Warning: The following tutorial is for MyBB forums only. Instructions for other forum software may vary.

I’ve recently been noticing large forums coming to MyBB. One for example is http://www.talkvideogames.com/ with nearly half a million posts, taking up position #2 in place of MsgPlus. So I decided it’s time for a tutorial on how to ensure your server is running fast with MyBB:

1) Change the mybb_sessions table to a HEAP (or MEMORY) type. This will ensure that the table is stored in memory. It won’t cause problems because it’ll be truncated often (sessions 24 hours or older are trimmed at random)

2) Make sure your kernel, mysql, php, and all extensions are up-to-date.

3) Install Zend, eAccelerator, and or memcache extensions for php. MyBB 1.4 will take advantage of eAccelerator / memcache. Installing APC (Advanced PHP Cache) is usually worth it too.

4) Turn on the MySQL Query Cache if it isn’t on already.

5) Remove PHP extensions that you don’t use - you can always turn them on later if need be.

6)  Optimize your tables weekly using a cron job of some sort

Just a note; MyBB 1.4 will continue to provide continual speed improvements for you and your forum. Things like the new task system will allow you to manage your forum better and more easily.