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Multiple Sites powered by one DB - will work?

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Multiple Sites powered by one DB - will work?
Hi there,

although I already own LinksSQL, this is kind of a
pre-sales question, since I probably need more licenses for what I want to do.

I have 3 websites who need a link directory. The
directory itself will be identical for all sites, it will be
maintained by LinksSQL (static html output). Look+feel should be different for each site and the URLs of the
non-static parts (like search,suggest URL etc.) should
correspond to the sites' Hostname (i.e. site1/search.cgi, site2/search.cgi etc.)

From what I know about LSQL, the basic Configuration
(URLs, Names, Globals etc. ) is in the ConfigData.pm
and other _FILES_. Opposed to this, the directory structure and content is completely in the database.
Now if I install LSQL on three different sites and
use the same database for all three sites, will this
work? I would do administration and maintenance
of the Directory in one of the three sites and still
all Linkdirectories would contain the same structure
and data - right?

This question came up in the forums from time to time
but most of the time discussion shifted to license issues. However, Licensing is not the question here.
First of all I have to know whether this setup really works seamlessly so that we set up the base installation for each site just once and for good an do the regular maintenance on only one site from then on without having to worry about multiple database exports/imports or replication etc.

Regards,
Ulrich
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Re: [onlineredaktion] Multiple Sites powered by one DB - will work? In reply to
Hi. I'm afraid you would probably need 3 licenses of LinksSQL. Basically, you would need one for each domain.

Linking up the databases is a piece of cake :) Also due to the fact that you have different installations, then its simple to use different templates for each site :) You could then just set the 3 sites up to run a 'build all' or 'build changed' every night or something.

>>>the directory structure and content is completely in the database<<<

The database structure is actually held in the .def files (located in /admin/defs/). These files allow you to setup the field types, lengths, etc, without havng to check the database each time, to find out its restrictions :)

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk
Want to give me something back for my help? Please see my Amazon Wish List
GLinks ULTRA Package | GLinks ULTRA Package PRO
Links SQL Plugins | Website Design and SEO | UltraNerds | ULTRAGLobals Plugin | Pre-Made Template Sets | FREE GLinks Plugins!
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Re: [Andy] Multiple Sites powered by one DB - will work? In reply to
Hi,

thanks for your reply. So basically it would work, thats good to know.

Quote:
The database structure is actually held in the .def files

OK, but as far as I can see this is just the underlying raw DB/field structure. As long as I don't touch this and use
LSQL just "out of the box", the *def files will never change (?) so this should not interfere
with using one DB for more than one site. I want to keep the sites 100% identical (only different templates) and have only one place where to add/edit/remove categories and links. So from what you wrote this should actually work, right?
Quote Reply
Re: [onlineredaktion] Multiple Sites powered by one DB - will work? In reply to
Quote:
LSQL just "out of the box", the *def files will never change (?) so this should not interfere
with using one DB for more than one site

Correct.

Quote:
So from what you wrote this should actually work, right?

Yup Smile

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk
Want to give me something back for my help? Please see my Amazon Wish List
GLinks ULTRA Package | GLinks ULTRA Package PRO
Links SQL Plugins | Website Design and SEO | UltraNerds | ULTRAGLobals Plugin | Pre-Made Template Sets | FREE GLinks Plugins!
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Re: [onlineredaktion] Multiple Sites powered by one DB - will work? In reply to
As far as I know, you can run multiple sites from one installation - I can't see why this would need more than one licence but I may be wrong.

I think it would require a dedicated server and some rewrite rules for you to direct each domain to a different template set. Then you could run it all from a single admin panel.
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Re: [afinlr] Multiple Sites powered by one DB - will work? In reply to
Actually, thinking about it, I set a similar thing up for another client. They basically had the one installation, and then when running a build-all, I had a script that changed the ConfigData.pm file depending on which site it was rebuilding. Basically, they could then build 5-6 sites, all from the same database, but with different build paths :)

If you are interested in this modification, please let me know.

The only thing I would imagine you will need is either the ability to have all the domains setup on the same user (i.e one user, but owns several domains), or you need to own a dedicated server, so you have the rights to build the files in the other domains :)

Cheers

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk
Want to give me something back for my help? Please see my Amazon Wish List
GLinks ULTRA Package | GLinks ULTRA Package PRO
Links SQL Plugins | Website Design and SEO | UltraNerds | ULTRAGLobals Plugin | Pre-Made Template Sets | FREE GLinks Plugins!
Quote Reply
Re: [onlineredaktion] Multiple Sites powered by one DB - will work? In reply to
Hi Ulrich,

Indeed the guys have been giving you good information. You will need three installations of Links SQL to run the system that you've described.

However, please allow me to make one important point.

If you have three installations running, and all of them give the user the ability to add links into the database, you will need to have some kind of database "Synch" script to make sure that additions to one database update the others. That would be my biggest concern, unless you only plan on one of the sites, not all three, soliciting database additions from users of the website.

Let me know if you have any questions, for pricing information for multiple licenses, please do send me a Private Message and I'll send you the pricing schedule.

Thanks for your interest in our products.

Jack.