Setting up test environment on Mac OSX, running Apache 2, mySQL. Joomla works fine for me and with other extensions I have installed.

I have symbolic links allowed.

I have looked at all you tutorials and read the manuals, and still cannot get my first site to install.

I have a subdomain (slave.novusweb.com) pointing to our server (slave is not the actual name). In the New Site window, I entered slave as the site ID and slave.novusweb.com:9999 in the URL window, since we only allow port 9999 from the outside.

In the apache conf file, I have the following:

<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin hostmaster@novusweb.com
DocumentRoot "/Library/WebServer/Documents/cctest1"
ServerName slave.novusweb.com
ServerAlias slave.novusweb.com
ErrorLog "/private/var/log/apache2/slave.novusweb.com-error_log"
</VirtualHost>

Nothing is entered in the Deployed directory field (I have tried {site_dir} as well), since I'm under the impression that if I want to keep the slave sites in the same directory as the site, I don't have to put anything there.

Whenever I then go to slave.novusweb.com:9999, I get the main site home page, not the installer.

I've checked to make sure permissions and ownership are valid.

The main site URL would be dev.novusweb.com:9999 (the actual port number is different for security reasons).

What am I missing?

I suspect that you make a mistake in your virtualhost

You say that you want the port 9999 and you have specified the port 80 in the virtualhost
<VirtualHost *:80>
replace by
<VirtualHost *:9999>


Check also that you have not another entry in your apache configuration as I don't understand why it display the sub-domain if it was not correctly configured in your virtualhost.
This probably mean that you have another rule that is used.


If you have deplayed the slave site into a specific directory (using a specific DocumentRoot), try using the "hello world" procedure to test your apache configuration.
This hello world procedure does not require Joomla neither JMS.
This is a standalone hello.php that can help you configure your apache correctly.

Why don't you use the tutorial step 9 procedure that create a slave site into a sub-directory and that avoid the setup of your apache.
This will give you a first slave site and after you could have a look on how to setup your apache correctly

The port is 80 in the Apache because the 9999 is port forwarded to 80 internally. Apache listens on 80, but outside of our router, the world can only access with port 9999. (I did try changing the VirtualHost port to 9999, btw, and that did not work, either.)

The reason I like not having to create subdirectories is because for this system to work for us, we need to be able to evolve to front-end site creation and we want to automate the site generation process as much as possible. We will be spawning thousands of sites if this system works for us; we don't want to have to be creating each subdirectory manually.

I have a question: are wildcards allowed in the URL field? E.g., slave.novusweb*.

I'll keep looking at the Apache config. I know it's taking slave.novusweb.com to the correct subdirectory because the cctest1 front page (which has already been changed so I know which site is showing) comes up. If I change the document path in the Virtual Host configuration, I get the Apache Welcome page.

You can not use wildcard in JMS domain defintion.
If the port change between outside and inside (9999 to 80), I don't know which value arrives to JMS.
Try to add both :9999 and :80 in JMS domain defintiion to make them synonym.

slave.novusweb.com:9999
slave.novusweb.com

The conical name seen by Apache is slave.novusweb.com. (According to the %v token in the log.)

I did change the path in the Virtual Host to confirm that apache is handling the directive correctly. It is.

I put both names in the URL field:

slave.novusweb.com:9999
slave.novusweb.com

I'm stumped here.

It just feels like JMS is not seeing the host name for some reason.

BTW, does anything need to be done to create a .htaccess file or anything like that?

htaccess is not responsible for the host name.
The host name is global variable that present in PHP.

It is not filled when working on a localhost that does not seems to be your case as you should have a DNS and a configuration of your apache to make it work.

The domain name must be correctly spelled in JMS otherwise it display the master website. (The behavior that you have described).
JMS use all the parameters including the port to identify the slave site.
If it does not match on this part, this may explain why you have the master website displayed.
To know which parameters are received by JMS, this require to debug JMS and add traces.
If you want that I do it, you can order support on
www.jms2win.com/download?page=shop.produ...35&category_id=1

In this case, I will ask you to send me by email all the information that will allow me to connect on your website (URL, FTP, ...)