Multisite Tutorial

E.g.: 

-main domain: www.infotexte.de and one subdomain joomla.infotexte.de

-To keep the content management clean, i use sections and not only categories.  The name of sections looks like sec_joomla and categories look like cat_joomla. 

 In the following text, I use ~ instead of the site name, in my example "~" stands for "joomla" (=> ~.infotexte.de stands for joomla.infotexte.de; etc.).

 

Before You can set up any new multi-site in the Joomla administration area, You have to install OpenSEF for Joomla. If this is not done yet, just visit http://projects.j-prosolution.com/en/projects/os-projects/download-opensef.html

To get it work, make sure (Joomla) SEF is activated and Your .htaccess can be used correctly at the server.

 

After OpenSEF is running, think about  subdomains. If there are only a few subdomains You are going to use, You can set it up at Your server administration panel or directly in the virtual-hosts file. As I do not want to limit the number of subdomains and also do not want to set each single subdomain by hand, i set up a wildcard domain: *.infotexte.de. Using confixx or another server panel, this can be easy, i guess.  A detailed manual on this topic can be found there.

 

Now  log in to Your Joomla Administration Area, the Backend, and go to Components – OpenSEF – Configuration:

-Basic: "OpenSEF Enabled?"  => "yes"

-Features and set "Use Multi-Site Features?" to "Yes"

 

There is one little mistake, i think, in the file /administrator/components/com_sef/admin.sef.php in line 557 or around it. Just replace the line

'base_url' => 'Please fill in the Base URL.', 

with this line:

//'base_url' => 'Please fill in the Base URL.', 

If You do not do so, You will later have a problem if You want the links to look like joomla.infotexte.de/my-category because openSEF would change it to joomla.infotexte.de//my-category .

 

 

Now  the fundamental changes have been done and You can start setting up the first multi-site / the first subdomain/ section:

 


 

If You want to add a new site, just follow these steps:

Menu – Menu Manager – new:
                    -> Name: mnu_~
                       -> Title: ~
Home – Sections – new:    
                -> Title: ~
                         -> Section Name: sec_~
                    -> Save
Home – Category Manager – new:
                -> Cat. Title: ~
                         -> Cat. Name: cat_~
                         -> Section > ~
                – edit (cat_~)
            Link to Menu
                > mnu_~
                > Content Category Blog
                > ~
            -> Save, Close
Menu –> mnu_~ -> ~ -> edit
                Url: [] ==> kopieren
            -> Close
Menu – mainmenu – new –> „Link Url“
                    -> Name: ~
                    -> Link: http://~.infotexte.de
                -> Save
Components – OpenSef – Manage Sites – Neu:
                    -> Domain Name: ~.infotexte.de
                    -> Basis Url:       (empty!)

                    -> Titel: ~

                    -> Save

Components – OpenSef – Manage friendly Urls – „New“

                    -> Site > ~

                    -> friendly Url: /

                    -> internal Url: [] <== paste the Url from before

                   -> Notes: ~

Content – Content by Section -> ~ -> ~ Items -> new:

                    -> Title: Home

                    -> Title Alias: Home

                    -> Section: ~

                    -> Category: cat_~

                    -> Intro: …
                    -> Main Text: …
                          -> Save
                          -> Frontpage (activate)

Modules – Site Modules -> mnu_~ -> edit:

                       -> Published: yes

                        Pages/Items:

                                        > mainmenu | ~

                                        +> mnu_~ | ~

                        -> Save 

 

 

 


 

 

 Now You have Your multi-site(s) and want to add new categories, I guess:

"(…)"  is the name of the new category. E.g. for the category with the name "Tutorials" use "Tutorials" instead of "(…)".

Category Manager – new:
                 -> Cat. Title: (…)
                 -> Cat. Name: (…)
                 -> Section: ~
                -> Save
            – edit (…)
                -> Link to Menu
                    > mnu_~
                    > content_category_blog
                    -> (…)
                   -> Save
Module – Site Modules -> mnu_~
                -> Pages / Items
                    +> mnu_~ | (…)  (add the new category and be sure not to remove the selection of other categories You selected before.)

  

 


 

Now if You had success, You have subdomains, one for each section and in these seperate (multi)sites You are also able to add new categories. If You like to use a special template for any section/subdomain, You can assign a template to the section's category in Site – Template Manager – Site Templates.

 

Good luck and have fun. 

 

 

 

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