I'm running a small forum (For now). But, it the last 24 hours i've had over 175 Registrations. I'm courious as to when you should go to a dedicated server to make sure your members have the speed they need.
Also. Can somebody give me some insight as to how it works. Do you go out and buy one and then actually send it to a hosting company, or? :o
You'll need a dedicated server if your site slows down often :). Check the load averages (although this will be for the whole server).
Also you can always upgrade to a VPS or a reseller account which has more resources.
You need one when your host tells you that you can no longer be on the shared server you are currently on. :)
But, the other answer is as Dismounted said... when your site slows down and no amount of mysql or php tweaking will help it, it's time to do something.
Also. Can somebody give me some insight as to how it works. Do you go out and buy one and then actually send it to a hosting company, or? :o
You just order it like a shared account. But quite often, you have to manage the server yourself, unless it is a fully managed server. So best to stay on shared account, if you have no use of dedicated and do not know how to manage a server.
Obtain a quote on the most-basic server available (from the respective provider). If it is a multi-core CPU, use at least 2 Gig of RAM. Include an external firewall device. Two providers to check with are Cari.Net and Softlayer.Com
Obtain a quote from Spam/Virus filtering service provider that has the capability to provide you specific gateway servers (so that you can allow them in your firewall). Check with SpamStopsHere.Com.
Decide how you will be doing your backups. While it is encouraged to backup locally on your server's hardrive, you want to be doing an additional backup to an external destination. There are a lot of opinions on the best process, but if you would like some guidance obtain a quote from VertexHost.Com if you use a provider like Cari.Net. If you use a provider like Softlayer.Com, they can support at least two different backup processes in-house.
Doing these steps will give you the financial target to budget for, and engage you in several technical discussions with the respective providers. It will also help you gauge how comfortable you are with either learning server administration, or outsourcing the task.