Drupal Multisite Setup

Debian (Ubuntu)

1. Configure Apache2 for Sites :

Before you jump to configure your virtual hosts do not forget to add host names in /etc/hosts file.

your.ip.add.res vritualhost_1.name
your.2.ip.add.res virtualhost_2.name

2. Apache2 needs to be configured to support vhost access to your new sites.

Create vhost site configuration files in /etc/apache2/sites-available/

#
# Virtual hosting configuration for Drupal
#

ServerAdmin [your email address]

DocumentRoot /usr/share/drupal6/
ServerName [your vhost#1 name]
ServerAlias [if you want to support www.example.com and example.com]
RewriteEngine On
RewriteOptions inherit

ServerAdmin [your email address]

DocumentRoot /usr/share/drupal6/
ServerName [your vhost#2 name]
ServerAlias [if you want to support www.example1.com and example1.com]
RewriteEngine On
RewriteOptions inherit

[...repeat for all your vhosts]

3. Sym-link the drupal file in the sites-enabled directory to enable it in your site:

# cd /etc/apache2/sites-enabled
# ln -s ../sites-available/drupal .

4. reload Apache2 to pick up your configuration changes...
# /etc/init.d/apache2 reload

5. Create Drupal Site Configurations

We need to create Drupal configurations for each site by copying the default configuration to the Drupal site subdirectory.

# cd /etc/drupal/6/sites/
# cp -a default [site1.com]
# cp -a default [site2.com]

6. edit the configurations to use the right database, MySQL user name, and password...
# vi site1.com/dbconfig.php
# vi site2.com/dbconfig.php

7. Run Drupal and Configure Your Sites

Browse to your sites, running install.php (e.g. http://www.example.com/install.php) to configure them.
Manual

Get to location where Drupal core will be located:

[/]# cd /var/www

Upload Drupal core:

"x.x" should be replaced with the version of Drupal you're installing, e.g. "5.2"

[/var/www]# wget http://ftp.osuosl.org/pub/drupal/files/projects/drupal-x.x.tar.gz

Unpack Drupal core:

[/var/www]# tar -zxvf drupal-5.2.tar.gz

Move contents of Drupal core (including .htaccess) to html:

[/var/www]# mv drupal-x.x/* drupal-x.x/.htaccess /var/www/html

Clean-up:

[/var/www]# rm drupal-x.x.tar.gz

[/var/www]# rm drupal-5.2

Create the files directory per Drupal instructions and change permissions (will change permission again after install):

[/var/www]# cd html

[/var/www/html]# mkdir files

[/var/www/html]# chmod 777 files

Make directories that will hold custom and contributes modules and themes:

[/var/www/html]# cd sites/all

[/var/www/html/sites/all]# mkdir modules

[/var/www/html/sites/all]# mkdir themes

[/var/www/html/sites/all]# cd modules

[/var/www/html/sites/all/modules]# mkdir custom

[/var/www/html/sites/all/modules]# mkdir contrib

[/var/www/html/sites/all/modules]# cd ../

[/var/www/html/sites/all]# cd themes

[/var/www/html/sites/all/themes]# mkdir custom

[/var/www/html/sites/all/themes]# mkdir contrib

Create directory "www.example.com.tld":

[/var/www/html/sites/all/themes]# cd ../

[/var/www/html/sites/all]# cd ../

[/var/www/html/sites]# mkdir www.example.com

Change permission of "settings.php" per Drupal instructions and copy "settings.php" in default to www.example.com:

[/var/www/html/sites]# cd default

[/var/www/html/sites/default]# chmod 777 settings.php

[/var/www/html/sites/default]# cd ../

[/var/www/html/sites]# cp -a default www.example.com

Create database and user with permissions:

[/var/www/html/sites]# mysql

mysql> CREATE DATABASE wwwexamplecom_drupal;

mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON wwwwexamplecom_drupal_drupal.* TO 'wwwexamplecom_drupal_myusername'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'mypassword';

mysql> \q

Go back to PuTTY to chmod on settings.php in www.example.com:

[/var/www/html/sites]# cd www.example.com

[/var/www/html/sites/www.example.com]# chmod 755 settings.php

[/var/www/html/sites/www.example.com]# logout