Thread

Hi, we currently have a new EE installation for a client that has one main website and 10 subdomains - each subdomain is a subsection of the main site, which puts the total number at 11 potential site sections. 

I would like to purchase multiple site manager for this project which I assume means I will need to make the initial purchase plus 8 additional commercial licenses? (omg this is getting pricy!)

The confusion for me on this is - Does our original EE commercial license account for the first of the 11?  Or we still need to purchase 11 licenses for this one project?

OR… Am I misunderstanding all together in that one commercial license for MSM allows for 3 different EE control panel installations - each with unlimited subdomains and sites within them?

And here is the kicker (so many questions!)...  After I purchase MSM, do I have to reinstall EE on this current project or does MSM install as an add-on to the original EE installation?

Thank you for your help.

The confusion for me on this is - Does our original EE commercial license account for the first of the 11?  Or we still need to purchase 11 licenses for this one project?

One EE Commercial license is all you need. Its one EE license per installation. The Sites managed through the MSM are on the same installation, so no additional EE licenses are necessary. If you want each subdomain to be a separate site within EE you’d just need to purchase 8 Additional Sites to go with the MSM (they are $49.95 each).

OR… Am I misunderstanding all together in that one commercial license for MSM allows for 3 different EE control panel installations - each with unlimited subdomains and sites within them?

Sites in the MSM are agnostic as to how they are implemented. EE doesn’t think of Sites in terms of subdomains, domains, or extensions to an existing domain (example.com/siteA, example.com/siteB, etc). A Site in EE creates a new set of preferences, weblogs, and templates that are completely separate from the other Sites on the same installation. How you assign a Site (subdomain, etc…) is up to you. The MSM Screencast shows how we use it to manage our own properties.

The MSM is really only necessary when you want a “Site” to be completely separate in terms of the primary installation. Can you describe what these subdomains will be used for? Do they need to be separate from the main install? Meaning, do you need separate preferences, templates, and weblogs for these subdomains?

And here is the kicker (so many questions!)...  After I purchase MSM, do I have to reinstall EE on this current project or does MSM install as an add-on to the original EE installation?

The MSM installs onto an existing installation. You will not have to reinstall EE. The MSM will quietly sit there and behave itself without interrupting your existing installation. Though we do recommend backing up everything first as a precaution.

Excellent, thanks for your help!

The subdomain sites will need different templates and weblogs than the main site, but each subdomain will have the same preferences and users as the main site.  All subdomains will all have the same templates and weblogs as eachother.  In that respect maybe we can treat the subdomains with a single installation of MSM?  Honestly, we could do without MSM but I thought it could potentially make life easier.

The best way I can describe the purpose of subdomain sites is that they are each 10 identical subsites with 98% being identical content, however each one is for a different geographic location - so the 2% differing content will reflect the different geographic locations.

Hi tb1200,

In that case, you can probably get away with this:

1 EE license - main site
1 MSM license - subdomains

Instead of buying Additional Sites for all the subdomains try using the Classic method. The MSM will provide the separation you need from the main site and the Classic method will let you setup the subdomains within the MSM site.

Outstanding! I had no idea this Classic Method existed… thanks so much for your help!  I’ve been looking forward to trying out MSM - this should be a great testing grounds.