Existing website, OS platform, migrating

[Lon]

Hello, I'm contemplating purchasing vBulletin to replace existing forums. I have a few questions but will probably have more after I get some answers. Here's what I have running now:

- Website: Primarily static with SSI header, page, footer (500 pgs) - Been running many years, converted from original HTML to ASP now PHP.
- Forums: Snitz Forums 2000 V3.4.03 (3500 pgs) - Been running many years, migrated from original Access to MSSQL (2 or 3 upgrades on MSSQL).
- Gallery: Coppermine PHP Gallery (2800 pgs) - Fairly new, migrated from an old basic ASP Gallery that I modded heavily.

I'm currently on a Windows Server 'cause originally everything was ASP but I would like to switch to whatever is best for vB. I don't want to run a forums only site so I would like to integrate vB into my existing site.

So my initial questions are:

1. What is the best OS platform for vB assuming V5 with Mobile version? Linux?
2. Will vB Cloud version integrate seamlessly with a static site on a different URL and IP? I rely heavily on monetization so I can't get dinged for any part of the site being on a different IP/server.
3. I understand there's an app for migrating existing forum databases to vB called Impex. Where can I read more on this?
4. Is there any way to migrate Coppermine Gallery to vB's image gallery?

Any other info you can provide would be greatly appreciated!

[Lon]

Did I post in the wrong forum?

[BirdOPrey5]

Hello.

Most people feel a flavor of Linux is the best way to run vBulletin but we have a number of Windows hosted customers as well, it really isn't that big a deal. Most instructions / help you will find though are based on the assumption your are running Apache and Linux because it's by far the most common setup.

vBCloud does not seem like it would be appropriate for you. You cannot integrate vBCloud with any kind of single sign on system nor can you control or change the URLs, nor redirect old URLs like you might be able to do with the download product. With vBCloud you could link to maybe forum.exmaple.com from your static site, but there would be no way to share any other information such as a username between the two sites.

Our Impex tool is not longer officially supported. If you use it you must import into VB4. You can then upgrade to VB5 if you choose after the import is complete. For more info on Impex go here: http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/forum...re-to-download

Impex will not import any image galleries and I am not aware of any image gallery importers, sorry.

[Lon]

Thanks for your reply.