Multiple sites with one Contao installation

[spirelli]

I'm not that much of a newbie to Contao, but I'm no expert and it's a newbie questions. So here you go:

• Does it make sense to run several client sites from within on Contao installation? The advantage would be that only one installation would have to be kept up-to-date.

• Would this mean that all clients share the same database? Or can we have 1 database per client (just to keep things separately).

• How difficult is it to get the different sites running under different domains? I assume that normally these would all reside on the same webspace, right? So how would that work normally with different domains?

• Does Contao always have to run on the same server as the website/database is hosted?

Many thanks for your answers.

[xchs]

Hi spirelli,

first of all: why the cross-posting?

Does it make sense to run several client sites from within on Contao installation?

It could make sense if (and only if) the client sites share some common records/modules/settings, e.g. the same user base etc.

Otherwise, I would say: No! It does not make sense.

Would this mean that all clients share the same database?

Unfortunately, yes.

How difficult is it to get the different sites running under different domains?

In the back end module "Site structure" you can manage different page trees. For each tree you set a page of type "Website root" where you can enter the respective domain name.

Does Contao always have to run on the same server as the website/database is hosted?

No.

[Ruud]

I think that multiple sites in one installation is still lacking. For example when you link to a page in a different domain in that installation, the link will point to the current domain, not the different...

And like that I encountered several problems that need addressing, but I forgot about most.

I only use it for clients who have multiple website for nearly the same business. More or less what xchs says.

[spirelli]

Ok, thanks for your replies. That's been very helpful.

[lostrisq]

Old post, but relevant to me and maybe others.

I have a client with four domains. Three daughter companies underneath a so called "group"

One contao version for three websites.
I am confused how it works.

Landing page is wv-group.nl this is the root in the cms.
visitor can make a choice on the landing page wv-group to go to one of the daughters, let's say wv-events.nl
I would like visitors to go away from the actual url wv-group.nl and go to the url wv-events.nl.

As I read above this is possible by making the wv-events.nl standardpage also a rootpage with the domain name: http:// www. wv-events.nl

This does not work however. I think i have to make some changes in the DNS? But i am not sure what. Do i need to point wv-events to somewhere?

The contao part is clear, I am just a bit lost at the dns part. Hope someone can help me out

thanks!

[lostrisq]

Is it even possible to achieve this with some sort of rewrite?


Example: http://www.pukt.nl/WV/
This is the main domain on which the CMS is hosted. Let's call it maindomain.com

Visitors can go to the three daughters by clicking on the tabs. when clicking the wv-security.nl tab it takes you to
maindomain.com/index.php/wv-security.html

but I want my visitors to go to otherdomain.com/index.php/wv-security.html

I have changed the WV security root dns in the backend and entered otherdomain.com (on another test site) this works perfect, now the output of the page is otherdomain.com/index.php/wv-security.nl
Only nothing is hosted on otherdomain.com. When i add a htacces file I only achieve changing back the domain name to maindomain.com. Nice little loop, but not what I am looking for.

of course without some sort of redirect this will become a deadend.

How can I achieve this with redirect without having to redirect all the pages?
Because that is just impossible, then all changes in the cms will also have to be changed in the htaccess file

The cms makes these changes for me perfectly, how to change this in either dns of my hosting, or htacces or.... or....

[punkstjimmy]

To get multiple domains to work with one Contao installation you basically need all of the domains to point at the same hosting account then let Contao work out which site to display.

I'm not sure about other systems but with cPanel you can set up 'Addon Domains'. You will usually have an account for the main domain for example 'domain-a.co.uk'. Then under that account you set up addon domains called domain-b.co.uk, domain-c.co.uk and so on.

You can then point all of these domains to your server and they will point to the hosting account of domain-a.co.uk, where your Contao site is located.

Your web host should be able to help you get the domains all pointing to the same hosting account.