[documentation] [Documentation task] Drupal multi-site setup documentation: request for comments

[venkat-rk]

Issue status update for 
http://drupal.org/node/104340
Post a follow up: 
http://drupal.org/project/comments/add/104340

 Project:      Documentation
 Version:      <none>
 Component:    Admin Guide
 Category:     tasks
 Priority:     normal
 Assigned to:  venkat-rk
 Reported by:  venkat-rk
 Updated by:   venkat-rk
 Status:       active

I thought I woud take a stab at trying to write to a multi-site set up
guide with inputs from the community. I may only be able to do this in
little bits, though.


After reading some forum posts and the sections in Robert Douglass'
book, I have the following broad structure in mind. Feel free to suggest
additions or changes for a better structure. Once we agree upon the
structure, I will add book pages and post them for review. 


*I. Introduction*



* What is multi-site
* Benefits of multi-site

*II. Options for Multi-site*



* Multi-site using one code base and different databases for different
domains/sub-domains
* Multi-site using one code base and one database with prefixed tables
for different domains/sub-domains

*III. Ways to configure Multi-site in Drupal*



* Using Apache Vhosts (editing httpd.conf)
* Using symlinks

*IV. Setting up Multi-site step by step*



* Create a database on the specific domain/sub-domain or run prefix.sh
and create a prefixed database
* For each site, create a subdirectory under ..sites/
* Put settings.php under that subdirectory and configure the db
parameters
* Create a files directory under the subdirectory
* Update the file system path at ../admin/settings

*V. Setting up site specific modules and themes*



* Put under a separate 'modules' and 'themes' directory within the
subdirectory

What else? What about sharing tables between sites and across
databases? What about setting up multi-site using Cpanel or Plesk? Any
best practices?


Please chip in with comments, suggestions and links to make this a
useful guide. After a few significant comments/posts, I will post an
updated structure on this thread.


Thanks in advance,
Venkat.




venkat-rk