they are well worth the price.
My problem with this question is that although I'm willing to answer
it, my experience with cheap web hosts have not been entirely
favourable, so it is difficult to recommend the cheap ones where I have
actually placed sites on.

Originally Posted by Webmaster Chris

#2. How much Disk Space for this, at least at the start? Bandwidth? MySql Databases? What other requirements for a hosting company do i need to have?

I think for the first time you need 200 MB disk space, 20000 MB bandwidth, 25 mailboxes POP3, 5 databases.

Originally Posted by Webmaster Chris

#3. What hosting services can satisfy #2? I'm looking for a shared, thats under $10 a month. Later, after the site is really going, assuming that will happen, I can always change it to a dedicated or w.e i need. but for now i need shared hostng under $10.

I'd like to suggest you to look at Hqhost.net, hotspapa.com and
hostmonster.com, because they meet the requirements you've mentioned.
You may compare these hosting companies and then decide what company to
choose.