Major Additions - CERBERUS: 1 vB4: runs multiple domains with custom styles, forums, universal login

***Attention: This product is currently UNSUPPORTED***

We would like to release an Alpha version of the vBulletin4 Cerberus product. This product allows you to create one vBulletin4 installation which can power unlimited number of domains and sub-domains; while allowing to customize each domain differently to make it look like different sites or sections. Domains will have one universal admincp and user login information.

***Example***
www.supercoolautoforum.com - main site, all forums
ferarri.supercoolautoforum.com - custom style and forums, same login
bmw.supercoolautoforum.com- custom style and forums, same login
honda.supercoolautoforum.com - custom style and forums, same login
supercoolmotorcycleforum.com - custom style and forums, same login

*** Why are you releasing this, I want more features?! ***

This is a very simple product; we believe that the basic functionality provided in this product will satisfy a lot of communities - and since the product is simple - it will be easy to extend it and modify it to work for your custom community requirements.

Overview of Current Features:

• One shared installation of vBulletin 4
• One shared user account on all domains
• Custom Style for each domain
• Custom Forum listing for each domain

Known Issues:

• CMS and Blogs are currently not configured to have special domain-specific categories and sections. CMS is shared across all sites although the appearance will be different for each domain.

Project Contributors: s.lauderdale;m.biddle;a.ahn; anders

[sticky]

Anybody? Anyone think if I upgrade to a newer version that might do the trick?

[BirdOPrey5]

It wouldn't hurt... I got it running on 4.0.8 with 2 different styles (on my test install)... the other option would be to disable every other mod besides Cerberus and see if it works.

[sticky]

Originally Posted by BirdOPrey5

It wouldn't hurt... I got it running on 4.0.8 with 2 different styles (on my test install)... the other option would be to disable every other mod besides Cerberus and see if it works.

I'll disable mods first and if that doesn't work then I will upgrade.

Thanks.

[onehost]

I am a little confused, so what is the big deal about this mod...for what purpose
would anyone need a forum running on multiple domains? I just do not
see a legit reason why you would need a forum on more then one domain....

maybe someone can explain better....

[BirdOPrey5]

3 Reasons
1) Lets say you have an established forum with a bunch of members and you want to start a new forum wouldn't it be nice to tell everyone they can visit and are already registered members?

2) Say you have related forums, say a music forum, one for 80's music and another for 90's music- you can now give each a separate identity but share users and some forums between both sites.

3) From an admin standpoint it's only 1 install to maintain and backup to cover all your sites.

[FReeSTER]

Originally Posted by BirdOPrey5

3 Reasons
1) Lets say you have an established forum with a bunch of members and you want to start a new forum wouldn't it be nice to tell everyone they can visit and are already registered members?

2) Say you have related forums, say a music forum, one for 80's music and another for 90's music- you can now give each a separate identity but share users and some forums between both sites.

3) From an admin standpoint it's only 1 install to maintain and backup to cover all your sites.

Damn bro, seen you are good can you please help me get mine to work, I have the sub-domain already made and the categories in the forum I want to add in the second forum. All I need is the code be implemented correctly to get it to work since I have already install the mod. Thanks bro i will appreciate

[KW802]

Originally Posted by BirdOPrey5

3 Reasons
1) Lets say you have an established forum with a bunch of members and you want to start a new forum wouldn't it be nice to tell everyone they can visit and are already registered members?

2) Say you have related forums, say a music forum, one for 80's music and another for 90's music- you can now give each a separate identity but share users and some forums between both sites.

3) From an admin standpoint it's only 1 install to maintain and backup to cover all your sites.

In my case I was really after #3 on your list, of reducing the number of 'small' sites I had when instead I could upgrade them all at one shot by using a shared back-end but with the plus side of sharing some things between them, like v3 Arcade.

Example: CinVin & Lower Pottsgrove

(Forget the content of the sites since I really am using them at this point for testing more than anything. ) They look like two totally independent sites (including the vBa CMPS "Home" page thanks to some other code I am working on) but clicking on the Arcade link in the navbar on both sites shows the same games, same top scorers, etcetera. There are still some little things to be done, but for the most part as long as users are aware that the sites are shared, then it looks like it will work fine for what I had in mind.

The kicker is that if you want to merge existing sites together then you have to really consider the fact that all of your URLs for the merged-in site will be lost. Not a problem for small sites or new sites but is not something I will consider (for example, I won't be merging Cool Sci-Fi into CinVin because of the URL issue). The other item to consider is sitemaps... currently there is no support for having the vB Sitemap be generated with the correct domains for the add-on sites.

In short, for me, new sites going forward will be virtual sites off of the main CinVin database but I won't be merging any of my other existing sites into it.

[tpgsr]

I must say that I have been doing this in a custom way since we upgraded to vb4... see Http://www.nyspeed.com/forum.php

This is pretty exciting, as it will allow my to not have to rewrite mods and cookies and all code to make things happen. I will be setting this up on a testing server this weekend to see how it goes. I will report back with my results.


PS I love the name, very clever.

[BirdOPrey5]

Originally Posted by El Intocable

Damn bro, seen you are good can you please help me get mine to work, I have the sub-domain already made and the categories in the forum I want to add in the second forum. All I need is the code be implemented correctly to get it to work since I have already install the mod. Thanks bro i will appreciate

I see you've mistaken me for someone who knows what they are doing...

Two of my domains are juot.net and juot.co

Here is the code I use that's working:

[juot.net]
bbtitle=JUOT.net NET
bburl=www.juot.net/jutest4
homeurl=www.juot.net
catids=1
styleid=1
cookiedomain=juot.net
facebookappid=222222222
facebooksecret=222222222

[juot.co]
bbtitle=JUOT.co CO
bburl=www.juot.co/jutest4
homeurl=www.juot.co
catids=8
styleid=2
cookiedomain=juot.co
facebookappid=2222252222
facebooksecret=2222252222

Ignore the facebook numbers, I don't use it.

[onehost]

Originally Posted by BirdOPrey5

3 Reasons
1) Lets say you have an established forum with a bunch of members and you want to start a new forum wouldn't it be nice to tell everyone they can visit and are already registered members?

2) Say you have related forums, say a music forum, one for 80's music and another for 90's music- you can now give each a separate identity but share users and some forums between both sites.

3) From an admin standpoint it's only 1 install to maintain and backup to cover all your sites.

anyone have any live urls...I guess I have to see this in
action to really understand this more...