MySQL with

Evoir · 04-08-2002, 02:39 PM

I find myself in a dilema with FQ. You guys are perfect in most every way...

I prefer to have my clients use the same software, same host whenever possible. I have some smaller clients who would not need a Gold or Platnum account, except for the MYSQL. I would prefer to use vBulletin for their bb needs, but don't want to stress them out with a higher monthly fee. Other hosts do offer MySQL at lower level plans, but I don't want to host elsewhere. Like I said, I like to keep everything simple and the same.

I really don't want to buy another UBB licence for this new client (I have bought three for clients) , as I find it lacks certain customizablity. I always find myself apologizing for the interface to my clients. I don't want to get in there and hack files just to change simple things like font size of the nav bar, or placement of the nav bar or login links.

vB is something my clients can grow with, is fully customizable and I feel proud to offer my clients. But, then I have to bump them up two levels just for the MYSQL. I think about other hosting companies, but then I want to stay here. It often takes me a while to convice a client to go with FQ in the first place, then I have to convince them to spend more per month on MYSQL.

Couldn't you offer MYSQL at the lower packages with limited bandwith restrictions? Pretty please?

**Terra** · 04-08-2002, 06:45 PM

Please View:
http://www.aota.net/forums/showthrea...9420#post49420

There has not been any changes in the area of MySQL available on any lessor package than Gold as that would only degrade the quality of our MySQL due to rapid saturation...

--
Terra
--The laws of Supply and Demand are at work here--
FutureQuest

Evoir · 04-08-2002, 06:57 PM

I was just hoping with all the changes... we could see changes like this as well.

*Joe* · 04-08-2002, 07:55 PM

Evoir,

Take a look at Ikonboard 3 for your current requirements. It has many customisable features and doesn't require MySQL for lower traffic sites. I don't think it requires MySQL for higher traffic sites, but it has the capability if you don't have the bandwidth.

Joe

Evoir · 04-08-2002, 08:00 PM

Joe,

Thanks for the suggestion. I may look into it. But this also means that I have to learn about yet another bbs. (Which brings my hourly rate down considerably). I may just have to push them up to a GOLD package, or suffice with a UBB.

DB · 04-09-2002, 02:08 PM

Discus runs well on Basic and Silver accounts (CGI + flat databases, optional MySQL for the back-end on the new 4.0 version). The CGI doesn't lend itself to a lot of hacking, but the interface is easily customizable via templates. It wouldn't solve your need to learn another proggie, but it could save your clients some $$$ over time. My clients have been happy with it.

*Matt* · 04-11-2002, 04:34 PM

I have a suggestion that I think would solve many requests such as Evoir's (and make some projects I have in mind possible), while preserving FutureQuest's bottom line:

Packaged stand-alone MySQL accounts (i.e. no FTP, e-mail, web hosting included)

Accounts would be billed based on:
1. bandwidth
2. requests/ month
3. storage

Item #1 would factor in the costs of bandwidth. #2 would factor in the cost of processing power #3 would factor in the cost of storage. Packages would start at some fixed rate to factor in labor involved in setting up/ maintaining the accounts. (Am I missing something)

I don't think Evoir's problem is unique (based on other posts that I have read). In some cases (such as low traffic sites), the cost for a full-blown Gold account cannot be justified. This leaves web site owners (or prospective customers) making one of two choices:
1. Flat-file database
2. Choosing another hosting company that includes MySQL w/ cheaper packages

Both of these are bad for FutureQuest. #1 is bad in that this will affect other site owners on the shared server #2 -- obvious, right?

Matt

*jak* · 04-11-2002, 06:50 PM

described very well matt,

i would also be interested in something like this option. we seem to be heading more towards php and mysql formats - at least in the scripts i need for clients.

i'll trade terra one version of perl for one mysql database.

cheers,
julie
jak graphic solutions, inc.

*PaulKroll* · 04-11-2002, 09:28 PM

I don't mean to be elitist, but I'd just as soon not see the prices go down or the MySQL become a cheaper service. I don't pay my $40/month to get hooked up to a server that's swamped: I'm paying for MySQL >AND< speed.

That said, Evoir, what about a different tact? Get one Gold service, run several vBulletins on it. You could get a central domain name for the critter, and each would be "domain.com/thisforum" and "domain.com/thatforum". If someone wants to step up beyond some level of service (number of users, bandwidth, however you break it down), you tell them it's time to move to a full Gold package. That way, you can fit six of the bad boys on one account, and have an angle to "sell up" the Gold account.

Mind, I can see Terra reaching for my throat the moment I blurt out the text "several vBulletins".

This would be one of those must-police-closely-or-it's-time-for-a-ToS-warning situations. But if the sites get that popular, it's easy to see that they DO need to step up to their own accounts.

Is it really hard to justify $40 to someone for a month of hosting? For their baby? I mean, they want the site to perform well, right? And they want to have easy tools to avoid spam and manage the files on the site, right? How much time will they spend on the site? If the sites' slow, would users bother to come back to it?

Incidentally, someone feel free to put the apostrophes in the right place on my sentences.

One of the reasons I pay for FutureQuest is for them not to take the temptation to lower the price, increase the volume, make more money for a while, then lose all their customers and go out of business two months later because their servers perform just as poorly as the other el-cheapo hosting companies do, and the only selling point left is price. At that point, they lose to the host that's $.50 less a month than they are, and that'd just frankly BITE.

$40 isn't even LUNCH MONEY for a week in downtown Chicago. It's just not that much. And as a reseller... you get it CHEAPER... you ARE a reseller since that other thread, aren't you? Allow me to throw this large, stuffed animal at you if you aren't.

DB · 04-11-2002, 09:41 PM

LOL @ Paul

I have to agree, as much as I would like MySQL on my Silver accounts, for the sake of my clients using Gold accounts I'm glad the SQL is fast and reliable.

I've seen this topic come up many times here in the forum, and the bottomline seems to be that the prices FQ would have to charge "just for MySQL" in its present form is about what the difference between a Silver (Basic?) and a Gold account would cost. If you're going to pay the extra $10 or so anyway, why not just upgrade and get all the other perks of a Gold account? I suspect if they could find a way of offering really cheap MySQL without losing any of the advantages of the current set-up, they would have offered it as a VAS already.