[support] Help with implementing drupal for a large organization

[Michael Prasuhn]

One thing I would consider

On Dec 3, 2008, at 4:57 PM, Tina Callahan wrote:
> • To start with, we see three drupal core installs: the first for  
> low-profile or non-aggressive site development, the second for  
> moderate development, and the third for aggressive development. The  
> thought behind this is to reduce the number of sites that we need to  
> review for conflicts with newly added or modified modules. Any  
> thoughts on this?
>
I would try to get as many of the simple generic sites as possible on  
a multi-site install, but don't be afraid to pull these out to their  
own codebase when they require a module that won't be used by other  
sites. Don't be afraid to migrate into a custom codebase when  
necessary, but use smart tools to keep the management to a minimum.  
Whether that is just a series of shell scripts, svn:externals, or even  
a distributed version control system

> 	• We are trying to develop a policy on user access to the file  
> system. We understand that there are users that won't want access,  
> but there will also be others that want to tweak modules and  
> themeing directories. Are there any suggestions on best practices  
> for allowing our users access to the files system? My systems folks  
> do not want to have the nightmare of granting access, but as a  
> developer myself, I think this is a must.

One technique here, might be to create an account for each group  
corresponding to their site's name, and give them a public_html folder  
within their home directory, that is in turn symlinked to public or  
something similar in the drupal root of their site, so that they can  
access it at example.com/public/FOO. Allowing the user FTP access to  
their own home directory would allow them simple file uploads or  
static files if necessary. Since these would be found under the root  
for their site, they could easily link to them from within their site  
as well.

-Mike


__________________
Michael Prasuhn
mike at mikeyp.net
http://mikeyp.net