I am Leo and I run a YouTube Channel called "The PC Security Channel". I feel that it has a unique community and would like to set-up a forum for more in-depth discussion on security related topics. As of now, I don't have a domain or website. Of course, I am planning on getting those things, but I am not quite a Tek Wizard like @wendell. As a result, the task ahead seems daunting. Also, I do not have the resources to run my own server, so I will have to use some online services.
There are a lot of options, and I am quite intimidated. What I want is a unique layout, clean and professional theme with plenty of customization options. And I need all of this creation process to be fairly automated. I am not a web developer nor can I afford to hire one. Any feedback/suggestions/help would be highly appreciated.
First things first. Buy your domain name. Name.com is where I got mine. Some places will give you a name for $5 for the first year and $30 every year after that so watch for that. Some are really shitty and they will park the domain so you have to buy it from them for whatever they charge you. It's best not to get stuck with that.
Buy it now so no one else can take it. It's like a username. The longer you wait the more likely someone will think of it and buy it before you.
You will need a server to run both of these if you aren't super experienced with this go with something that has C-Panel like Linnode or Digital Ocean.
@presserscrew Thank you for the info. Can you tell me something about Siteground and Hostgator? This whole thing is kind of experimental and I am not sure how far it will go, so I need something that is economical as well.
@MisteryAngel Thank you for the suggestions. How would you recommend getting started with discourse? Their normal business pricing seems quite high to me. I cannot afford something like $200 a month for this project. The one time install does sound feasible though. Can you tell me some more details.
Also, how do I get started? Can I buy domain and hosting from the same site? Can you suggest some low budget options.
You can go to a hosting provider (e.g. linode) and host discourse on there, it's cheap (you can get away with the $20 package) and they have a step by step process, and they will support you on the forums if you encounter any troubles along the way only if you haven't done anything else with it like already hosting a website and such cause it does require nginx and the ports to be open in the first place.
I found what seems like a pretty good deal at siteground. I can have the domain and hosting for a year (shared) all set-up with just about 60$. I don't expect huge traffic to start. Would that be a good deal? https://www.siteground.com/shared/step3.htm?domain=tpschannel.com&p=1
Will I be able to install forum software of my choice after that on a subdomain? Let's say I go with discourse, will this be enough? Do I have to pay discourse one time for the install, since I don't need their hosting? Since I am doing this for the first time I don't want to be spending more than $150 up front for the first year.
You don't have to pay discourse anything (you can donate, your choice) to set it up and use it, plus that plan is too expensive for you want to do, have you tried looking at linode?
Hosting on a sub domain requires knowledge of how DNS and a web service of your choice works (nginx, apache, go with nginx it's worth it), research goes a long way.
At most you'll only be spending about $30 ($20 for linode package, ~$10 on DNS name) at most if you choose a decent DNS service that has a good sale, or go with a .tech domain that may have a $5 sale.
Thanks for telling me that discourse is free, I didn't know that.
I have looked at linnode. $20 a month still seems a bit expensive to me. I would like to get away with <100$ a year if that is possible. I am not expecting huge traffic. There will probably be way <500 users to start. Can you suggest any lower budget hosting alternatives? Also, will any web hosting platform I choose allow me to install discourse or do I have to be specific about that?
As for using a sub-domain, I know the basics of web-servers and DNS, I just need to know what to get from a buyer's perspective. (unless coding is required, I can do a bit, but not extensive)
I am a Computer Science student and know most of the basics of website hosting, but I have no real-life experience so I don't know what is practically required and my finances are stretched thin, so I am trying to make sure everything is good to go, before getting my feet wet and making purchases.
If your aiming for <$100 a year your asking too much, unless you plan to host it yourself?
With regard to the package from linode, that is the minimum spec requirement for discourse to run properly, having any less your gonna run into problems along the way. If @wendell has some input on deals and services like linode I'm sure he'll be happy to tell you.
For a sub-domain, you'll have to add the sub-domain into your DNS via your provider, then in (e.g.) nginx make a server block that redirects to the right address. It's bit of coding but nothing to worry about.
If you feel uncomfortable with committing to this then try it out on a virtual machine first, get the hang of things, then when your ready put it out in the world, plus during this time you can research the information that you will need.
Thanks for all the help guys. I do have the forums setup in beta stage now. I am running Discourse. The server is hosted in Germany, has 2 GB RAM & 800Gbps DDOS protection. We have also forced SSL throughout the site. So yeah everything looks good, and about time too (seeing how things have been going down over here). The Tek Syndicate forum was kind of a model for me because of its awesome hosts and community so needless to say, the last few days have been a bit of a shock. I hope we reach a cease-fire soon, but it will never be the same for me again. Regardless, If anyone wants to check out my setup you can sign in at TPSC Forums. Just remember it is still in beta.
Once again, thank you. Hopefully, I will find calmer seas when I return. #Logan&WendellForever
You can setup another docker container for discourse and access it via a nginx proxy for a dark theme version. The editing the source code route is too messy, especially when you upgrade discourse from git. You can rsync the database between the two upon increments via cron or other means, just backup everything before you start messing with it.
