4.0 networking? multiple forums into one?

[championcycle]

i saw a few forums that got together and one forum serves as many. what i mean is 5 forums different sites came together and you can go to everysingle site and log in with the same username etc. how can i do this

example

www.torontonissan.ca

www.son240sx.org different sites same network. id love to do this also

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anyone?

[Videx]

An interesting concept. So I could register at one, and would I immediately be able to log into the next with those same credentials, or would I have to wait until my stuff got sent around?

Sounds complicated. I've never seen a mod that did this.

[championcycle]

it logs you into all instantly one database yeah its pretty cool seen a few sites but cant figure out how to do it

[Videx]

IB is running a lot of car forums these days. I wouldn't be surprised to find these are all on the same server, or use the same server for the db. And of course they have full time programmers accomplishing it.

[Ducks]

What if you configure all forums to use exact same database, wouldn't that be what you are looking for?

[championcycle]

yeah but can you use all 4 forums individually without the same posts being added on each forum when someone posts?

and if you can how? cause i cant find out how to do this to save my life

[mrpaint]

As they share forums between sites, I think they are running all sites in one server or at least share the same database server. And the network forums can be done by using a global_start hook plugin (or something like that) to hide forums in $vbulletin->forumcache based on domains. Make any sense? :D

[championcycle]

not really lol. ill need someone to do it for me haha..

[gorejos]

will this work with Vbulletin 4.0

[merk_aus]

IBAnders released a mod for 3.8.x that was moved to modification graveyard that did this - it was moved because people couldn't read simple instructions and complained that it wasn't working - however it was they were just slow and couldn't come to grips with it.

I still have it for 3.8.x and am working on porting it over to 4.0 for my site and series of sites it will do everything you are after.

Mainly what it is - there is one forum www.foruma.com; then what this mod allows you to do is set up forumb.com; forumc.com; forumd.com dedicated certain categories to each of the sites.

So what happens you log into forumb.com - it has category 1, 2, 3 - you then go to forumc.com (which has a different style/layout) and on this site it has category 1,4,5,6 and so on.

What this means is behind the scenes (admin panel) it is just one giant forum however when going to the websites it looks like four different websites.

It allows you members to register for one and log into all (because really behind the scenes it is just one giant forum); it allows you to share an off topic/general discussion forum between all of the sites if you want; or announcement forum between all of them.

Was an awesome modification and am hopeful to have it for 4.x for my sites shortly - am just working through slowly as I am not a good coder.

[betts02]

Good luck in getting this ported to v4 and hopefully released to us all soon

Been after something like this for ages and would be a great mod for my forums

[merk_aus]

Am testing it out now :)

[betts02]

:D:) Good luck with it mate and really hope you get it sorted

Will donate when done and released mate :)

[pant]

Do you only need the 1 licence then

[betts02]

By the looks of things no

As vb have done away with the licence and you now OWN your forums and only need to pay for upgrades after a year or v5

You should be able to have many forums on 1 domain as you own your forums now

This is how i see it anyway and i cant see how this is wrong but maybe ????

[merk_aus]

No you need a license for each domain. This is not a work around for the vBulletin licensing system as that is theft.

This is a reason they removed their product as people were "rorting" the system - each domain you have acting as an individual forum needs to have a license for it.

[betts02]

There is NO licence now mate

Each member OWNS their forums and should be able to do this using the same database

An admin/mod or someone may prove me wrong but i assume as you now own your forums and its now not on a licence system you should be able to do this ?

[pant]

But if you wanted to set up unrelated forums but have all the members be able to cross post you could buy several licences and do this.

How would this be effected by different plug ins on different sites?

[merk_aus]

There is NO licence now mate

Each member OWNS their forums and should be able to do this using the same database

An admin/mod or someone may prove me wrong but i assume as you now own your forums and its now not on a licence system you should be able to do this ?

First of all you are wrong to start with - there are still licenses. Just a license now lasts for versions eg: version 4, version 5 etc rather than yearly.

The thing is the licensing agreement remains that you can only install one instance per domain; so having foruma.com is one license, forumb.com is another license even if they are using just one overall forum.

In regards to plugins etc most of them require template edits etc and so normally are installed with ease - as you only do the template modifications to the styles/sites you want them on.

[Videx]

IBAnders released a mod for 3.8.x that was moved to modification graveyard that did this - it was moved because people couldn't read simple instructions and complained that it wasn't working - however it was they were just slow and couldn't come to grips with it.I have yet to see a mod shut down because it didn't work, though in at least one case several of us tried valiantly.
We were told that it was the user's responsibility to read through the entire thread before installing. We would post a notice that it wasn't working, then there would be 20 posts asking how to get it working, pushing our post off the page. This may still be going on over in that mod but I finally just unsubscribed.

[merk_aus]

That is because those asking for help were asking things like how to get the forum to show up, or asking questions that had already been answered.

I had it installed and working and installed it on a number of sites for people and am in the process of getting it for vB4 I am just installing my test board and then will test the updated code.

However it is clear from this thread alone why it was removed:
- People didn't understand what to do or how to use it, wanting threads to show up when it was meant to be categories, not understanding that the additional domains needed to be "ADDON Domains" etc.

- People looking at it as a way to by pass the licensing system. As already mentioned in here it is clear that some people want to use it to by pass the system.

[betts02]

If it needs be i will but another licence, Just thought as they did away with a licence in a way this would be ok

But as you pointed out it requires a licence for each forum

Will have to see if anyone is selling cheap or better get saving up,lol

Hope all goes well anyway mate

[Reeve of shinra]

I had it installed and working and installed it on a number of sites for people and am in the process of getting it for vB4 I am just installing my test board and then will test the updated code.


How are you handling the CMS?

Blogs can be shared across sites so that's not a problem but the CMS should have unique content for each URL. I haven't figured out how to deal with that part yet.

[StonePilot]

Am testing it out now :)

I am very interested in this modification and if it were stable I would donate to the development of this as well.

[merk_aus]

How are you handling the CMS?

Blogs can be shared across sites so that's not a problem but the CMS should have unique content for each URL. I haven't figured out how to deal with that part yet.

This was one of my main concerns the CMS, however I have this sorted in my ported product which is going through vigorious testing at the moment - most of the code has been re-done from the ground up and so when you have the full publishing suite each domain will show different content on the cms.

And to make things clear they did not get rid of the licensing system they altered it. You still need a valid license to run vBulletin and with this mod you need a valid license for EACH website you want networked.

Donations are always accepted and would allow me to focus more time than I currently do on this mod :) haha thought I would throw it in there.

[sticky]

How are you handling the CMS?

Blogs can be shared across sites so that's not a problem but the CMS should have unique content for each URL. I haven't figured out how to deal with that part yet.

Any progress on this?

This would be my main concern as well, handling the CMS.

I want this mod...

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I am very interested in this modification and if it were stable I would donate to the development of this as well.

Ditto, I'll donate as well.

[sticky]

Any update on this?

[merk_aus]

I am having a couple issues with the CMS and Whats New stuff but am working on it
I am not the best coder in the world however have made some great progress on it recently.

[Alfa1]

Does anyone have a clue how I can connect the userbase of two forums?
I do not want or need to connect forum content. I just want to have my members show online on both sites and use the same login.
I have licenses for both sites. One of my forums has a lot of members, while the other is new and empty.

[DJ RRebel]

My understanding of the licensing is that it's more of a marketing issue than a technical issue.

Meaning that if you set up the sites to look and act separate then you need multiple licenses .. however .. if it's essentially a global site and you use different domains more as different sections within the main site then you don't need multiple licenses.

[sticky]

Does anyone have a clue how I can connect the userbase of two forums?
I do not want or need to connect forum content. I just want to have my members show online on both sites and use the same login.
I have licenses for both sites. One of my forums has a lot of members, while the other is new and empty.
This is exactly what I want as well, same userbase, two forums.

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My understanding of the licensing is that it's more of a marketing issue than a technical issue.

Meaning that if you set up the sites to look and act separate then you need multiple licenses .. however .. if it's essentially a global site and you use different domains more as different sections within the main site then you don't need multiple licenses.
No one is really concerned with this, two sites, two licenses, whatever. The technical issues seem to be the problem.

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I am having a couple issues with the CMS and Whats New stuff but am working on it
I am not the best coder in the world however have made some great progress on it recently.

Why not share your code and see who could help?

[In Omnibus]

The cookie prefix is likely the issue. The cookies for both sites would have to be in the exact same location with the exact same prefix so that both sites would read the same member login information.

Match your cookie domain setting for both URLs and then change the settings in:
Settings/Options/Cookies And HTTP Header Options/Cookie Domain

This option sets the domain on which the cookie is active. The most common reason to change this setting is that you have two different urls to your forum, i.e. example.com and forums.example.com. To allow users to stay logged into the forum if they visit via either url, you would set this to .example.com

So, it appears as though the cookie can only be active on one domain unless both URL domains are sharing the same cookie. Set both domains to read the same cookie and your issue will be resolved.

[sticky]

The cookie prefix is likely the issue. The cookies for both sites would have to be in the exact same location with the exact same prefix so that both sites would read the same member login information.

Match your cookie domain setting for both URLs and then change the settings in:
Settings/Options/Cookies And HTTP Header Options/Cookie Domain



So, it appears as though the cookie can only be active on one domain unless both URL domains are sharing the same cookie. Set both domains to read the same cookie and your issue will be resolved.
Sounds like this guy knows what he is talking about.

[Reeve of shinra]

I am having a couple issues with the CMS and Whats New stuff but am working on it
I am not the best coder in the world however have made some great progress on it recently.

Great news. :)

[sticky]

Great news. :)
Agreed :)

Can't wait for this, I'm surprised more people don't work or demand for something like this as the potential is huge.

[Brandon Sheley]

IB is running a lot of car forums these days. I wouldn't be surprised to find these are all on the same server, or use the same server for the db. And of course they have full time programmers accomplishing it.

CrowdGather (http://crowdgather.com) does this as well, all sharing one DB.

[sticky]

CrowdGather (http://crowdgather.com) does this as well, all sharing one DB.
IB doesn't have them all sharing one database or one server, they just bought lots of individual databases/sites.

[sticky]

Any progress?

I really need this mod.

[merk_aus]

It works well on 3.8 it's the 4.0 thing that is being worked on hopeful to have it done by next weekend.

I just don't have the time to dedicate hours a day to it with bills to pay etc and I know people on here claim they will chip in and donate but realitistically they dont and so regular work to pay my bills comes first.

[sticky]

It works well on 3.8 it's the 4.0 thing that is being worked on hopeful to have it done by next weekend.

I just don't have the time to dedicate hours a day to it with bills to pay etc and I know people on here claim they will chip in and donate but realitistically they dont and so regular work to pay my bills comes first.
I'll chip in to donate as will many others.

People are just afraid they will donate and it won't get done. Why not create a thread for this and let's get some donations going?

[CvP]

I'd like to donate too. sticky's suggestion seems good.

[jchamb2010]

I think I can figure out how to do this, however I can't say that it wouldn't require core file modifications (because it will require them)...

Basically you need to find in your files where it's looking for table_prefix.'user as the table. once you find that get rid of table_prefix.' and replace it with whatever text you want for your shared table of users.

If someone is serious about doing this I wouldn't mind helping you out.

-John

[sticky]

I think I can figure out how to do this, however I can't say that it wouldn't require core file modifications (because it will require them)...

Basically you need to find in your files where it's looking for table_prefix.'user as the table. once you find that get rid of table_prefix.' and replace it with whatever text you want for your shared table of users.

If someone is serious about doing this I wouldn't mind helping you out.

-John
I am very, very serious about this. Would love some help.

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I'd like to donate too. sticky's suggestion seems good.

Alright :) The demand is there!

My forum expansion hinges on having the same userbase/login for multiple forums.

[shortbus1662]

same here. I need this, whatever it takes.

[sticky]

It works well on 3.8 it's the 4.0 thing that is being worked on hopeful to have it done by next weekend.

I just don't have the time to dedicate hours a day to it with bills to pay etc and I know people on here claim they will chip in and donate but realitistically they dont and so regular work to pay my bills comes first.

Any updates? I found the VB Facade files and want to give this a shot on VB 4.

[Frank T]

Your site uses friendly URLs. I don't think VB facade will work with it.

[cloferba]

no news?

[tpgsr]

I can tell you that I am one of the Admins and the Programmer on the sites listed in the first post, and currently we have 6 sites networked. We are going to be adding more sites this weekend for a total of 8 i think. That should give us 6 vBulletin installations maybe 7, I would have to go look.

Is there custom programming? Yes, but not a ton.

Was this easy? Somewhat, it just took a lot of looking at things from a broad perspective.

Does it work flawlessly? Nope, continually having to find work arounds for Mods that I want to implement, and we lost some data when we did the first major merge.

Is VB Facade running in the background? Yes, but I am trying to program my way around it entirely in the next several months as I get nervous of updating my vBulletin software and having it not work correctly. It is not however the only thing that makes this work.

Can you do this for my sites? Yes, but it will cost you at least an arm.

DO I NEED LICENSES? YES YOU DO! FOR ALL OF THE SITES! READ THIS ONE AGAIN!

I really didn't read this whole thread as I accidentally stumbled across it, but I will subscribe and try to make my self available to answer any questions. If you want a fast answer or a long conversation on this topic, register a name at my site http://www.nyspeed.com and send me a PM. I am tpgsr on that site as well. Please do not PM me here as I am not on often enough to ensure you get an answer in a timely fashion.

Mike

Edit: I just looked at the first post and ontariomotorcycle.ca is one of the sites, funny that I should find this tonight. :wave: Hi Rick, hopefully I will get to say hi one of these days!!