6 replies to this topic

[Weatherz]

Well I'm thinking about switching to IPS hosting, so I can pay all at once. My current hosting is Hostgator Level 5 VPS, which is $104 a month, which just includes hosting and obviously a lot more abilities with the server.

But since I do use IP.Board, and I just think it would be much simpler to go with IPS hosting, I wanted to clarify a few things before I make my decision.

---

1. What are the benefits (aside from a license and applications) of being hosted on an IPS hosting package rather than Hostgator? Here is my current plan:


What my plan would be:

---

2. Does the hosting include cPanel?

---

3. Is the license completely mine to use and do I have full access to all the applications and downloads to them?

The package says all applications and a license are included. But what I am wondering is would I have full access to all of these application downloads to say, put a test board up and install all my apps, or would I have to contact support?

---

4. Will I have full FTP access to upload and store things as I please?

---

5. What are the limitations (if any) of having a Hosted Community?

---

Thanks for reading, and if you can answer these questions (preferably staff) I would really appreciate it!

[Shigure]

Hello.

1) The benefits are all the same as having a self-hosted license. You get ticket support, access to the spam monitor service and visual skin editor, and free upgrades. The only difference is that you do not need to pay a renewal fee for your license, instead you pay the monthly fee. Additionally, hosted packages have encoded files so if you wish to modify the backend then you're out of luck. You are also not allowed to upload files that are not related to IPB and certain IPB hooks and applications are not allowed to be used.
2) Yes.
3) You do not have access to download the files. They will be on your hosted account for you to access but there the files are encoded so you can not do anything with them. With a hosted package you cannot make a test board.
4) As I stated before you will have full FTP access, however, you are limited in what you can upload. Everything you upload must be for the sake of your IPB. Something like Wordpress or Photopost is not allowed. Certain applications and hooks from the IPS marketplace which use too many resources are not allowed.
5) I have stated all the limitations for you already I believe.

In my personal opinion I think you would be better off buying a self-hosted license and hosting it on your VPS. In the long run it will be cheaper for you and you will get the same ticket and upgrade support from the hosted package so long as you renew your license every six months. However, I neglected to mention that the hosting package you are looking at has phone and priority ticket support. If that is something that is important to you then you may want to go with that.

[Weatherz]

Rimi, on 08 February 2012 - 11:24 PM, said:

Hello.

1) The benefits are all the same as having a self-hosted license. You get ticket support, access to the spam monitor service and visual skin editor, and free upgrades. The only difference is that you do not need to pay a renewal fee for your license, instead you pay the monthly fee. Additionally, hosted packages have encoded files so if you wish to modify the backend then you're out of luck. You are also not allowed to upload files that are not related to IPB and certain IPB hooks and applications are not allowed to be used.
2) Yes.
3) You do not have access to download the files. They will be on your hosted account for you to access but there the files are encoded so you can not do anything with them. With a hosted package you cannot make a test board.
4) As I stated before you will have full FTP access, however, you are limited in what you can upload. Everything you upload must be for the sake of your IPB. Something like Wordpress or Photopost is not allowed. Certain applications and hooks from the IPS marketplace which use too many resources are not allowed.
5) I have stated all the limitations for you already I believe.

In my personal opinion I think you would be better off buying a self-hosted license and hosting it on your VPS. In the long run it will be cheaper for you and you will get the same ticket and upgrade support from the hosted package so long as you renew your license every six months. However, I neglected to mention that the hosting package you are looking at has phone and priority ticket support. If that is something that is important to you then you may want to go with that.

Yeah I have Nexus, IP Chat (20 User) and a standard license at the moment, so I think I'll just stick with that. I was hoping that you would be able to do a little more than that with a Community hosted site, but then again it is supposed to be for your IP.Board site.

Thanks for answering

[.Ian]

Hello,

Further to the reply above. If you already have a licence you can use that on our hosted plans and therefore have full access to the same source code that you currently enjoy.

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks

[bfarber]

One benefit not mentioned above that should be considered is that because we solely focus on hosting IP.Board websites (and addon applications), our servers are more finely-tuned to the needs of a package like IP.Board.  On typical shared or VPS hosting, the server will be setup in sort of a standard configuration that should work for most people, but may not be optimal for a specific application, where-as our hosting is dedicated to this application, and thus is tuned routinely to best support it.

Further, our development and hosting departments work very closely together to (1) improve the software efficiency based on hosting observations, and (2) improve the server configurations based on knowledge the development department has.  By working closely together, we can focus on making the best software and best hosting configuration possible.

[Weatherz]

bfarber, on 09 February 2012 - 09:43 AM, said:

One benefit not mentioned above that should be considered is that because we solely focus on hosting IP.Board websites (and addon applications), our servers are more finely-tuned to the needs of a package like IP.Board.  On typical shared or VPS hosting, the server will be setup in sort of a standard configuration that should work for most people, but may not be optimal for a specific application, where-as our hosting is dedicated to this application, and thus is tuned routinely to best support it.

Further, our development and hosting departments work very closely together to (1) improve the software efficiency based on hosting observations, and (2) improve the server configurations based on knowledge the development department has.  By working closely together, we can focus on making the best software and best hosting configuration possible.

One of the biggest concerns of mine is to be able to have a test board (or two) for myself to test on upgrading, skinning, etc.

[.Ian]

Hello,

If you are looking to have an extra forum for testing, then you might wish to consider the starter5 package for just $5 a month - this would allow you to fully test any new skins etc.