Any advice for a new admin with no tech experience

I'm looking into setting up a new Dolphin site as a members community for my existing business. I'm fairly handy with a desktop PC but have no server or programming experience. I'm looking for advice and guidance on hosting, how to get technical support for installations, upgrades and bug fixing etc as well as any general advice members can give me on the do's and don'ts of setting up a new site.

Any takers?

Hello

1. You may select a hosting provider from a list of BoonEx recommended providers.

2. Some hosting providers allow to install Dolphin from CPanel. If not, you may hire someone here to do it for you. However the installation is not so hard and you may try to do it by yourself. Installation manual can be found here.

3. When the Dolphin was installed, I recommend you to play with it for some time. It's not so had to use. However if you have some questions you may find answers here. Also it may be useful for you to check Dolphin Wiki.

First of all, don't use a share host of any kind for Dolphin, even if Boonex recommends them.  Repeat, don't; only a few users will have the host crying that you are exceeding resources and that goes for Arvixe who advertises Dolphin hosting for only $4.00 a month as well.  Don't be afraid to ask questions of any company that you plan to host with, such as "How many VPSes do you place on one physical server?" because some will overload servers and then try to sell you upgrades when your SQL server is shutting down because of lack of resources; think Constant Hosting here.

Installing Dolphin is actually quite easy, just upload the files to the server, make sure the permissions are correct; the installer will inform you if they are not, fill out a few questions on your setup, such as database name, user, password, and in a few minutes you have a Dolphin site up and running.  However, customising the site will take some time.

If you are completely without knowledge on servers and setting up a site, you probably will want to go with a hosting company that will supply some management of the server and help with customising the site.  There are people here on the forum that will help with installing third party modules and even with helping to solve issues with the site; some will do it for free and others will charge a fee; it often depends on the complexity and time involved.

The forums here are a big help for answers.  The local search is a bit weak, so instead use one of the search engines, google or bing or what may be your favourite to search the boonex forums for answers.

MOST USEFUL TIPS I THINK YOU NEED IS HOW TO STOP SPAM HITTING YOUR SITE BEFORE IT TAKES OFF PROPERLY ONLINE  ...

Once you get your site online you will almost certainly face issues with spammers and bots!

I talk of some useful ways here to prevent spammers and stop your site being trashed: http://www.boonex.com/forums/?action=goto&my_threads=1#topic/Now-with-7-1-1-timeline-got-another-bug-spam-.htm

In response to the above, Dolphin on shared can and does work, as long as the server is setup for it.  True, most shared servers aren't, so I recommend steering clear of those $4.95/month unlimited plans.  Dolphin on shared is meant for small communities and networks, not large and bustling sites.  We have modest CloudLinux limitations on our shared; if an account finds itself reaching them often, it's time for a VPS or dedicated server.

Automated installers for Dolphin (e.g., Softaculous) are not recommended, as there is a heightened chance of file/database corruption when using them.  As geek_girl said, Dolphin installations and pretty straight-forward.  Just follow the instructions in the installer and let us know if you get stuck somewhere.

Would this include those hosting providers who supply a '1 click' Dolphin installation service with their Dolphin specific packages?

Yes.

I will reccomend you use the captcha utility for avoiing spammers and also hire an admin to do the work for you.

If you cannot afford it search in the market for some free r cheap modules.

Please dont hesitate to ask more questions.