my questions are prior to installing JMS Multi Switch.

I think I have an ideal set up, if it breaks I can delete it and punt.

I have a test domain proper www.name.net with two subdomains so sub1.domain.net and sub2.domain.net

I can have three seperate DBs so jos_ for main and jos_ for each sub I believe that was in the tutorial . is that the ideal setup ?

my question becomes, is it better to have shared DB's or seperate with users shared. i do not want anyone to register on my subs and will turn that feature off on the two subs.

basically all i want to do is have all "users" enter through the main site, and link to the sub domains. each sub having its own template and images, content etc..

I also purchased the shared content plugin so that will help also.

that as food for thought, would it be better to have each as "their own" DB


also, finally, is it best to fully load the main domain with all its extensions plugins etc, before installing JMS ? making JMS the last item installed on the master then, link to the slaves or other sites.

thank you,

Concerning the sharing of the users and the usage of one or several DB, this depends on the MySQL privileges that you have.

Generally, I suggest to have specific table prefix that is never jos_ to ensure that you never replace a website with the content of another one when you make a mistake.
In general I use {site_id}_ as table prefix.
This also give the possibility to have all the slave sites into the same DB.

When you want to share an extension (ie. users), this require that you have MySQL login with enought privileges to create and show views. When using cPanel, this may require to increase the MySQL privileges. See also the tutorial video 0.b slide 35.
www.jms2win.com/tutorial#jms12x-0b

When you want to share extension between different DB, this is also possible with the same login can have access to the different DB and have the privileges to see the tables.

So YES you can have specific DB for each websites and also share the extension (ie. users) accross DBs but you need MySQL privileges. It is easier to have the privilges in a DB than have priviliges in several DBs.
If you are using a hosting company with shared hosting, it would be easier to ask have the privileges in a single DB than between several DBs.

So all depends on the environment and the privileges that you have.

In general I suggest to share the extensions in a same DBs that is easier.