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How do I configure a CMS installation like WordPress or Drupal, to run on multiple websites as a replicate of one main CMS installation. Owned and managed by different server accounts all hosted on the same server.
nginx running together with apache2 (VestaCP)/home/user/example.com/public_html/
As described in the diagram all users owning a folder where DocumentRoot is pointed at, will be able to replicate/create an instance of/use the CMS installation.
You probably need the following files to run the CMS installation:
To sort out what approach will work out the best I could come up with these two different scenario's:
In both scenario's the setup is trying to require their own config file (my-config.php), so not the one what's symbolically linked.
1: Symbolic linked wordpress folder:
wordpress/wp-config.php
<?php
require_once( ROOT_PATH . 'my-config.php');
if ( !defined('ABSPATH') )
define('ABSPATH', dirname(__FILE__) . '/');
require_once(ABSPATH . 'wp-settings.php');
wordpress/test.php
<?php echo 'Path is '.getcwd(); ?>
DocumentRoot/index.php
<?php
define('ROOT_PATH', dirname(__FILE__) . '/');
require('wordpress/index.php');
DocumentRoot/my-config.php
Contains everything except the code inside wordpress/wp-config.php
<?php
define('WP_HOME', ... );
define( 'WP_CONTENT_URL', ... );
etc..
The symbolic link is as following
ln -s /path/to/wordpress/ .
My results
2: Another approach could be something like this:
wordpress/wp-config.php
<?php
require_once('my-config.php'); // So DocumentRoot/my-config.php
if ( !defined('ABSPATH') )
define('ABSPATH', dirname(__FILE__) . '/');
require_once(ABSPATH . 'wp-settings.php');
wordpress/test.php
<?php echo 'Path is '.getcwd(); ?>
DocumentRoot/my-config.php
The same as the DocumentRoot config file used in scenario 1.
The symbolic links are as following
ln -s /path/to/wordpress/* .
My results
In both scenario's the main index file redirects to the installation file. This normally happens when the connection to the database has been made but the database is still empty, so by following the installation instruction you will insert your first data. But then why does it give a WSOD?
The test file (test.php) clears things up a bit. In the scenario 1 the path to the wordpress directory becomes the absolute path for the wordpress core files. For the scenario 2 the DocumentRoot's path becomes the absolute path for the wordpress core files... or not?
Although not for the sub directories in the wordpress directory, as we can learn from scenario 1. For example the wp-admin directory, files what call getcwd() should output /path/to/wordpress/wp-admin right? If so then it means, all calls to files within those directories will never find the file. Because the file /home/user/example.com/public_html/wp-admin/file.php doesn't exists! It's not symbolically linked and so it's only accessible via /path/to/wordpress/wp-admin/file.php.
995
The web server document root is the root directory of the web server running on your system. The documents under this root are accessible to any system connected to the web server (provided the user has permissions). If a file is not under this root directory, then it cannot be accessed through the web server.
A domain's document root, also known as the home folder, is the main folder that contains all of the files for either a domain or a subdomain. Main Domain. The document root for your main domain name is your public_html folder.
The document root is a directory (a folder) that is stored on your host's servers and that is designated for holding web pages. When someone else looks at your web site, this is the location they will be accessing.
This is located in the file path /domains/example.com/html. The root directory can be viewed/accessed through File Manager, FTP, or SSH.
It's actually fairly easy to do this, the key of course is your index files. MVC frameworks, and I'm just tossing wordpress in to that category very loosely, all have a single entry point. Obviously the entry point for most of these is the index file.
Really what it amounts to is that the only file requested is the index file, it's really the only code that is called. The rest of the stuff that gets ran is routed because the index file is hard linked to code that knows how to do that.
So all you have to do is point the index file back to the code it's pointed at when you move it. It doesn't matter to the webserver where any of the files are because it doesn't route anything to them only the index. PHP can access the files as long as the system user it is using can access the files.
It may be more difficult to have separate config files for each one, for example if you want to use a separate database. Most CMS or MVC frameworks don't allow you to tell them where the config file is, it's just in some arbitrary location. The hitch you will have in wordpress is that in the general settings you have the site url, and wordpress url. These unfortunately are in the database, which makes it harder to change them. Also you probably don't want exactly the same menu for each site.
So really using the wordpress example you will have to include the config files elsewhere by piping them into the actual config file Load it when WordPress wants it to load:. I think your example config file is on the right track, but you will have to use separate databases, because of the site url and wordpress url..
This fact actually makes it harder to maintain not easier, because wordpress wont necessarily update the right database when doing upgrades to the core.
The site url needs to be the actual domain. The wordpress url is where your admin script is accessed from. So there is that part too to sort out, wp-admin.
Anyway good luck, and make sure to change those settings in the general tab in the Wordpress admin area.
UPDATE
What I would suggest doing is making a really simple router out of the orignal config file, it doesn't have to be fancy. You can tell on a per-request basis using $_SERVER[HTTP_HOST] what domain is doing the requesting. With that information you could do something as simple as this (PSUDO CODE)
switch( $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST' ){
case 'domain1':
require 'location of domain1 config';
break;
case 'domain2':
require 'location of domain2 config';
break;
default:
require 'master site config';
}
Then inside each site's respective folders place a config file for the site_url, database, and what have you in the normal wp-config. Excreta, then it's just a matter of working out if you want to give access to the admin area to each instance of the site.
This ( only changing the original config and not wp-load.php ) might be easier to maintain because it relatively trivial to find each config file at a later point, and you are making as little impact on the wordpress core code as possible. Granted it's unlikly wp-load would change, but is it a natural place to look for something custom to each site.
My concern with admin area is that you have to run it through wp-admin.php and not the index page. I am not that familiar WordPress's architecture, in how it relates to loading the admin area to say for sure, but there may be some tweaking needed there..
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