Re: Wordpress Multiple Blog Configuration

[Chris Purves <chris.purves@gmail.com>]

On 20/08/05, Chris Purves <chris.purves@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I just installed Wordpress and got it running.  In the README.Debian
> file there's a mention that the Debian configuration can support
> multiple blogs, but no instructions as how to accomplish that.
>
> From README.Debian:
>
> >>>
>
> #### A little more about the (multiple blog) configuration
>
> The default wp-config.php searches for a (mysql) configuration filename based
> on the blog's host. This allows you to host more than one blog on a Debian
> system.
>
> <<<
>
> The little more is all there is as far as I can tell.  Any help would
> be appreciated.  Perhaps I would be better off with the multiuser
> edition (not presently in Debian archive)?
>
> Thanks.

Okay, I got it working.  Here is what I did:

Apache2 setup:

I renamed /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default to 002-default,
commented out the NameVirtualHost line and changed the <VirtualHost *>
line to <VirtualHost *:80>. I also added a line "ServerName
www.mysite.com".  First few lines:

#NameVirtualHost *
<VirtualHost *:80>
        ServerName www.mysite.com
        ServerAlias mysite.com

        ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost...



Then I added a file /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/001-wordpress (taken
from /usr/share/doc/wordpress/examples/apache.conf), containing

NameVirtualHost *:80

<VirtualHost *:80>
        UseCanonicalName    Off
        VirtualDocumentRoot /srv/www/%0
        Options All

        <Directory />
           Options FollowSymLinks
           AllowOverride All
        </Directory>

</VirtualHost>

Then I made sure the vhost_alias.load was included in mods-enabled. 
This allowed the site to work as before at www.mysite.com (and
mysite.com), but anything of the form something.mysite.com would be
handled by the 001-wordpress file.  For each blog I create a softlink
at /srv/www pointing to /usr/share/wordpress.

MySQL:

The /usr/share/doc/wordpress/examples/setup-mysql script was okay, but
it created a new database for every user.  I decided that I wanted to
have only one database with different table name prefixes.  What I
ended up doing was running the scipt once to create the initial
database, then deleting all the tables and and modifying the config
file created by the script. 
/etc/wordpress/config-person1.mysite.com.php looks like this:

<?php
define('DB_NAME', 'wordpress');
define('DB_USER', 'wordpress');
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'ak2k3WE');
define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');

$table_prefix  = 'wp_person1_';

$server = DB_HOST;
$loginsql = DB_USER;
$passsql = DB_PASSWORD;
$base = DB_NAME;
?>

When I want to add a new user I need only create a new link in
/srv/www, for example /srv/www/person2.mysite.com to point to
/usr/share/wordpress, then copy config-person1.mysite.com.php to
config-person2.mysite.com.php and change $table_prefix from
wp_person1_ to wp_person2_.

Final Considerations:

Now I have a setup that allows me to create a new blog by simply
adding a softlink and copying a file and changing a single parameter. 
I don't have to restart apache or run any scripts and I don't have to
worry about an endless number of databases being created.

Problems:  having one database may be a bit of a security risk and
also if the database is corrupted, it will affect all users, not just
one.  This is acceptable for me, as I plan to have frequent backups of
the file.

Also, allowing uploading is a bit of a problem.  I can set up each
user to point to a different place on the server to store their files,
but if they know the location of someone elses files, they could
change their settings and gain access.  I don't see this as a big
problem, but it's still something I would prefer to do without.

--
Take care, eh.
Chris