Hosting Providers for PHPBB Boards

[angelaaa]

[Lynn Terry]

I use for web hosting, and havent had any problems with my sites, forums or any of the scripts. In fact, the service & support has been the best I've experienced in 8 years of trying various providers.

When you switch hosts you have to have a full backup of your forum, which you can do through the admin panel. Then you will install phpbb on your new host, and restore that backup.

The only problem I ran into when I moved was that my backup file was too large, and I couldnt get it to restore from my end. I tried breaking the file down into multiple files - unsuccessfully... and finally emailed support at ThirdSphere. They took the file and restored it from there end for me and I was up & running! I was impressed that they were willing to help with that, instead of saying "we dont support that".

ThirdSphere is a full-feature host, so it may seem a little pricey compared to others at 24.95/month. That said, you can host unlimited domains on the one account... so it's WELL worth it if you have several sites Not to mention they have a built in affiliate program manager and other features that cost you a pretty penny elsewhere.

[robert adams]

Just FYI on the restore problem in phpbb.

Actually , it is a limitation of php, not phpbb. The default upload limit of php when installed on the server is usually 2 MB. Most hosts never change it.

If your database backup file is larger than that, then you will need to break it up into smaller files and upload/restore them one at a time. Or , as Lynn said, some hosts will do it for you if you upload the complete backup file to your server for them using your ftp program.

By the way, there is a really great little program that will do the "breaking" up of the large files for you so you can get it restored.

I have used it for files over 400 MB in size with no problems at all.

luck,
robert

[stephfoster]

When restoring a large database, I prefer this method to breaking up the file:

http://www.phpbb.com/kb/article.php?article_id=266

Gets around the file size problem just beautifully.

[Jennifer Hadorn]

My host is super supportive and they have an interface that will install phpbb for you through cpanel.

I don't know how many gigs you get a month, but it makes a difference if you have really active boards.

[Sandra]

FYI Any host that offer Fantastico scripts has a one button install for phpBB.

[robert adams]

[Sandra]