Share users database among many forums

[mangel.ajo]

This is a feature requested many times, and we are still waiting, so I released a patch to be able to run many forums with the same user database.

This is an EXPERIMENTAL PATCH I'm running on my forums.


--- ../../../private/upload/includes/class_core.php 2008-07-10 11:17:32.000000000 +0200
+++ class_core.php 2008-07-11 17:44:20.000000000 +0200
@@ -405,6 +405,33 @@
$this->connection_recent =& $link;
$this->querycount++;

+ $shared_tables = Array("user","useractivation","userban","usertitle","userchangelog","usertextfield","userfield","usergroup","userlist","usernote","profilevisitor","reputation","reputationlevel","spamlog","strikes","pm","pmreceipt","pmtext","avatar","profilefield");
+
+ $main_prefix = "FP_";
+ foreach ($shared_tables as $shared_table)
+ {
+ $orig = TABLE_PREFIX.$shared_table;
+ $dst = $main_prefix.$shared_table;
+
+ $this->sql = str_replace($orig." ",$dst." " ,$this->sql);
+ $this->sql = str_replace($orig.".",$dst."." ,$this->sql);
+ $this->sql = str_replace($orig."\r",$dst."\r",$this->sql);
+ $this->sql = str_replace($orig."\n",$dst."\n",$this->sql);
+ $this->sql = str_replace($orig."\t",$dst."\t",$this->sql);
+
+ }
+

if ($queryresult = $this->functions[$buffered ? 'query' : 'query_unbuffered']($this->sql, $link))
{



You can add "session" to $shared_tables if you want to share your sessions among forums under the same domain (Thanks Lionel)

This is only useful for new forums joining anothers one user database.

Requirements:
An old forum where all users are.
Sharing the same database, using diferent prefixes for tables (TABLE_PREFIX)For example: Imagine we have FORUM_A , FORUM_B, and FORUM_C each one with their respective licenses.

FORUM A has table prefix FA_ in database, FORUM_B has FB_ and FORUM_C has FC_

FORUM A is the main, and older forum, where we have all our users.

then we would install FORUM_B and FORUM_C normally, using the same database that FORUM_A uses, but setting up their own table prefixes.


once FB_ and FC_ are installed then we go patching class_core.php from FORUM_B and FORUM_C setting up $main_prefix = "FA_"; so they use FORUM_A for shared tables.

Possible problems:
memcached issues?, not sure
avatar/signature pics/etc issues when storage is set to disk.
more to come...


Author: Optimizacion Web (http://www.optimizacionweb.es)

[Dark Zero]

Interesting approach, i keep an eye on it :)

[FRANKTHETANK 2]

yea this might come in handy

[Tekmon]

I implimented a similar one where the seperate forums just shared the user, pm and one or two more tables and it works pretty well. However it does require mass changes to the FB and FC PHP files where yours would not?

If I read your correctly it looks like if the table being queried is in the array it will use the FA table prefix?

[lodac]

I have been looking for something like this. I will follow.

[Adrian Schneider]

Another (similar) solution is to use MySQL 5's views.

(Example: db2.user is a view of db1.user)

[mangel.ajo]

I implimented a similar one where the seperate forums just shared the user, pm and one or two more tables and it works pretty well. However it does require mass changes to the FB and FC PHP files where yours would not?

If I read your correctly it looks like if the table being queried is in the array it will use the FA table prefix?

Is good to know that your modifications worked, It makes me feel better :D

And, yes, the result is that when any table in "shared tables" is queried the query ends up rewritten so it goes to the FA_ prefix.

[mangel.ajo]

Another (similar) solution is to use MySQL 5's views.

(Example: db2.user is a view of db1.user)

Hmmm, if database can gives us that functionality it could be interesting because we wouldn't need to patch at all.

Can you point us to some document about mysql5 views?

How do you setup a view?

Greetings,
Miguel ?ngel.

[Lionel]

add to your array
,"strikes","pm","pmreceipt","pmtext","session","avatar","profilefield"

also take a look at this (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=118473&highlight=same+database)

[mangel.ajo]

Thanks Lionel!!

Anyway, I'm not sure if the table "session" would be safe to be shared among all forums... why? ... because it points to the threadid or URL the user is watching, and that would be different between one forum and another.

Anyway it would be nice because this way the total user activity in the forums would be reflected.

[Lionel]

Session is useful only if it's for different forums from the same site. It will avoid double login and keep who's online synchronized.

In the example above, I remembered that I had to do those 2 changes also (version 3.60) since they appeared to be independent from class_core

In adminfunctions.php print_delete_confirmation you also need to specify the below (insert it somewhere) or it will switch to default and you will not be able to delete any usergroups. (I don't use prefixes so I have " . ")



case 'usergroup':
$item = $vbulletin->db->query_first("
SELECT usergroupid, title
FROM " . "usergroup
WHERE usergroupid = '" . $vbulletin->db->escape_string($itemid) . "'
");
break;

also in functions.php copy function fetch_query_sql into function fetch_query_sql2 . alter that copy by replacing the 2 instances of " . TABLE_PREFIX . to reflect your master prefix.

Then in usergroup.php call that fetch_query_sql2 instead of fetch_query_sql (many instances)

[Q-v-n-s-Q]

nice, thank you

[Adrian Schneider]

Hmmm, if database can gives us that functionality it could be interesting because we wouldn't need to patch at all.

Can you point us to some document about mysql5 views?

How do you setup a view?

Greetings,
Miguel ?ngel.
I gave a more concrete example in this thread (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=174642&highlight=views).

[mangel.ajo]

Session is useful only if it's for different forums from the same site. It will avoid double login and keep who's online synchronized.

Yes, for the same site it's ok. In my config I have different domain names. So I should keep session table independently



[QUOTE=Lionel;1573084]
In the example above, I remembered that I had to do those 2 changes also (version 3.60) since they appeared to be independent from class_core

I have tried to create/delete a usergroup from admincp in the secondary forum, and it worked fine, so I suppose that this change is not needed anymore (at least for 3.7.2PL1) :-)

Thanks Lionel! :)

[mangel.ajo]

I doubt if those tables are safe to be shared: "reputation","spamlog"

They point to postid, and probably they would only mess. What do you think about that? Should I take them out?

[Lionel]

I never used "reputation" and "spamlog" in the other integration 3.07 => 3.60 from 2 years ago.

[Hornstar]

This will just be duplicate content in search engines. If you think this is going to give you extra exposure your right, however at what cost? getting dropped from the search engines.

There is need for this tho, and only in some situations, eg. maybe you got a support board that is for registered users only and you have a few websites, then that would be useful.

Thanks for sharing, I do look forward to seeing this progress, however I currently don't have that need for it like some sites do. Just for the other sites who think great I can now have several domains but with the same forums showing, this is a really bad idea.

[mangel.ajo]

This will just be duplicate content in search engines. If you think this is going to give you extra exposure your right, however at what cost?

User-Agent: *
Disallow: /forum/memberlist.php
Disallow: /forum/member.php


What I want is not to get my members indexed, the real intention of this patch is to make my users life easier to move between forums.

Greetings honstar1337!

[Hornstar]

User-Agent: *
Disallow: /forum/memberlist.php
Disallow: /forum/member.php
What I want is not to get my members indexed, the real intention of this patch is to make my users life easier to move between forums.

Greetings honstar1337!

I must have been really tired when I made that post lol. I can now see a much larger purpose for this mod. (I was thinking something much different yesterday lol).

I might actually end up using this afterall. Thanks.

[Super Jinni]

this is really interesting and something that I was thinking about since a while..

I'm gonna keep an eye on this, and maybe I'm gonna use it soon for some reason

thanks for sharing man

best regards

:)

[tfw2005]

So, if you have 4 forums active, with members and posts now, you would first need to merge the databases manually, making sure each have their own prefix in the new mega DB. Then, somehow import just users from the other 3 into the primary one, and merge accounts for duplicate users. Then install the script, and use primary site user tables from there forward. That sound right?

Second, how is performance affected? I have several 1 million+ post forums, probably 100,000 members between them. After combining it all, the DB would be 4-6 gigs. Those are some large table scans. When server load is heavy now, I get issues with a 1.5 gig DB being accessed repeatedly (getting new server, but still).

So, yes, I know you need a solid server just to handle a large DB situation in general, but, how much overhead does this script use, and could it "crap out" if dealing with large amounts of data like this. Several 1000+ users online sites accessing the same DB concurrently.

Disk based avatars and profile pics need to be addressed, as anyone with a lot of members most likely moved to that. Xcache, memcached, eaccelerator issues need to be tested for sure. I couldn't use that until it was in some way.

Question - I take it this does not "log you in" to another site, on another domain, it just makes your user account available to log in again if you go there, correct? So you are logged in and viewing site A, then jump to site B, you would need to log into site B then again. Site A and B are different domains. Correct?

RE: Mysql view, I looked into that, and many people online say that it is not designed for high volume usage, and could actually slow things down. Tho, I just quickly scanned, and don't have deep knowledge of it in general. I'd like to hear how the view technique would work in the above situation too.

And, for the record, I would love VB to have something built into the backend for this officially, more integrated and optimized. Would allow for some really cool stuff.

[mangel.ajo]

So, if you have 4 forums active, with members and posts now, you would first need to merge the databases manually, making sure each have their own prefix in the new mega DB. Then, somehow import just users from the other 3 into the primary one, and merge accounts for duplicate users. Then install the script, and use primary site user tables from there forward. That sound right?


Hmmm, that's the most complex situation, joining forums that are already running.

First of all, you would have to merge all the users in the Primary forum database, and then -somehow- manage to change all your userid's from pms, posts, threads, and so one to the new ID of the joined database. I'm not sure but that could require specific scripts.
[/quote]


Second, how is performance affected? I have several 1 million+ post forums, probably 100,000 members between them. After combining it all, the DB would be 4-6 gigs. Those are some large table scans. When server load is heavy now, I get issues with a 1.5 gig DB being accessed repeatedly (getting new server, but still).


It should add len(shared_tables)*4 str_replaces to every SQL query your system is doing. Probably is not too much, but it's load, of course. (We could do some tests to discover how much is that.)

We should also think if mysql would also penalyze us by having all the tables in one database with same prefix.


So, yes, I know you need a solid server just to handle a large DB situation in general, but, how much overhead does this script use, and could it "crap out" if dealing with large amounts of data like this. Several 1000+ users online sites accessing the same DB concurrently.


We will have to analyze that. May be running some test over real vbulletin querys and measuring time.


Disk based avatars and profile pics need to be addressed, as anyone with a lot of members most likely moved to that. Xcache, memcached, eaccelerator issues need to be tested for sure. I couldn't use that until it was in some way.


I've been thinking more deeply about memcached / xcache an so on, and probaby it won't be a problem, but we must test.


Question - I take it this does not "log you in" to another site, on another domain, it just makes your user account available to log in again if you go there, correct? So you are logged in and viewing site A, then jump to site B, you would need to log into site B then again. Site A and B are different domains. Correct?


Yes, exactly, that's it. Don't know if it would be possible to develop some kind of mechanism to move around forums using the different session tables to move around forums.


RE: Mysql view, I looked into that, and many people online say that it is not designed for high volume usage, and could actually slow things down. Tho, I just quickly scanned, and don't have deep knowledge of it in general. I'd like to hear how the view technique would work in the above situation too.

I've never tested it, and for the simplest idea (having the mirror of a diferent table it should'nt be so slow. But analyzing VIEW in depth you can see it let's you make some complex views selecting some rows in tables, and that its a complex situation, and being prepared for that could be the reason of slowliness.


And, for the record, I would love VB to have something built into the backend for this officially, more integrated and optimized. Would allow for some really cool stuff.

Absolutely: me too.

[Datenpapst]

Hi,
is it possible that maybe some forums like off topic or so can also be used by more than 1 forum?

[Super Jinni]

does that work if the new forum in another server and have completely another domain?

[Tekmon]

I just want to make sure... This is for Seperate URL's/Licenses to share the same User tables. Correct?

When I download the file I get a diff file and I do not know what to do with it.

Thanks

[Tekmon]

Could you please tell me where in class_core.php I put the code?
There seems to be many sections that this could go in.

I am guessing I put in the code with the "+"'s on the front of the line and
to remove those "+"'s as well?

Thanks

[takerman]

hello,

or should he put the php codes I put in class_core but I have this error

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected $end in /home/www/fd0ea7be7c752c55ff235159345d0e2a/web/tnawrestling/includes/class_core.php on line 3326

sorry for me english

[TraumTeam]

Is this the project to run several different Forums (search, new Thread, Categories...) but with the same userdatabase and login?

I requestet this about 5 years ago in vbulletin support forum and i got the answer, that this wont work.

It is very interesting for sites with very different content categories. This is a very nice try and i hope you get it done.

best regards
rob

[lovevn]

What should I do if my main forum used no prefix?Shoud I use this:
$main_prefix = " ";

[dazed12]

i installed my main forums without a prefix. im having probs getting it to work. also do you leave the + on the code?

[webgod]

I've used the the view method suggested in the past by Sir Adrian.

The only issue I had was with PM's since we wanted to keep them separate between the forums, and the user table stored the stats for that. So now I'm working on that issue.

[dazed12]

if you had the sites on the same hosting. couldn't you make cookies sub-domain based? and treat the other site as the same session? also, i notice you can't pm members or the avatars aren't carrying over. and its db based file storage

[rsuplido]

Thanks for this hack.

Ok, I guess this should work if avatars are stored in the database instead of files, but for some reason, in User CP, 'Do not use an avatar' is checked instead of 'Use Custom Avatar.' Which table holds that setting?

ETA: Ok, found it -- just add the 'customavatar' table to the list.

[FReeSTER]

Ok, I have a quick question, I have a old user back up from a forum I had a year ago, can I use this to revert data bases in a way I can use the old emails to the new forum?

Can I do this?

[rsuplido]

Hmm, for some reason, I can't perform searches... It always returns 'no matches'...

[lovevn]

Anyone make this work when your board does not use a pfefix for you database?

[mangel.ajo]

Anyone make this work when your board does not use a pfefix for you database?

You can go without prefix on your main database (where users lie), changing to: $main_prefix = "";

but the new forums that you add, which will use the main user database should have prefixes, and should be new forums, you cannot join old forums with their own user databases.

[mangel.ajo]

Hmm, for some reason, I can't perform searches... It always returns 'no matches'...

Uhh, I have to check that.

For me it's working:

If I search here for "pruebecita" it works
http://www.economiahoy.es/foro/search.php

this forum is using the user database from:

http://www.foropymes.es/foro/

Could you give some details of your problem?

[ps2wiz]

I got it up and running and every thing seems to function perfect besides one thing.

I store my avatars on disk (file system) instead of the database storage. Anyone know how to properly link this? I am scratching my head on this, as avatars do not show up.

[rsuplido]

I got it up and running and every thing seems to function perfect besides one thing.

I store my avatars on disk (file system) instead of the database storage. Anyone know how to properly link this? I am scratching my head on this, as avatars do not show up.
Store the avatars back to the database and add 'customavatar' to the list.

[rsuplido]

Uhh, I have to check that.

For me it's working:

If I search here for "pruebecita" it works
http://www.economiahoy.es/foro/search.php

this forum is using the user database from:

http://www.foropymes.es/foro/

Could you give some details of your problem?
It seems like when it is set to FULLSEARCH it doesn't work. I decided to use the key words option and it works now.

[ps2wiz]

Store the avatars back to the database and add 'customavatar' to the list.

Thank you very much, that did the trick. :)

[lovevn]

It works well but I have some problems:
-Private message text is broken in the slave board.
-User's title is broken in the slave board.
-signature is broken in the slave board

My board is using utf-8 charset(vietnamese languages)

[mangel.ajo]

I got it up and running and every thing seems to function perfect besides one thing.

I store my avatars on disk (file system) instead of the database storage. Anyone know how to properly link this? I am scratching my head on this, as avatars do not show up.

Yes, that's one of the things that cannot be used with this patch "directly"

If you can enter the machine as root you could make a hard-link from the secondary forum avatars directory to the main one using "ln" (I'm assuming it's a U*IX/Linux machine)

[mangel.ajo]

Hello loven! :)

That seems strange since str_replace shouldn't affect the strings encoding.

Could you please check if both forums are running using the same encoding? The problem could be there...

Could you provide the urls for us to test? :)


It works well but I have some problems:
-Private message text is broken in the slave board.
-User's title is broken in the slave board.
-signature is broken in the slave board

My board is using utf-8 charset(vietnamese languages)

[lovevn]

Hello loven! :)

That seems strange since str_replace shouldn't affect the strings encoding.

Could you please check if both forums are running using the same encoding? The problem could be there...

Could you provide the urls for us to test? :)

Hello
Thanks for your reply.
Both forums are running the same ecodeing. However, in my main board
I turn this off

$config['Mysqli']['charset'] = 'utf8';

And on my slave board(which is vbulletin chinese version) it is on.

I try to turn this off on the slave board but I got some error.

Could you tell me how to fix on this case?

Thanks again

[ps2wiz]

Yes, that's one of the things that cannot be used with this patch "directly"

If you can enter the machine as root you could make a hard-link from the secondary forum avatars directory to the main one using "ln" (I'm assuming it's a U*IX/Linux machine)

Yeah, I just transferred them back into the database and added "customavatar" to the list of shared tables.

I also let people host their signature pics on my forum. So I also added "sigpic" to the list of shared tables.

[ps2wiz]

Also, I figured if both board share the same PMs, then why not visitor messages too?

Just add:

"visitormessage","visitormessage_hash"

And you are good to go :)

[Zate]

Interesting way of doing it.

we've been running shared users for about 3+ years now and it has some minor "issues".. we initially did ours with PHP edits, then eventually by static links.. works well but has some issues with groups not updating sometimes. Currently looking at what modifications I'd need to make the functions affecting registration, changing password, changing username, changing email address... ideally i'd love to just share username, password and email address, and nothing else. Much to do.

[z4media]

Hello

I´am very intersted in this modification, but there is no howto.

Please explain the implementation of this mod.

Where do i put the code in the class_core.php, btw. in which line ?

thx

Flo

[mayanks]

thanks for it...could you please provide a small tutorial on how to do it?

[Amenadiel]

a little question: I believe the password's salt is based on the forum's license string. ¿Why doesn't this affect this mod?

[Amenadiel]

Hello

I?am very intersted in this modification, but there is no howto.

Please explain the implementation of this mod.

Where do i put the code in the class_core.php, btw. in which line ?

thx

Flo

thanks for it...could you please provide a small tutorial on how to do it?



1.- open includes/class_core.php

2.- find

$this->querycount++;

(should be line 406)

3.- after that, add

$shared_tables = Array("user","useractivation","userban","usertitle","userchangelog","usertextfield","userfield","usergroup","userlist","usernote","profilevisitor","reputation","reputationlevel","spamlog","strikes","pm","pmreceipt","pmtext","avatar","profilefield");

$main_prefix = "FP_";
foreach ($shared_tables as $shared_table)
{
$orig = TABLE_PREFIX.$shared_table;
$dst = $main_prefix.$shared_table;

$this->sql = str_replace($orig." ",$dst." " ,$this->sql);
$this->sql = str_replace($orig.".",$dst."." ,$this->sql);
$this->sql = str_replace($orig."\r",$dst."\r",$this->sql);
$this->sql = str_replace($orig."\n",$dst."\n",$this->sql);
$this->sql = str_replace($orig."\t",$dst."\t",$this->sql);

}


4.- save and close file, upload if you need to

[Quarterbore]

Now that was a nice short tutorial :D

Would this work with two different versions of vBulletin? Say for example a 3.6.x and a 3.7.x site?

I assume that this would not cause major impacts with upgrading as long as we remember to update the core file again?

I wonder what the chances are that vBulletin could do something as a standard feature in vBulletin as I always wondered what the master and slave setting were for in the config.php file but honestly I never really had the time to investigate.

I will have to look at this code more and give it a try on one of my test boards and if it works I may need to buy some more vBulletin licenses!

[King Justice]

Hi there. :)

Is this working on the latest version of vB? This will work with two different databases right, basically sharing one database's vB users?

[Kaelon]

If I also wanted to share my Who's Online data (so that users showing up as logged in on one forum also appear as logged in on the other), is there anything I should be concerned about before just sharing those tables?

[myown]

great hack will use at some point.

[chikkoo]

I have been looking for such a mod to merge my two forums database, I will give a try and let everyone know the performance.

[gibgib]

I've read this thread 4 times, all 4 pages & I can't seem to get the slave board to grab anything from the main.
The main forum has no prefix in it's tables so I have used the following:

$shared_tables = Array("user","useractivation","userban","usertitle","userchangelog","usertextfield","userfield","usergroup","userlist","usernote","profilevisitor","reputation","reputationlevel","spamlog","strikes","pm","pmreceipt","pmtext","avatar","profilefield");

$main_prefix = "";
foreach ($shared_tables as $shared_table)
{
$orig = TABLE_PREFIX.$shared_table;
$dst = $main_prefix.$shared_table;

$this->sql = str_replace($orig." ",$dst." " ,$this->sql);
$this->sql = str_replace($orig.".",$dst."." ,$this->sql);
$this->sql = str_replace($orig."\r",$dst."\r",$this->sql);
$this->sql = str_replace($orig."\n",$dst."\n",$this->sql);
$this->sql = str_replace($orig."\t",$dst."\t",$this->sql);

$main_prefix = "";
I also tried
$main_prefix = ".";
&
$main_prefix = " ";

The new forum has yf_ as prefix which I had entered into the config.php before install.
Same database.
Is there a setting within the config.php that could be affecting the class_core.php mod?
I'm refreshing the member list on the new forum to check it's working. I should see it go from 1 member to 12,447 members to mirror the main forum right?

[merk_aus]

i have the same problem my main forum does not use table prefix what can we edit to have it so that members can log into the second board - all i would like is the users shared nothing else.

Please anyhelp would be appreciated.

[gibgib]

Still not resolved.
Is there an easy & non destructive way to add prefixes to the start of all unprefixed tables?
Some of the tables on the main forum are prefixed but like mw_ for media wiki, so a script needs to be variable.

[kderentz]

Is this the only Mod to do this? Anyone offer a commercial one with full support similar to how VBSEO does for search opt?

[merk_aus]

Wow,
I got it to work within like ten minutes by reading all five pages and getting everyones input.

Thanks for a great hack this is what I have been looking for and it works perfectly.

[gibgib]

Do you have prefixes on the main db?

[J105C]

Is this the project to run several different Forums (search, new Thread, Categories...) but with the same userdatabase and login?

I requestet this about 5 years ago in vbulletin support forum and i got the answer, that this wont work....
You know vbulletin will deny A LOT of features and functionality to simply keep the trend of requests down. They have denied sharing personal pictures and even the use of attachments very early in their game. Nothing is impossible ;)

[maidos]

when you share the usertable, will the vb featurees like avatars stop working on all forum or just the forum B that is sharing the usertable with from the forum A

[maidos]

also if i share the usertable will the usergroup be the same as forum A ?
and where do i paste that patch, on forum A or forum B?

[kderentz]

Wow,
I got it to work within like ten minutes by reading all five pages and getting everyones input.

Thanks for a great hack this is what I have been looking for and it works perfectly.

+1


Also guys my main DB does NOT have prefixes .... I just used this:

$shared_tables = Array("user","useractivation","userban","usertitle","userchangelog","usertextfield","userfield","usergroup","userlist","usernote","profilevisitor","reputation","reputationlevel","spamlog","strikes","pm","pmreceipt","pmtext","avatar","profilefield");

$main_prefix = "";
foreach ($shared_tables as $shared_table)
{
$orig = TABLE_PREFIX.$shared_table;
$dst = $main_prefix.$shared_table;

$this->sql = str_replace($orig." ",$dst." " ,$this->sql);
$this->sql = str_replace($orig.".",$dst."." ,$this->sql);
$this->sql = str_replace($orig."\r",$dst."\r",$this->sql);
$this->sql = str_replace($orig."\n",$dst."\n",$this->sql);
$this->sql = str_replace($orig."\t",$dst."\t",$this->sql);

}

and it worked fine. My avatars are not showing up but Im guessing its because they are probably set to store in files not the DB :D

[kderentz]

and where do i paste that patch, on forum A or forum B?

Check this out for the How To:

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost.php?p=1614821&postcount=53

put it in the class_core.php on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, ect forums. Leave the class core on the main forum whos user database your using alone.

[maidos]

thanks for the reply =)
now im wondering if this support mysql 5.1.30

[gibgib]

Got it to work!!

This mod WILL NOT work if you have the database type on the subsequent forums set to 'mysqli' in the config.php. Change it to 'mysql'.
Hope that saves some pulling of hair out of your noggin :)

[kderentz]

Hey guys ... running into an issue now ...

On the test site I have the Avatars set to the DB, but they still are not showing up.

2nd thing is I started to build the live site and have the patch set up, however unlike the the test site the Reg. User count isnt updating when someone registers, will it only do that when some reg on site B? should I set up a cron job just to update counters once a day?

[gibgib]

Hey guys ... running into an issue now ...

On the test site I have the Avatars set to the DB, but they still are not showing up.

2nd thing is I started to build the live site and have the patch set up, however unlike the the test site the Reg. User count isnt updating when someone registers, will it only do that when some reg on site B? should I set up a cron job just to update counters once a day?

Can help with the first Q....
You need to add "customavatar", to your array list.

[maidos]

my main forum doesnt have prefix so what should i do

[kderentz]

my main forum doesnt have prefix so what should i do

Check out my posts above

[kderentz]

Can help with the first Q....
You need to add "customavatar", to your array list.


Thank ... ill look into that.

[maidos]

Check out my posts above

did check but i get database error that way

my second forum got prefix fb_

[kderentz]

did check but i get database error that way

my second forum got prefix fb_

If you have no prefix in Forum A .... and Forum B has the prefix "fb_" then you simply set it to:

$main_prefix = "";


^make sure the quote marks have no spaces .. it really doesn't matter what Forum B, C, D, ect prefixes are as you only need to set the prefix for the forum whom user database your using.

[kderentz]

Can help with the first Q....
You need to add "customavatar", to your array list.

That worked thanks!

Also it looks like the user count will update when someone posts :up:

[maidos]

If you have no prefix in Forum A .... and Forum B has the prefix "fb_" then you simply set it to:

$main_prefix = "";


^make sure the quote marks have no spaces .. it really doesn't matter what Forum B, C, D, ect prefixes are as you only need to set the prefix for the forum whom user database your using.

thats what i did, not working :(

[Chunky Monkey]

Can I somehow allow guests to view forums on installation B that guests are prevented from viewing on installation A? If so, how? Also, can I prevent other forums that exist at installation A from showing up at installation B?

Installation B's purpose will be to allow guests at domain B access to forums that are restricted on installation A at domain A. They should have the same users, same posts, etc. How can I accomplish this?

Thank you!

[goncalo]

Another (similar) solution is to use MySQL 5's views.

(Example: db2.user is a view of db1.user)

Thank you very much SirAdrian, and congratulations, your solution is great, it took me a couple of hours to make it work.

Congratulations also of course to Mangel.ajo and all you guys that try to improve VBulletin and help each others.

Your solution was good also but I prefered the VIEW one suggested by SirAdrian. Why?

The View option is great, in spite of being also a php programmer, I didn't know that MySQL already had it, it's really great, it's like a way to make a symbolic link to another table.

I don't like changing my code, specially because one day I'ld need to reinstall it again and would forget to make all the updates, with the View option it's very easy, and I noticed it's an option that you are ignoring although it's a great one.

I didn't change any code and have now 2 forums working as one.

What have I done?

- First search all users on my forum b to check if they existed on forum A or not, and if so, correct the situation.
- When I had all users different somehow (small forums I had only to change 5 users that didn't post for over 1 year), I ran a small php script to add all those users one by one on the new forum updating user, usertextfield, userfield fields, the ones that are created with each new user.
- Then I ran a script to find to which userid on the new forum each user on the old forum had.
- Now, changed the user and userfield and usertextfield tables to something like "old_user", and creating a new VIEW for each of those 3 tables pointing them to the same tables on the new forum.

From that moment one, it was done. All users signing up would be added to the new forum user table, and each user signing up on the new forum would be able to login to the old forum as well (signing on forum A and logging to B), because they all shared the same database.

This without changing any code.

But now there are stuff que needs to be done, you have lots of tables there that needed to be changed here also. For each table that we want to be used on the new forum (forum A) you need to rename the table do "old_" and creating a view to the new forum database, so that all those tables are ran on the new forum. I've did this for over 20 tables, like smilies, user reputations, usergroup, many tables that I wanted to be using the new forum.

Even the pm table are duplicated now, the 2 forums with separated private messages, but I'll do the same to those, so that all pm's go to the same database.

Having this done, only one thing was left, obviously, the usernames were all mixed up on the old forum, where their usernames changed so the posts appear with the wrong author.

So as we already had the table showing each user's old and new id, something like:
$olduseridbpt['572']=1027;//Old user 572 is now 1027;
We just need the script to have an update userid query on each table saying that the old user will be the new one, with a simple script (carefull that if the user 100 changes to 80, and then the 80 changes to 200, two users instead of one will have the same number which is bad).

Then we run this process in all tables that have a record and that user's userid or fromuserid (pmtext), receiptto, from, etc. I've done this in seconds with php scripts, on these tables:
threadpost,threadrate,pollvote,post,posthash,pm,pm receipt,pm,pmtext,moderator,moderatorlog,customava tar,customprofilepic,useractivation,subscribeforum ,subscribethread,administrator,attachmenteditlog,s igparsed,userlist,userlistrelationid.

All the tables that had the old user id's were now updated. Now everything is at 100%.

Took me only a couple of hours to program the scripts to make the users update on the tables, create views, test databases, etc, without changing any of the VBulletin code.

The old forum treats the views as they were on its own database so everything is perfect without changing any code.

If you have 2 new forums, it would take minutes! Just change about 20 tables that you want on forum A instead of B after installing forum B, make their views, without changing any code, and it's working perfectly in minutes, and you can reinstall vbulletin many times without having to update anything. All this with views.

I don't mix the session table with a view because there are forum-specific fields there like "inthread" which tell the users in which thread they are, and also I didn't put as a view the datastore table which shows things like how many users ate in a forum, those need to be separated.

Anyway many thanks for this thread, and to SirArthur also, which saved me a lot of time with a simple tip and I wanted to share this with others, because I hate changing code.

[Chunky Monkey]

Can this mod be made so that the two installations of vb can share forums with different forums having different permissions at each installtion?

Thanks!

[gibgib]

Brass monkey,
chunky,
the funky monkey,

I am having problems getting Admins on install A to be admins on install B. I'm OK as member 1 & un-editable in the config.php file. Already tried adding a new admin usergroup on install B.
Still experimenting though!

Be careful with housekeeping on the install B, eg if you have not set any ranks, usertitles, etc on install B to match A & execute rebuild member titles & ranks on install B control panel, you will lose member data. There's probably a few hidden problems like this.
Anything to do with shared tables I am using the install A control panel for now.

[merk_aus]

ok i had this working on my forum but it got hacked and i had to begin again and now it doesnt seem to work with the forum prefix?

[gibgib]

ok i had this working on my forum but it got hacked and i had to begin again and now it doesnt seem to work with the forum prefix?

Don't underestimate the power of the "i"
If you have mysqli as db type in the config file on the second forum this mod doesn't work. Make it "mysql"

Has anyone upgraded a forum or all forums with this mod working?
I'm tempted to remove the added lines while I upgrade each forum to 3.7 then add the lines back in afterwards.
Thoughts?

[gibgib]

Has anyone upgraded to 3.8 on one, or all of the shared forums as yet?
Any hiccups?

[tiekie]

how safe and secure is this?

[ps2wiz]

Got it to work!!

This mod WILL NOT work if you have the database type on the subsequent forums set to 'mysqli' in the config.php. Change it to 'mysql'.
Hope that saves some pulling of hair out of your noggin :)


Starting pulling my hair out, until I found this post.

Thanks!

[ROTPAR]

can anyone please give me a detailed step by step introduction, how to make this work ? I understand some basics but I am not a coder ;) Thank you in advance

[ROTPAR]

Ok I got it working BUT I have 2 questions.

1.) Forum B does not show the registerd members in the forums statistics (bottom of the forums homepage)

2.) How can I show all online members on both forums. I want to show all current online members who are online on both forums.

[ROTPAR]

come on guys, nobody who can help me with this little detail ?

[ROTPAR]

bump

[merk_aus]

not working in the vb3.8.x - to extend on this it always comes up with a database error no matter what you try

[gibgib]

<font color="Blue">"56 installs"</font> so has anyone else successfully upgraded to 3.8 with 2 forums on one database?
If so, how did you go about it & does everything work as it did with 3.7?

[kderentz]

I took the mod out as it was working but I felt the unknow for the long term effects where too much of a hassle

[gibgib]

I intended on basing 3 sites off the one database permanently but I may need to re think if I want to upgrade vb versions.

[timegate]

not working in the vb3.8.x - to extend on this it always comes up with a database error no matter what you try

This modification only works in version 3.7.x? Does anyone know why it doesn't it work in 3.8.x? Thanks in advance!

[Lionel]

Yesterday I just integrated it with two 3.83 install

[timegate]

Yesterday I just integrated it with two 3.83 install

And it works then? Did you have to make any modifications to the code to get it to work?

[Lionel]

none whatsoever. I only added sessions since the 2 forums are on same site so there was no need to re-login

[webgroup]

Im using 3.8.2, installed and worked like a charm the first time!
Thanks!!

[webgroup]

Ok I got it working BUT I have 2 questions.

1.) Forum B does not show the registerd members in the forums statistics (bottom of the forums homepage)

2.) How can I show all online members on both forums. I want to show all current online members who are online on both forums.


MIne show registered users fine!
What I dont see is the current only users, I would like to be able to show it.

[StonePilot]

I would love to use this but I would have to be very caution when upgrading. Once I go down this road I would build the functioanlity of the site around the idea of a single login ability ... sign-up for one site and you're a member to all sites. Not sure what to think about that actually.

[webgroup]

Hi,
is it possible that maybe some forums like off topic or so can also be used by more than 1 forum?

I need to know this too

Can I somehow allow guests to view forums on installation B that guests are prevented from viewing on installation A? If so, how? Also, can I prevent other forums that exist at installation A from showing up at installation B?

Installation B's purpose will be to allow guests at domain B access to forums that are restricted on installation A at domain A. They should have the same users, same posts, etc. How can I accomplish this?

Thank you!

I need to know this too

[webgroup]

Ok I got it working BUT I have 2 questions.

1.) Forum B does not show the registerd members in the forums statistics (bottom of the forums homepage)

2.) How can I show all online members on both forums. I want to show all current online members who are online on both forums.



Just add the "session" table to the list of shared tables.

[webgroup]

Hi,
is it possible that maybe some forums like off topic or so can also be used by more than 1 forum?

I need to know this too

Can I somehow allow guests to view forums on installation B that guests are prevented from viewing on installation A? If so, how? Also, can I prevent other forums that exist at installation A from showing up at installation B?

Installation B's purpose will be to allow guests at domain B access to forums that are restricted on installation A at domain A. They should have the same users, same posts, etc. How can I accomplish this?

Thank you!

I need to know this too


ALSO, I do not want to share the avatars or profile pictures.
I removed both the "avatar","profilefield" from the list of shared tables, still avatars and profile pictures are getting affected.

Both websites have custom avatars set to use DISK, not DB, but when you change the avatr in one website, it affects the avatar in the other website.

Can somebody explain me how to fix this?

AND the users signatures too, I dont want to share the signatures, is there any way to avoid it?

Thanks!

UPDATE: A "fix" for the avatar/picture profile issue, is to have the avatars in the "forumB" set to use DB storage.
Even when it do not makes sense to me why the problem was happening if I removed the "avatars" table from the shared table list.

[Lionel]

1.) Forum B does not show the registerd members in the forums statistics (bottom of the forums homepage)


Showing the stats will not be possible, unless you do an Admicp => Maintenance=> Update counter => Username.

This is because that info is coming from the datastore which is not shared by the 2 installs, and is not recommended to share.

When you update the counter, you just rebuild the datastore for the appropriate forum. But that could be a pain to do once in a while ....

[Lionel]

you could also try to create a plugin at forumhome_start and put this in it (will add a query)

require_once(DIR . '/includes/functions_databuild.php');
build_user_statistics();That will update the datastore and you'll be able to display stats

[webgroup]

Could anybody help with my questions?

Thanks

[gibgib]

Great to see some activity in this thread.
After reading what has been posted I might attempt vb 3.8

[webgroup]

still need to know how not to share the user signatures

[deepblue]

Can anyone tell me where i can find what the name of the main forum prefix is for forums A? I am unsure where to look.

[webgroup]

Can anyone tell me where i can find what the name of the main forum prefix is for forums A? I am unsure where to look.


look at your config.php file, where the DB info is, there you can see what prefix you are using.

[deepblue]

look at your config.php file, where the DB info is, there you can see what prefix you are using.

Thanks, I was able to find that information. However i dont seem be able to get the mod working. I have 2 different licenses on the same server. They are using two different databases at the moment , neither of which have a table prefix on them, its just ''. Ive tried using the same name that the main forum uses for the slave forum, howver i get a database error when i try that. I think i may be doing something wrong. Any help would be great.
Thanks.

[webgroup]

for this to work, you need to use 1 DB
That 1 DB will contatin the 2(or whatever) forums, each forum with a different table prefix
So the DB will have a duplicate of each table, one for each forum.

If neither of your forums use table prefix, you must set one before, you can use the install/tableprefix.php script to change your prefixes on the vB table. Just run it from the browser.

Be sure to also make the appropriate change to config.php.

Then you will have to merge your 2 DB's into 1
Then you apply this hack.

[webgroup]

still waiting for an idea on how to avoid sharing the signatures.

thanks

[Shadawg]

Having one problem with this, if a user joins forum a, they are added to the total member list in forum b, but if a member joins forum b, they are not added to forum a.....

how can i fix this?

[Wilfred1]

This is a godsend and would like to do some testing firstly on the "mySQL Views" option so does anyone have any idea what the source_db syntax would be in the following code for the user table located in a separate db with a different IP Address, db name, dba_username and password but both db's on the same server?

CREATE VIEW user as
SELECT * FROM source_db.user;

Secondly with the table prefix concept here would the addition of this mod:
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=211100
help so a user doesn't have to login at both domains?

I can see a couple more vb license costs coming up if this works ok

[MagicThemeParks]

I just want to ask a basic question to make sure that I understand this modification. :)

This modification will allow me to take multiple forums (all with separate vB licenses, of course ;) ) and 'link' them with one single database which will allow for my members on Forum "A" to use their same username/password for Forum "B" and Forum "C" automatically?

What are the drawbacks, if any, for using this setup?

This is exactly what I'm looking for and would love for this to work properly for my network of forums that I'm setting up. :up:

[ps2wiz]

Having one problem with this, if a user joins forum a, they are added to the total member list in forum b, but if a member joins forum b, they are not added to forum a.....

how can i fix this?

That is the only problem I myself have also.

[Lionel]

That is the only problem I myself have also.


https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost.php?p=1831750&postcount=109

[gibgib]

Can't get this to work with vb 4.0.

There's a lot of extra lines in the class_core.php in the new VB.

[cloferba]

Can't get this to work with vb 4.0.

There's a lot of extra lines in the class_core.php in the new VB.

please! help!

will this addon be upgrade to v4?? :erm::erm:

[lcp03o]

I have a problem where on my 2nd / slave board when you click on on a members user name it should take you to the member list page for that user. But instead im getting a "Can not find user" error, Does anyone know what I can do to resolve this??

Master board www.pspmod.com
Slave Board www.console-mods.com

Thanks

[DragonMasterNYC]

I've started to get this to work on 4.0.3 PL1 suite. So far only a few of the connections work. I'm still trying to figure out a work around for the avatars.

[gibgib]

I haven't had any luck with it on vB4 so I have stay with 3.8.
If you have any success please let us know.

lcp03o: here is a copy of what I add to classcore & have no problems with sharing the stuff I need, that being the users info only, so the threads & posts etc are unique.

$shared_tables = Array("user","useractivation","userban","usertitle","userchangelog","usertextfield","userfield","usergroup","userlist","usernote","profilevisitor","reputation","reputationlevel","spamlog","strikes","pm","pmreceipt","pmtext","avatar","customavatar","profilefield");

$main_prefix = "";
foreach ($shared_tables as $shared_table)
{
$orig = TABLE_PREFIX.$shared_table;
$dst = $main_prefix.$shared_table;

$this->sql = str_replace($orig." ",$dst." " ,$this->sql);
$this->sql = str_replace($orig.".",$dst."." ,$this->sql);
$this->sql = str_replace($orig."\r",$dst."\r",$this->sql);
$this->sql = str_replace($orig."\n",$dst."\n",$this->sql);
$this->sql = str_replace($orig."\t",$dst."\t",$this->sql);

}

[DragonMasterNYC]

If you add "customavatar","customprofilepic","sigpic","sigparsed" all uploaded images will work between sites. Also "visitormessage" for those who want to share more profile information.

Now it works perfectly on 4.0.3 PL1. I only took out "userban" for my own usage, but it still works in vB4.

$shared_tables = Array("user","useractivation","usertitle","userchangelog","usertextfield","userfield","usergroup","userlist","usernote","profilevisitor","reputation","reputationlevel","spamlog","strikes","pm","pmreceipt","pmtext","avatar","customavatar","profilefield","customprofilepic","visitormessage","sigpic","sigparsed");

$main_prefix = "FA";
foreach ($shared_tables as $shared_table)
{
$orig = TABLE_PREFIX.$shared_table;
$dst = $main_prefix.$shared_table;

$this->sql = str_replace($orig." ",$dst." " ,$this->sql);
$this->sql = str_replace($orig.".",$dst."." ,$this->sql);
$this->sql = str_replace($orig."\r",$dst."\r",$this->sql);
$this->sql = str_replace($orig."\n",$dst."\n",$this->sql);
$this->sql = str_replace($orig."\t",$dst."\t",$this->sql);

}Only thing after this is modifications that you might share between sites if they don't use those tables.

[gibgib]

That's amazing.

It did not work for me at all, it completely ignored the added lines in classcore.
I'm a bit scared to try it again as it represents a lot of work creating temp forums.
May try at the weekend :D

[gibgib]

Has anyone tried a common cookie domain yet?
I mean so the users can float between without any logging in at all, on any of the sites.

[DragonMasterNYC]

I haven't tried yet with the cookies, considering what my aim is for this mod.

"cron" can be shared is you want the same scheduled tasks to run on all sites when active.

Also "phrase","language","templateedit","templateeditlocation" can be added if you want to share template modifications between sites with the Template Modification System.

I would advise people to not share "styles" between sites since you would need to reorder each commercial style to use on each slave site. Also don't share any product info ("product","productcode","productdependency") since some forums might have cms/blog which are vB Suite only with vB Forums since vBulletin will most likely ask you to buy or upgrade to suite for the slave sites. Ony way to really share products in my mind is to make sure all slave sites pay for the exact same type of vB license and also pay for any paid modifications the master site has.

I'm trying my best to stick to the terms in the licensing for vBulletin and other products associated with it so people don't get shutdown notices from anyone.

Right now I'm only testing 2 sites locally and 1 at a remote location to make sure all the connections are working properly. I'm having users randomly generated to simulate users registering on the different sites and also simulate activity on the sites to make sure the scheduled tasks run normally so that when a new user registers all sites update their new user info and user count. I will be making a newuser.php cron job just to update the user counts now I have it set to 10 min intervals right now, but I'm sure it would be better to use more like 20, 30 or 60 min intervals on live forums.

[Wilfred1]

I have a few urgent questions that I hope someone can answer for me.

If I have one domain site setup with:
root (home page)
root/forum1
root/forum2
root/forum3
root/custom_avatars
root/profile_pics etc

All the above use the same db with the different prefixes used as per this mod.

Will this mod work ok?
What would be the limitations?
Could users login on one forum or home page and be logged in on all forums?
Would this setup require extra vb licenses?

Thanks for you help

[Wilfred1]

In 4.0.3 I noticed that the code:
$this->querycount++;is in 2 places in the class_core.php file so do you add this mod after both instances?

[vitoreis]

I haven't tried yet with the cookies, considering what my aim is for this mod.

"cron" can be shared is you want the same scheduled tasks to run on all sites when active.

Also "phrase","language","templateedit","templateeditlocation" can be added if you want to share template modifications between sites with the Template Modification System.

I would advise people to not share "styles" between sites since you would need to reorder each commercial style to use on each slave site. Also don't share any product info ("product","productcode","productdependency") since some forums might have cms/blog which are vB Suite only with vB Forums since vBulletin will most likely ask you to buy or upgrade to suite for the slave sites. Ony way to really share products in my mind is to make sure all slave sites pay for the exact same type of vB license and also pay for any paid modifications the master site has.

I'm trying my best to stick to the terms in the licensing for vBulletin and other products associated with it so people don't get shutdown notices from anyone.


Right now I'm only testing 2 sites locally and 1 at a remote location to make sure all the connections are working properly. I'm having users randomly generated to simulate users registering on the different sites and also simulate activity on the sites to make sure the scheduled tasks run normally so that when a new user registers all sites update their new user info and user count. I will be making a newuser.php cron job just to update the user counts now I have it set to 10 min intervals right now, but I'm sure it would be better to use more like 20, 30 or 60 min intervals on live forums.
Thank you for your work! Continue to share all whis us, please.

[DragonMasterNYC]

No problem, I've been trying to do this for a years. I started a site just for this and then took it down since no one wanted to help. Right now my partner is the only one willing to help on this project since he can see the potential of it.

As of now I'm still working on a better solution for this project since in some cases like the usergroups table we just want to share rows of info instead of the whole table.

[kawe]

Fixed :d

[DeardsGlobal]

I'm working on building a network of gaming forums and I think this would work perfect. I'm just making sure though.

I have two game forums. With this I could pretty much bridge them together so that a user registers on either forum and post on both?