Question Anyone familar with self-hosting?

[Khastle]

If so what would you recommend for hosting or shared hosting even? I'm looking for alternatives to Xenforo Cloud as how much I'm paying atm (£56) feels ridiculous and too much for the activity the site currently gets, so I'm looking for alternatives in hosting the site which shouldn't be too hard to pull off if done correctly.

 

[Tedposter]

No

 

[jnoj]

I know nothing about hosting websites, but could you use neocities somehow? Their supporter pricing doesn't seem bad, I just don't know if its actually possible to host a forum on there.

Neocities

Create and surf awesome websites for free.

neocities.org

 

[Khastle]

No

Thanks again for your help

I know nothing about hosting websites, but could you use neocities somehow? Their supporter pricing doesn't seem bad, I just don't know if its actually possible to host a forum on there.

Neocities

Create and surf awesome websites for free.

neocities.org

Thanks for the suggestions but Neocities is genuinely arse, you need to slap .neocities onto the end of your url when you use them, which is shit when promoting your site as a serious project, and I doubt they will let you upload a whole Xenforo database to their forum either. Like it's good for more small-scale and laid back projects but for more serious sites? Not the best idea.

 

[Tedposter]

I know a guy that host his forum for free because he use rented a VPS for some project, and the VPS has spare computing power to be able to host more forums or some shit. I dont how to elaborate better since I didnt understand that shit very well

 

[Khastle]

I know a guy that host his forum for free because he use rented a VPS for some project, and the VPS has spare computing power to be able to host more forums or some shit. I dont how to elaborate better since I didnt understand that shit very well

Hmmm, interesting. Send more information if you can if you come across it.

Still contemplating if self-hosting will be worth it as I'll literally be pulling the forum from its roots and praying it performs properly elsewhere. I know another Xenforo admin who took his forum from Cloud to self-hosted and he did say that a lot of functionality was lost and certain things stopped working as Xenforo literally took away what was needed to make certain features work. Also I dunno if I do go self-hosted will I need to rebuy the software as stuff like the media gallery, search bar, etc, you have to buy additionally with the software which will cost even more.

Have been contemplating loads on this even being a good idea as the forum will go down just to make it work (which won't be good as we are more active than ever) and I can't guarantee on migration that certain features will even work as this other forum I mentioned is WAY more primitive in terms of features than this and I rather not ruin parts of the forum in this big move. Also self-hosting may be harder especially as a uni student as I'll have to manage way more.

Perhaps it's best I pray people donate to the Patreon as I don't mind paying the current costs, it just stings as it is a lot of money for how big the site currently is...

 

[Tedposter]

Hmmm, interesting. Send more information if you can if you come across it.

Still contemplating if self-hosting will be worth it as I'll literally be pulling the forum from its roots and praying it performs properly elsewhere. I know another Xenforo admin who took his forum from Cloud to self-hosted and he did say that a lot of functionality was lost and certain things stopped working as Xenforo literally took away what was needed to make certain features work. Also I dunno if I do go self-hosted will I need to rebuy the software as stuff like the media gallery, search bar, etc, you have to buy additionally with the software which will cost even more.

Have been contemplating loads on this even being a good idea as the forum will go down just to make it work (which won't be good as we are more active than ever) and I can't guarantee on migration that certain features will even work as this other forum I mentioned is WAY more primitive in terms of features than this and I rather not ruin parts of the forum in this big move. Also self-hosting may be harder especially as a uni student as I'll have to manage way more.

Perhaps it's best I pray people donate to the Patreon as I don't mind paying the current costs, it just stings as it is a lot of money for how big the site currently is...

This is the forum

Rotting Space

A home for NEETs, unemployed and ashamed wagies.

rotting.space

Is pretty much dead nowadays, but you can try to contact the admin about this vps free shit. His username is RNT

 

[Daryl]

Just buy ur own hardware and put the server in ur uni dorm free electricity

 

[Khastle]

This is the forum

Rotting Space

A home for NEETs, unemployed and ashamed wagies.

rotting.space

Is pretty much dead nowadays, but you can try to contact the admin about this vps free shit. His username is RNT

I'd want my own IP tho as sharing them and shit can be dodgy.

Just buy ur own hardware and put the server in ur uni dorm free electricity

Unironic based idea if it weren't for the fact I'm moving out after summer and have to pay electricity in the new place.

 

[Malice]

I'd want my own IP tho as sharing them and shit can be dodgy.

Unironic based idea if it weren't for the fact I'm moving out after summer and have to pay electricity in the new place.

You're better off buying hardware and rentung data center space, they know what they are doing and you won't personally be subjected to the UK's censorship laws if the hardware is on US soil. Be careful which services you use to self host. Unfortunately, due to the Silicon Valley's disgustingly close proximity to the Devil's Dickhole commonly known as San Francisco, if someone human somehow find out where a majority of people on this forum stand politically they will pull the plug without warning.

Also, depending on how deepnyou want to go with self-hosting, it might actually not be cheaper. The reasons people self host is for more freedom and administrative control, not to save a buck.

 

[Khastle]

You're better off buying hardware and rentung data center space, they know what they are doing and you won't personally be subjected to the UK's censorship laws if the hardware is on US soil. Be careful which services you use to self host. Unfortunately, due to the Silicon Valley's disgustingly close proximity to the Devil's Dickhole commonly known as San Francisco, if someone human somehow find out where a majority of people on this forum stand politically they will pull the plug without warning.

I don't even think the plug being pulled would be an issue as we aren't quite mild on here and don't encourage bad behaviour and stuff. This is just a laidback and silly hobby board and people on here have a variety of political beliefs.

Also, depending on how deepnyou want to go with self-hosting, it might actually not be cheaper. The reasons people self host is for more freedom and administrative control, not to save a buck.

Tbh this is a good point as it may as well not be cheaper considering the extra stuff I may have to buy to secure the suit and the extra time I will have to pay maintaining the site. I'll see as it needs thinking on.

 

[Bibr]

Why moving from xenforo cloud makes no sense (after 60 seconds of research)
current solution is 820$ a year
self hosting
software itself with tax (for first year) is 320$.
I checked few VPS providers. prices are around 15$ a month. So 180$ a year
.com domain is a 15$ a year


I think I didn't miss any big cost. Keep in mind that it's an upfront cost. You will still need to put in the hours to set it all up. IF something goes massively wrong during an instalation / for some reason you can't get it to run. You wasted about 350$. IMO self hosted is not worth unless you're really self hosting it. On your own machine.

 

[Malice]

I don't even think the plug being pulled would be an issue as we aren't quite mild on here and don't encourage bad behaviour and stuff. This is just a laidback and silly hobby board and people on here have a variety of political beliefs.

US politics are like a stressful fever dream so maybe censorship laws aren't as bad as they're made out to be in alt media here. If it ever becomes an issue, there are ways around it. It is good to plan ahead, though. There is an ongoing effort to sanitize, centralize and commercialize the internet so you never know what providers will do.

Also, have you tried self hosting before? I used to be a front end web developer and I'd always wanted to try it but never got around to it. It would be interesting if you posted your process.

 

[Khastle]

Why moving from xenforo cloud makes no sense (after 60 seconds of research)
current solution is 820$ a year
self hosting
software itself with tax (for first year) is 320$.
I checked few VPS providers. prices are around 15$ a month. So 180$ a year
.com domain is a 15$ a year


I think I didn't miss any big cost. Keep in mind that it's an upfront cost. You will still need to put in the hours to set it all up. IF something goes massively wrong during an instalation / for some reason you can't get it to run. You wasted about 350$. IMO self hosted is not worth unless you're really self hosting it. On your own machine.

Interesting as my calculations on the smallest plan amounts to $720 a year. However I feel I'm being pretentious stating this as you clearly made a typo but just in case yeah it's about that. So with what you've stated there is around a $210 difference but that's without all those other variables such as ddos protection, server maintenance, and other variables. Maybe you're right and in the end the self-hosted costs will stack up to about the same.

US politics are like a stressful fever dream so maybe censorship laws aren't as bad as they're made out to be in alt media here. If it ever becomes an issue, there are ways around it. It is good to plan ahead, though. There is an ongoing effort to sanitize, centralize and commercialize the internet so you never know what providers will do.

I mean yeah you make a good point here but honestly currently I don't feel this site is of a controversial nature enough to warrant such a move, I doubt Xenforo cares what is posted on here and there's probably 100xnworse that they have allowed. We are just an edgy alt tech music forum in the end.

Also, have you tried self hosting before? I used to be a front end web developer and I'd always wanted to try it but never got around to it. It would be interesting if you posted your process.

No I have not and while I feel it could be s valuable learning journey if I tried it's just the question of if its really worth it and would it ultimately cost the same in the end (or even more?). Also being a university student do I really want to be dealing with server based problems if anything does play up? Like if I do ahead with this the site could be down for God knows as I figure stuff out and I'm not sure I want that as the site is more busy than ever and also I can't guarantee the site will be the same when it comes back online as I've been told the Xenforo admins give you your database and images only, and expect you to set up every addon and what not again yourself.

Maybe the best solution is just to build up this place more to a point where others become passionate enough about it to help out through the Patreon or something.

 

[Malice]

do I really want to be dealing with server based problems if anything does play up?

This is also why I didn't get around to trying it lol

 

[Khastle]

This is also why I didn't get around to trying it lol

Hmm, honestly thinking on it I may just put the whole self-hosting idea on the backburner and only really consider it again if something comes where it's best I do move to it i.e. Xenforo Cloud hosting costs go way up or Cloud can't keep up with the forum's growth. Doubt anything will though however as we are a rather underground forum and the current post and image count barely takes up a GB of the current space the forum uses. May take awhile for us to even have to consider upgrading the forum's current plan.