Hello,

I want to buy both Multisite, article sharing and maybe some other extensions.

I have Joomla 1.7 and CB 1.7 on site. My questions:

1- I want to share all CB users cross all sites, have independent DB but be able to chamge for example options of some CB fields (according to the site), the configurations will stay same, fields and their names same but options would differ, say a dropdown field will have different values (is this possible?)

2- You normally advertise Multisite based on saving disk space because of one joomla core shared for all sites. In my case I want to have independent extensions and DB, most flexible option, but my worry is that if all site share a same core, if one site was attacked by kackers then it would affect all sites as the core joomla is shared.

Is it possible to set up multisites so that if one site was attacked or hacked it would be independent from other sites?

3- Is it possible to add sites in totally separate server from the one main site has been installed, say site is in a server in UK and then you install another site in different server in US?

4- What would be your recommendation on confirguration of servers, DBs and sites if you have a large and complicated site and you want setup high number of similar sites.

Thank you.

1) You can effectivelly share CB users between different websites but when you share an extension, this share all the records and also all the fields.
So if you share the CB users, you will have the same options in each websites.
The fact that you share the users between different DB does not change the fact that the users are store in a unique DB. The other DB using "links" to access the physical data (tables).

2) NO.
The concept of JMS is effectivelly to share the same Joomla installation PHP code and therefore if you have a hacker to modify the PHP code, as it is shared by all the websites, all the websites might be affected.
In our recommendation that are described in the technical document page 20 to 24, we suggest to put the master in a secure place that is not public or available from internet and just create slave sites that are the public one and that use symbolic link to access the joomla files and folders.
See www.jms2win.com/en/tutorial#jms12x-0b

In a such way, it is technically possible (event if this is not easy) to make the symbolic link on autorized to read and execute files but not changing them and just let the master the read/write access as this is the owner of the files and folders.

If you really want to copy the files and folders, this is technically possible in JMS template rule but in this case, you will not benefit of the maintenance of the website as you will have to maintain several "standalone" website and synchronize them yourself.

3)NO.
As the concept is to share the files and folder of the Joomla installation, it is assumed that all the websites are runing on the same server with the same owner.

4) All depends what you mean by high number of similar sites.
If you number is > 1,000 websites a dedicated server is probably recommended.
Use a linux server with cPanel and WHM that generally are correctly configured by the hosting company.
Avoid using Plesk or Direct admin as administration tool with which you may encouter difficulties to setup the files and folders permission correctly. We estimate the administration workload at a ratio of 3 compared to cPanel. (3 times slower to administrate than cPanel).

Uses a PHP 5.3 or higher and MySQL 5.x.

In JMS, there are specific setting that we recommend to enable when it is expected to have more than 1,000 websites.
In example 10,000 or more websites. When the number of websites is > 1,000 we also recommend to use very basic rule that can be easily detected based on a URL present and with the objective to implement specific code to speed-up the "super switch" processing

Dear Edwin,

Thank you for your detailed explanation and time you put for support.

I just want for things to be slightly more clarified so my feedback for above points are as below:

1- Say I have community builder and I have a dropdown field ABC that has several options A B C and D

this field for the second site has to have totally different option values or even different number of options. To implement this I have two option:

One to be able to keep the field ABC and just be able to change the option values to A' B' C' D' and E'

Second to defined independent field called ABC-multisite-1 with options A' B' C' D' and E' and then in Community builder settings I unpublish field ABC and publish field ABC-multisite-1 to replace ABC field in the slave site. In this way, I have to define the same field in number of my sites and in each site turn that specific field related to that site on.

From methods above which one is feasible using Multisite.

2- "we suggest to put the master in a secure place that is not public or available from internet and just create slave sites that are the public one and that use symbolic link to access the joomla files and folders.
See www.jms2win.com/en/tutorial#jms12x-0b"

The above is very interesting and great solution if possible to put the master site files in totally inaccessible location but the pdf file and pages 20-24 were more like a presentation and they did not have details, but if it is possible to make the slave site secure then there will not be needed to have the same files and folders copied for all sites.
But also option of sharing files and folders is good as in my case all the sites will have their own managers so any update or change can be circulated to them. It is very important to make sure hacking one site will not affect others. You may ask if I want independent files and folders and site managers why I want to user Multisite, I think the only reason is content sharing and central management of possibilities.

3,4- At the moment, I have a plesk dedicated server dual core, 4Gb ram, and 1000Gb hard and I think that for each single site to perform well I need a quad CPU, 8Gb ram, and 1000Gb hard to start (more later).
Considering above, can I have over 1000 sites in one server with one owner? Should I parallel the CPUs, ….?

1) If you share CB then the options will be the same between all the websites.
Sharing really mean shared and not duplicated data that are synchronized.
So same data, same content, same options.

If you want specific option in each website then you can not share the users.

2) The concept of JMS is the sharing.
So the slave site does not have copied of all the files and folders.
They share the files and folder.
The only thing is that the link can be setup in linux to have special behavior.
Don't ask me how. I am not a linux administrator specialist.
I can just tell you that I already saw that done by some customers.
Some FTP server can also be setup to avoid follow the symbolic link.

There is no 100% garanty that a hacker will not find a hole.
In general, the hole are presents in extensions that the hackers try to exploit.
If you are hacked, all the websites will be affected due to the sharing.

If you want to have standalone joomla with their own files and folders then you can use JMS to replicate the website but you will not benefit of the maintenance when there are bug fixes or update in joomla or in the extensions.
You will have to consider each slave site as independent and will have to update yourself. So the benefit will be very limited.

sorry just very quick yes or no questions?

If I use standalone joomla with their own files and folders, yes I accept that bug fixes and update will be down separately for all sites and that I need more disk space, but

1- Then will I be able to share users and be able to change value of options in a CB field? probably not, beacause sharing users means sharing all fields with exact same options and field parameters but how about this:
I use CB and CB Profile Pro. CB Profile Pro is an independent component which handles all CB registration, Profile and Edit Profile pages (every thing from CB).
I have CB shared, all users and all fields and with exact options and parameters, but CB Profile Pro is not shared (independent for each site). In my Profile Pro codes for each site, I can change the field A to field B in my slave site (both A and B are fields of CB but Profile Pro set up so that only shows A and B is not shown in master site).
Is this possible?

2- Will I be able to use Content Sharing plugings or other plugins with standalone joomlas?

3,4- Still did not get the answer if one site uses quad cpu and 8gb ram and 1000Gb hard, would it be possible to have over 1000 multisites?

Thanks.

1) I don't know.
Normally, when you share CB, you also have to share all the other CB extension to keep the consistency between the websites.
If you share part of the things, I can not guarantee you that it will works.

2) NO - you need JMS

3,4) The power of your server does not depends on the number of website but on the number of hits that you expect for all the websites.

You can have 1 website with 100 Million hits per day or 1000 website with 100 Thousand hits per day.
This will be moreless the same.

Your hosting company is better place than us to tell you the maximum traffic that you server can process.