Even if you have a hobby - non profit site - you can have a very successful site and might need to move to a dedicated solution or even multiple servers.

How do you do this? When do you know the time is there to do this and if it is worth the money investment?

it's time when your current solution is causing you problems. i'm thinking about moving to a vps soon as my current server is just collapsing and they wont upgrade php or mysql for me :(

Time comes to change when your hosting is SLOW or unreliable or preventing the growth of your forum.

i'm thinking about moving to a vps soon as my current server is just collapsing and they wont upgrade php or mysql for me :(Think long and hard about a VPS, especially for vBulletin. Most VPS offerings limit you in some way, the amount of CPU you can use, the amount of RAM you can use, the amount of transfer..... From what I've seen the cost of a VPS is very close to that of a fully dedicated server from other companies. Look HARD at what you need, especially as vB is a resouce hog.

Think long and hard about a VPS, especially for vBulletin. Most VPS offerings limit you in some way, the amount of CPU you can use, the amount of RAM you can use, the amount of transfer..... From what I've seen the cost of a VPS is very close to that of a fully dedicated server from other companies. Look HARD at what you need, especially as vB is a resouce hog.
Most shared hostings have bigger limits..

Shored = more accounts and not shell or root
VPS = the same as shared, just less accounts on the server and you have shell and even root.

VPS = the same as shared, just less accounts on the server and you have shell and even root.Yeah, but you're still sharing CPU resources, and while this may not be an issue with a small vB forum when you get to 40,000+ content pages a day IT WILL BE!!!! :p :p

i treat vps as a step betwen the two... if you know the right people it's not that much more expensive than shared. i still have no reason to spend in excess of $100 /month for hosting. a nice discounted VPS will do me fine :D

Yeah, but you're still sharing CPU resources, and while this may not be an issue with a small vB forum when you get to 40,000+ content pages a day IT WILL BE!!!! :p :p
Yes, but I think you know where the limit is for your own server I guess,.. if the vps doesn't work out you're bound to go with dedicated

Yes, but I think you know where the limit is for your own server I guess,.. if the vps doesn't work out you're bound to go with dedicatedMy point was that for a few extra $ a month it's probably just as good to make the jump from shared hosting to dedicated hosting without going through the VPS stage.

in my current situation the cost for a dedi is a lot more than the cost for a vps

My forums arent really that active, and i have a dedicated server with The Planet "Servermatrix".
I just love the freedom of having control of my server, and the ability to upgrade and do whatever i want to the Server.

I just love the freedom of having control of my server, and the ability to upgrade and do whatever i want to the Server.And if you're like me.... the freedom to break it totally and have to spend hours fixing it ;) ;)

And if you're like me.... the freedom to break it totally and have to spend hours fixing it ;) ;)

Yes, ive done that a couple times myself :D

Partly the cost will depend on your ISP. We use cable, and get a static IP from our cable provider. We have our own dedicated server right here in the house. It's convenient. :)

What is the upstream of your ISP, I can't imagine a consumer upstream will do for a site with 100+ online users.

If I remember correctly, we're paying for 3MB downstream/1.5MB up (I think that's right). We have five or six different forums on the server, currently. The largest has about 70 users, and the others have 20-40 each. Our server and bandwidth seem to be handling it just fine. Incidentally, our server also hosts 15-20 domains and 30-40 subdomains as well.

My forums arent really that active, and i have a dedicated server with The Planet "Servermatrix".
I just love the freedom of having control of my server, and the ability to upgrade and do whatever i want to the Server.

You get the same with a VPS. I have several sites on a VPS and It serves me well. I upgrade or add whatever I want. I also break whatever I want. :D

If I remember correctly, we're paying for 3MB downstream/1.5MB up (I think that's right). We have five or six different forums on the server, currently. The largest has about 70 users, and the others have 20-40 each. Our server and bandwidth seem to be handling it just fine. Incidentally, our server also hosts 15-20 domains and 30-40 subdomains as well.Ah, OK, so you're not at the stage where you're doing 7Gb of transfer per day doing 40,000 page displays ;) If the connectivity is working for you, the server isn't under heavy load and you're happy with a single uplink vendor then happy days! :)

No, we're not quite there yet! We hope that by the time we get there, we'll be able to afford a T1 connection and howevermany servers are necessary ;-)

If I remember correctly, we're paying for 3MB downstream/1.5MB up (I think that's right). We have five or six different forums on the server, currently. The largest has about 70 users, and the others have 20-40 each. Our server and bandwidth seem to be handling it just fine. Incidentally, our server also hosts 15-20 domains and 30-40 subdomains as well.
well thats some damn slow download speeds being produced there :D