Okay, I have a forum which is growing daily. Even though members aren't that many, I'm still concerned over my database space and its capacity to hold the forum's content. Since post counts take up database space, the remaining space will decrease daily, albeit by little amounts. Still, it will decrease anyway and eventually my database for that forum will run out of space.

My question is:

1. Is there any way to possibly create a new database to continue holding the old database's increasing data? As in, my old database is there but its full and I create a new one to hold the incoming new data although my forum is the same and keeps growing daily.

2. Why do hosting services and companies never said anything about their MySQL database size?

3. How much is database space is needed to host a moderate size forum with, say, 1000 members?

4. What is the typical database size offered by hosting companies?

I know these questions sound weird, but I just have a burning desire to learn everything.

No, you can't "overflow" from one database into another. However, you can export the existing database and then import that data into a new database. This allows you to keep your data and expand the size of your database. Use something like PHPMyAdmin to export the .SQL file, then go to your new database and import that file.



Usually it's one of two reasons: Firstly, most hosts do not limit the size of the database, except to the size of your hosting account. For example, if you have 500MB of space, that may include both files and database data. The other option is that the database space limit is so low it would put people off, so they just don't mention it



Unfortunately I can't help you here. I'm not exactly sure how much space a forum of that size would take up.



It varies massively between companies, and it is often best to check with their sales department if they do not specifically mention the database size on their website or in their literature.

I know the limit with AwardSpace is 10 MB.

Yeah, typically the database size is often less than 50MB in my experience. And most of the hosting companies don't even mention their database space.

As to the 'overflow' technique, well I just thought there might be a trick to do it. Turns out I'm wrong. Anyway, what's the point of exporting a SQL database and importing it into another one if the database capacity is the same? Unless I find another host with bigger database space capacity. But then how could the huge forums like Digital Point and Trap17 host their forum if the membership space is so huge? I guess their hosting is unlimited huh.

That is what I was getting at - import the data into a database with a bigger limit, so you don't lose any data but still get an increase in space.



Large websites have their own separate, dedicated web servers and database servers. This means you are effectively limited by the size of the hard drive you put in the machine.

Okay, so I suppose if I want to host a pretty large forum, I need to get a dedicated web host. Sounds like a lot of work. Anyhow, thanks for all the information shared here. Really appreciate it.

I have another question. Suppose my forum is at the domain myforum.info . Later on, I decide to get that forum to a new domain, myforum.com at another new hosting company. How do I do this? I figured I'll need to install the forum at the new host, so do I then backup my forum's database at the old host and move that into the new host? How about the domain name? How does that work then?

Yes. Most forums will have an area in the admin panel to allow you to export the database and save it locally to your computer. Then they should also have an option to restore from a backup. You set the forum up on your new host and then import the database backup. All your settings, posts and everything else should then work.

If not, you can use something like phpMyAdmin to export the database data, then use phpMyAdmin running at your new host to import it again.



To forward people from one place to another, you'd use a 301 Permanently Moved status message. You would set that up for the old domain to forward everyone to the new domain name. There are guides to doing this using a .htaccess file, which is the easiest way. Just run a search for a tutorial.

Thanks for the input. That was hugely helpful to me.

One more noobie question: I'm using phpBB now, so for my new forum, can I switch to other forums like IPB of vBulletin without changing the content/posts/members inside my forum? As in, use a different forum without altering anything inside my original forum. It's kinda impossible in my opinion, but not sure what others might think. Just want to get an opinion.

Depends on whether there is a "convertor" written to transpose the data from phpbb format to the new Forum Database structure. Forums rarely share the Database structure, so the data needs to be transformed and stored into the new structure. You will need to consider the availability of a convertor package as you investigate the options for the new Database.

It is highly unlikely that the phpbb Support Forums will offer the convertor for moving away from phpbb, unless it is into the phpbb3 version, of course, so check IPB or the new Forum software site for the Convertor Package.

One hiccup in the conversion process is that most Forum softwares code the Member passwords in an encrypted form. Often th