Add-on [PAID] Multiple XF Single Sign-on Solution

[ibaker]

Anthony, are you saying that there may be a "return" on the $310 investment or what do you mean by "additional benefits" as I am most certainly interested in helping out on this because it is something that I could do with.

I use to use one with vb. How it was done, although requiring all sites to be on the same server, table views were used from a main db of users etc to all the sites so when a user registered, their registration went into the main db. When a user logged in/logged out of any of the sites, an invisible iframe opened logging the user in, or out, of all sites.

Send a PC or if you still have my phone number give me a ring

 

[Anthony Parsons]

The development is done by username Naatan (Nathan), who is an experienced developer.

Basically, he will hold the copyright to the add-on, otherwise the cost would be double the above, close to $4k. This enables him to sell the completed product as an addon. If he sells it with annual updates, etc, or increases prices as others contribute to having pieces added to it, as is uses an open source authentication protocol, OpenID, to communicate between installs, regardless of server, by a whitelist of domains, then we benefit by accessing upgraded releases as part of our higher costs.

Those who contribute to the development, basically Nathan has stated he is happy in doing the right thing with those who get the product launched, compared to what will be offered to those who buy the addon at a lower price once developed, ie. they may have to pay an annual fee for upgrades, upgraded costs for additional features added, etc.

What that becomes... will more be dictated as the product develops. Using OpenID allows for any software to simply have a slave built and added into the equation. No doubt people may have a master built for say, WordPress, and use the XF installs on slaves only. Who knows.

The initial build is only XF to XF, no limitations on quantity. One master, the rest slaves.

If a member registers on the master, then their account is synced to the slaves and vice versa... if they register on a slave, their account is synced to the master and other slaves, hence, single sign on solution. It has conflict resolution built-in as well... especially for the initial sync.

Each site manages permissions uniquely, profiles, etc... as this is about user accounts at this stage. Later on, someone may want to further permissions development, redirection signon, all sorts of options.

As stated... as it develops, those who contribute get updated. Those who pay for an XF to XF addon, will likely have to upgrade to get access to further development benefits... Once built, Nathan may then expand the addon at his own doing and up the cost of the addon to those who purchase, if they want additional features. Those who contribute the higher costs now to get this developed, then reap some rewards later down the track with ongoing updates. If XF change something that would break the solution, we don't have to pay for the minor changes to be made, etc etc...

Basically, Nathan is about doing the right thing by us once developed... as we're paying him to get it developed, and this is his full-time job, being software development.

 

[agison]

Do you know when will this addon be done, Anthony Parsons?

 

[Steve10]

Do you know when will this addon be done, Anthony Parsons?

Currently it will only be completed if we can get enough initial contributors, I believe we are still short around $400 or so. If we can't get someone/s to put up the rest of the money it just won't happen. If we can then I think Naatan estimated it would take around a month to develop.

If you mean when it would be available publicly, then it would probably be some time after it was developed for the initial contributors. I would think there would have to be the development time, the beta testing and testing on the initial contributors, any bug fixes and added features for those people and then some time after that, at a time of Naatan's choice, it would be made available to the public to buy, if he wanted that.

 

[Anthony Parsons]

Do you know when will this addon be done, Anthony Parsons?

That would be completely up to the developer to release... it has nothing to do with us who contribute and buy into having the product.

If you want the product, then commit in at a minimum of $250 and we can get this started.

 

[agison]

OK.
Add me to your group. I can add $250. Give a PM with Paypal ID. Get it started, can't wait to see.

 

[Pro]

Can I get added to the PC please?

 

[tmb]

I'd be happy to throw in a few hundred bucks but I'm not sure if the scope of this is going to be enough for my needs. I'll read through it a few more times and see if I have any questions.

 

[Naatan]

Feel free to let me know what particular features you would need. If it's outside the scope you can always choose to hire me to implement those features you need on top of the addon being developed now.

 

[Anthony Parsons]

Can I get added to the PC please?

Sorry, only those who have paid into the add-on are part of the PC. The add-on has begun for those who committed into it.

 

[Pro]

Sorry, only those who have paid into the add-on are part of the PC. The add-on has begun for those who committed into it.

No big deal I just wanted to be able to post and add ideas, my partner is already in the PC so I am not really worried on "missing out" since he's into it for our site to begin with.

All I can say is I am really looking forward to having this product for ourselves. We are building a network of Xenforo sites and it is going to make it so much easier and better for us. Thank you all for what you are doing and contributing!

 

[Anthony Parsons]

We are building a network of Xenforo sites and it is going to make it so much easier and better for us.

That sounds awesome within itself...

I am also thinking long-term with this, having the ability to use multiple licenses on one domain for more definitive site expansion, without cluttering any specific area too much... and without any user having to login multiple times upon a single domain.

 

[DRE]

So this is like the network except you can login to the other admin's forum without having to sign up?

http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=206158

 

[Anthony Parsons]

Nothing alike actually. This shares database user details, as a single login facility. One is a master, the rest are slaves. So if you register on a slave, that data is registered on the master DB.

 

[DRE]

Oh okay. I don't like that master and slave stuff so I'll pass. lol.

 

[ArnyVee]

Good luck with this project! I've hit the "watch" feature on this thread to keep an eye on things.

If I had the available time and resources, I would commit to assisting with it. Maybe in the near future if certain things work out

 

[guiltar]

Interesting thread. But why you decided to use master-slave instead of using one instanse of Xen?
It is enough to specify each 1st level node to some domain and add extra fetch conditions to models and you completely separate content of different sites.

 

[Naatan]

Because that's not the scope of the addon, what you're suggesting would essentially merge multiple forums into one, meaning they would still have separate content but all other functionality would be shared, which could be a huge headache depending on the variety of your forums.

Not to mention that such a setup would take a LONG time to implement and a nightmare to maintain between XF upgrades.

It's an interesting concept but it would be an implementation that would have to be natively supported as implementing it as an addon would, I imagine, be very hard to maintain.

 

[Pro]

Because that's not the scope of the addon, what you're suggesting would essentially merge multiple forums into one, meaning they would still have separate content but all other functionality would be shared, which could be a huge headache depending on the variety of your forums.

Not to mention that such a setup would take a LONG time to implement and a nightmare to maintain between XF upgrades.

It's an interesting concept but it would be an implementation that would have to be natively supported as implementing it as an addon would, I imagine, be very hard to maintain.

Good point.

I cannot wait for this to be done, waiting to start my new sites until we have it. Will there be any way to merge if I go ahead and start the sites now?

 

[Naatan]

Good point.

I cannot wait for this to be done, waiting to start my new sites until we have it. Will there be any way to merge if I go ahead and start the sites now?

Yes no problem at all. The addon does not require any initial script to be ran as synchronisation happens on-demand. Users whose usernames are already taken on a master / slave site will be required to register manually, but as long as their email address matches on all installs they will still be able to profit from the SSO capabilities.

I will add a sync script later on for those who prefer it that way, but it won't be in the first release, as I personally find the stated solution much friendlier for end-users.