how many members can a web host hold? Options

[rail01]

if you have a web host like dreamhost or bluehost and have forums with profiles whats the max account/registered members and guest it could hold?

[synatribe]

only dreamhost gives you more GB every week, thats what makes them different from other hosts, however unless you want to run a site like myspace you dont need extra GB every week. :]

[fixtatik]

...unless you want to run a site like myspace you dont need extra GB every week. :]

haha, myspace is using hundreds of servers, with more power and space than anything DreamHost offers. i remember back when myspace first started, they had something like five servers and were assigning a million users to each machine. that didn't work out well, because one server could have half a million people that never used the site, and another could have every one of the members extremely active. now myspace is using separate servers; some are designated for only pictures, some for profiles, some for chat, some for forums, some for videos.

keep in mind, though, any web host you decide to go with is going to be on a shared server, with many other customers, unless you choose specifically to rent a computer to host only your site. most [decent] dedicated servers are upwards of $150 / month and you usually get a mere 120 or so GB of space. then you'd have to factor in that you'd need a lot of RAM if you're looking to build a very popular forum or social network that uses a MySQL database. databases require a much more powerful computer than sites built with flat files. extra RAM can get costly.