Thread

Hello,

I’m trying an installation of MSM for the first time and I have no clue where to begin with the 2nd site.

I installed the MSM on the main site first, no problem. I then successfully (I suppose?) added the 2nd site through the first site’s CP and the MSM.

After that, I’m lost.

Eventually when these sites go live, they will be on two separate domain names, but for now, two separate subdomains.

For the 2nd site, do I upload EE completely again? Or do I just use the index.php file from the original site? The user guide was a little vague to me with that.

Also, does the 2nd site require another database?

I apologize, I know these questions are pretty basic, but I just wanted to make sure I was doing everything properly.

Thanks,
Kurt

Hi, Kurt.

Setting up the MSM for the first time can be confusing.

What I normally do is have my second and third sites live at the same level as the /system folder. (Which I don’t put above the root directory.)

I then copy over the index.php from the root into the two new folders, and edit it to have:

$system_path = '../system';

.

I may also create a masked control panel file, but that’s a topic for later if you decide to go that route.

You only need as a bare minimum the copied index.php file from the root. No need to upload any more files or make any new databases.

Thanks so much for the help, Sue. That clears up a lot of confusion.

Just to play devil’s advocate, would it be possible to have the 2 sites in the MSM in completely different roots with the 2 different domains?

I’m still waiting to hear back from the client on what their directory structures will look like, but I have a feeling that this is what the case may be.

Thanks,
Kurt

Kurt ,

Just to play devil’s advocate, would it be possible to have the 2 sites in the MSM in completely different roots with the 2 different domains?

They will need to be on the same hosting accoutn and all accessible to each other. Typically this would only involve a single root yes.

I’ll keep this thread open a bit longer until you hear back on your set-up from your client

Setting up the MSM for the first time can be confusing.

Dear EllisLab,

May I suggest that the documentation be rewritten to make it less confusing?

How about using a few dummy domains (or sub-domains) as an example then running through all the options like new sites, masked admins etc. It’s very easy to get confused when looking at cp_url variables and wondering which domain to enter there.

Can I also suggest you create a sites folder in root so that you keep them all in one place and it doesn’t muddy up the root folder 😊

I keep a site called test-ee.com for just that purpose, and it’s hosted on a Media Temple GS server.

I may move it over to EngineHosting soon for just that purpose and register something like msm-test-ee.com to aid in troubleshooting. We’re now beefing up our testing staff and hopefully will be able to allocate some cycles to improving the docs. Thanks for your feedback.

Kurt ,

Just to play devil’s advocate, would it be possible to have the 2 sites in the MSM in completely different roots with the 2 different domains?

They will need to be on the same hosting accoutn and all accessible to each other. Typically this would only involve a single root yes.

I’ll keep this thread open a bit longer until you hear back on your set-up from your client

I just heard back from my client, and he said both sites/domains are on the same server/hosting account, meaning there’s a domain-one.com folder in the vhosts directory and a domain-two.com folder in the vhosts directory, but from there they have their own root httpdocs folder, which would contain the main index.php files.

Is the MSM still possible with that set up? If so, how would I configure such variables like cp_url and site_url?

klambert,

If you open up first site via FTP can you navigate into the second site root?

klambert,

If you open up first site via FTP can you navigate into the second site root?

When I log in to either account, the attached image is the top level. The folder “httpdocs” is what contains the index.php and the system, images, and themes directories.

I cannot access the second site from the first site’s FTP access.

That may be a problem, then. Typically you’d create a folder inside the initial install, or as long as you can put in a path to the system folder and get to it, you’ll be OK.

That may be a problem, then. Typically you’d create a folder inside the initial install, or as long as you can put in a path to the system folder and get to it, you’ll be OK.

That’s what I was afraid of.

I don’t know why I didn’t mention it earlier, but this is what the server paths will look like:

/var/www/vhosts/site-one.com/httpdocs/system/ 

/var/www/vhosts/site-two.com/httpdocs/

I’m not sure if that helps or not. Maybe some tweaks in Plesk would allow this to happen? I just want to be 100% sure before I tell my client we will probably have to restructure his sites.

Hi klambert,

As Sue confirmed, that will not work. The domains are in separate hosting accounts (they may be on the same server but that is not quite enough). The second domain name needs to be added to the first domain in the same account. The client hosting provider should be able to help with this. Once the second domain has been added the paths may be something like this:

/var/www/vhosts/site-one.com/httpdocs/ (webroot for the hosting account)
/var/www/vhosts/site-one.com/httpdocs/site-two.com (folder acting as webroot for the second domain)

Cheers

Greg

Thanks everybody for your help. I will let my client know that some restructuring will have to be made.

Hi klambert,

Okay. I’ll close this thread now but please post back if you have further questions or problems.

Cheers

Greg