I consider myself a very smart person. But JMS leaves me baffled. I keep getting 403 errors

I have tried to watch the tutorials, but they are hard to understand (English -- I doubt "mon francais est mieux").

Could somebody simply post the "Bullet points" of how to do this:

SITUATION:

"Master" sub-domain: erewhon.kierpro.com
This will contain all of the Joomla files and has a mySQL database containing everything needed for the website.

"Slave" sub-domain 1: aloha.kierpro.com
This will use the master's Joomla files, but will have its own full Joomla mySQL database.

"Slave" sub-domain 2: nnsi.kierpro.com
This will use the master's Joomla files, but will have its own full Joomla mySQL database.

THINGS I HAVE ALREADY DONE:
Made all three sub-domains, and while "Erewhon" is pointing to it's own folder, the two slaves are set to their own "multi-site" folders underneath the Erewhon directory:

/home/content/k/i/e/kiernan7a/html/small/multisites/nnsi

(yes, the directory is called 'small', not 'erewhon').

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ON THIS? I'VE WASTED A WHOLE DAY TRYING TO MAKE THIS WORK!!!

-- John Kiernan

Based on the path you provide, I suppose you are using a Unix platform and that Symbolic Link is allowed as presented in tutorial video 3 to 7.

I don't know which HTTP Server administration tool you are using (cPanel, ....)
I will assume in this reply that you are on unix + Symbolic Link OK and cPanel for the admin tool.

1) Install the master on the
erewhon.kierpro.com -> dir = /home/content/k/i/e/kiernan7a/html/small
Seems OK

2) If you create the subdomain before that point on the JMS multisites subdirectory then JMS will not accept to create the slave with the name "nnsi".
Suggestion is to create the slave site in directory beside the master

Slave 1: aloha.kierpro.com --> dir = /home/content/k/i/e/kiernan7a/html/aloha
Slave 2: nnsi.kierpro.com --> dir = /home/content/k/i/e/kiernan7a/html/nnsi

go in JMS.
If you want to share everything (images and template directory), create a JMS Template.
JMS Template:
template id = freshSlave
domain = {site_id}.kierpro.com
deploy folder = /home/content/k/i/e/kiernan7a/{site_id}

Check the "folder tab" and put the action for "template" = special copy.
Review the other directory action. Should be "Symbolic Link".

SAVE

Go in JMS Manage
Create new slave
id = "aloha"
Select the template ID = "freshSlave"

SAVE
This should create a fresh slave site with the domain computed based on the SITE ID and deployed in the directory using the SITE ID as directory name.

I'm having a problem that I *think* is from GoDaddy.

I have Aloha mapped like this:
aloha.kierpro.com --> dir = /home/content/k/i/e/kiernan7a/html/aloha

So I tried a test. I made a "testindex.htm" containing nothing but a "Hello World". When I tried to hit it via: "aloha.kierpro.com/testindex.htm", I get a 404 error.

HOWEVER...

When I try to hit it via: "kierpro.com/small/multisites/aloha/testindex.htm", it comes up!

Now I'm trying an experiment, but I need to wait for the DNS to propagate. On the "erewhon.kierpro.com" mapping, I'm ONLY using relative pathing ("/small"). I just changed the "Aloha" sub-domain to do the same ("/small/multisites/aloha"). Let's see what happens!

-- John

AHA!!! MORE INFO FOR YOU AND ME!!!

In GoDaddy, if you have your master set up in a relative path, you cannot use the specific path in your settings (are you display them)! When I set up the Aloha slave site, I cut and pasted what JMS told me to use (/home/content/k/i/e/kiernan7a/html/small/multisites/aloha). But that didn't work! My "Erewhon" website was mapped simply to "/erewhon". When I changed the pathing in JMS to read "/small/multisites/aloha", it worked!!! I think this is something peculiar to GoDaddy, so you might want to put this in the back of your mind in case you get this problem again.

Of course, in only partially worked...

When I then tried to bring up "Aloha", it prompted me through a Joomla install. It ran everything and then I had only "Aloha" on the page when I refreshed it. When I went into the mySQL, it has changed all of the existing tables to "bak_" tables and installed new ones! I don't want that, because on my LIVE system, I have all the mySQL databases installed. I ONLY want to share the Joomla FILES. (However, when I deleted ALL of the tables and re-imported my initial "Aloha", things ran better!)

Here's what I did:
I made a Template system based on "Erewhon". And then I used that to copy from. I then went in while creating Aloha and pointed everything to the specific mySQL database. Did I do this wrong?

Also, on the NNSI slave, I cannot get this to work at all -- even though I swear I did everything the same. I am getting 403 errors, but everything in /small/multisites/nnsi (and below) has full privileges. Also, I am using an /nnsi folder for the templates, images etc. This also has full privileges. What do you think I'm doing wrong there?

I think I am VERY close now, but still I need this to work flawlessly when I try to migrate this to my live system.

PS: When I activated the JMS, I did it from my test server (kierpro.com), but when I go live, I will want to have it working from "oar2.org". Do I need to request some kind of change of registration for the system to work correctly?

Thank you for your time on this.

-- John Kiernan

More information, although maddening...

I made ANOTHER website "Norig" based on "Erewhon".

This time, the message I get when I am done is different. The web page for "norig.kierpro.com" says:

No configuration file found and no installation code available. Exiting...

And I can SEE the "Erewhon" logo.

What's going on here? I'm REALLY very bright, but this just doesn't seem to be working right. At least, I should be getting consistent failures!

-- John

HELP!!!!!!!!!!

I've figured out a number of things with JMS, but have other questions.

I have started a new thread here:

www.jms2win.com/forum/24-joomla-multi-sites-configuration/3810

Thanks!

-- John