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Drupal 7.x multi-site set-up and configuration

Table of contents

1. Prerequisites
2. Setting up multisite
3. Drupal Install
4. Configure domain2 to share users, user roles and session with domain1
5. Test your sites

Drupal has been known for its multisite feature but it lacks detailed documentation on how to set-up and configure it.

The following multi-site setup and configuration features the following:

A multi-site with a domain name for each site; A multi-site with one shared core files, modules and themes; and A multi-site with separate databases for each site but with an option to share common users, sessions and user roles.

Prerequisites

1. The domain names nameservers (ns1, ns2, …), or the DNS A record should have been pointed to the server already;
2. The virtual host configuration file of the domain names in the server should have been set to point to the same directory in the server; and
3. The main Drupal instance is already setup and running. Herein we call its domain name, domain1.com.

Setting up multisite

In the sites/ directory, duplicate the example.sites.php to sites.php.

cd sites
cp example.sites.php sites.php

Edit sites.php:

sudo nano sites.php

Add the following at the bottom of sites.php: (Don’t forget to replace domain1 and domain2, respectively.)

$sites['domain1.com'] = 'domain1.com';
$sites['domain1.com/domain2.com'] = 'domain2.com';

Create domain2.com directory:

mkdir domain2.com

Duplicate default.settings.php from sites/default/ directory to sites/domain2.com/ directory.

# Assuming we are in sites/ directory.
cp default/default.settings.php domain2.com/default.settings.php

In the sites/domain2.com/ directory, create files directory. We will change permissions of files directory to public.

# Assuming we are in sites/domain2.com/ directory.
mkdir files
sudo chmod 777 files

In sites/domain2.com/ directory, duplicate default.settings.php to settings.php.

# Assuming we are in sites/domain2.com/ directory
cp default.settings.php settings.php

That’s it. We are ready for the next step.

Drupal Install

Install Drupal to domain2.com by going to the domain name using a browser. Just install it the way the first domain domain1.com has been installed with the following important notes:

1. That it should use the same database, and not another database; and
2. That domain2.com must use a different table prefix_. The database of domain1.com does not need to have a prefix, but encouraged to have one. For this purpose, let’s assume that domain1.com and domain2.com use the following prefixes: d1_ and d2_, respectively.

Configure domain2 to share users, user roles and session with domain1

Navigate to sites/domain2.com/ directory.

cd sites/domain2.com

Edit settings.php.

sudo nano settings.php

Go to the $databases variable and change the value of $databases['default']['default']['prefix'] from its non-array value to an associative array value. The array must contain the following information

default = 'd2_'
users = 'd1_'
sessions = 'd1_'
role = 'd1_'
authmap = 'd1_'

Or, you can copy-paste the following into the value of prefix.

array(
  'default' => 'd2_',
  'users' => 'd1_',
  'sessions' => 'd1_',
  'role' => 'd1_',
  'authmap' => 'd1_',
)

The above shows that domain2's default database has the prefix of d2_ but with the users, sessions, role and authmap tables, it will use the tables of domain1's default.

Test your sites

Test your sites by going to domain1.com and domain2.com.

If there is a problem with domain2, try to clear your cache.