XenCentral Multisite System

XenCentral Multisite System [Paid] 1.11.0

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XCentral updated XenCentral Multisite System with a new update entry:

XenCentral Multisite System

Hello everyone,

We are happy to announce the release of 1.1.0 version of XenCentral Multisite System. This version has two major additions - support for Recent Activity and Newsfeeds, and support for XenPorta addon home page blocks, particularly Recent News and Recent Threads blocks.

Licensed customers can download the release from their Clients Area at https://www.skydevelop.eu/customers/clientarea.php

We will be glad to get your feedback about the features implemented and your...

Read the rest of this update entry...
 
We currently have multiple XenForo forums with entirely separate databases. We are realizing that well, a single user sign-on process is much more friendly and that is when we found your system. However, we have some question that you may be able to answer.

Our situation:
  • Site 1
  • Site 2
  • Site 3
  • Site 4
  • Site 5
We want to take each of these sites and their forums and utilize XenCentral. Essentially managing them all from one place and every site using the same user database, while still maintaining their unique URLs and entirely unique designs, espeically for SEO purposes.

Each of these sites have threads and posts and different add-ons.

So the question.

  1. Can we import the user database from each forum and merge duplicates so that all the forums share the same user database?
  2. Can we then also import each site entire forums threads, posts, and possibly add-ons into each of the individual forums managed through XenCentral?

If you can provide some light on this situation that would be helpful. Thank you.
 
Hello, @Gary Gannon

The only way you could manage your forums with this product is to have all their data in the same database, with the same third-party products and everything else. After this you could import your data from old boards under different forum categories, and make each category available under different domains.

Most likely there is no such importer to import xenforo data in xenforo, and you should note that this will change URLs of threads as they will get new IDs, so you will need to setup redirects from old URLs if you do not want to loose your search engine ranking. Considering you will need to import more than one board into another, maintaining URL redirects will be very hard, almost impossible.

So, if all you need to have shared user logins, we would recommend to take another approach, and to create a bridge between XenForo installations, so they transparently synchronize user database and allow logging-in with the same details on any board. We have experience creating such product for vBulletin so we are definitely able to assist you with that. If this is something you would like to use, please contact us at http://desk.xencentral.com/ and we will provide the terms for project completion.

Let us know if you have any other questions.

Thank you!
 
There is a 1.2 => 1.2 importer included in the core importers.
Okay, thank you for the note Mike. Still not sure if it will be technically possible to maintain URL redirects for so many imports. Maybe different import sessions with archives into different MySQL tables, and mapping these tables to domains could do that.
 
Let's say I am not interested in the URL redirects. I am perfectly fine if they receive new URLs due to the new IDs.

If we import the database, and place each site's threads into different categories or however you all have it set-up, and then import the users (not sure what happens with identical user names), would the posts still be connected to the users?

The main thing we want to be able to do is create a SSO environment, with the appearance of different forums for each URL (forum.site1.c0m, forum.site2.c0m, etc). Custom forum title for each one, custom fields, different plugin settings (not as important if we lose the plugins).

We run multiple sites and multiple forums, but most are still in their infancy and just starting, so we wanted to find the best solution for this first. Currently they are all completely separate installations.
 
Hello, @Gary Gannon

In that case, it seems XenCentral Mulsite System is exactly what you need. Please test its features at http://demo.xencentral.com/ and http://demo2.xencentral.com/ , where you can login using details adminxc/adminxc_ (both boards running the same installation via Multisite system).
With this system you will have the same set of plugins on all sites, but you can configure them in any way want (e.g. many plugins have on/off switch option, so you can disable the plugin overriding this option for particular site).
Custom fields are not filtered by domain now, but we will implement it.
For the importer, official importer should do everything fine (it will associate users by email, for users with different accounts will create new account, and associate posts to them).

Let us know if you have any questions.

Thank you!
 
Ok, this is looking great so far from what I can tell, I have a few more questions before we decide.

  1. I assume that account is simply restricted from creating nodes and that is why I did not see the option in the ACP
  2. Is the URL feature sort of a mask? I am assuming this since it is possible to have the same category/forum on multiple boards. This is fine, just intrigued me.
  3. When setting up, would we essentially create each site as it's own CATEGORY in the ROOT? Site 1 category, Site 2 Category, Site 3 Category, etc?
Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions and thank you for the development of such a product. The user experience is a top priority and this can help immensely.
 
Ok, this is looking great so far from what I can tell, I have a few more questions before we decide.

  1. I assume that account is simply restricted from creating nodes and that is why I did not see the option in the ACP
  2. Is the URL feature sort of a mask? I am assuming this since it is possible to have the same category/forum on multiple boards. This is fine, just intrigued me.
  3. When setting up, would we essentially create each site as it's own CATEGORY in the ROOT? Site 1 category, Site 2 Category, Site 3 Category, etc?
Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions and thank you for the development of such a product. The user experience is a top priority and this can help immensely.

1. You do not need to create nodes, just go to Admin Panel -> XenCentral section, and on the left select Multisite System -> Manage Sites. You will see two domains listed representing http://demo.xencentral.com/ and http://demo2.xencentral.com/ Edit any of sites, and in Filters section you will see forum filter. Select/deselect any node and check the board to see how it shows the nodes. If you want to test with some more complicated structure, let us know and we will create node tree for you to test.

2. Not sure what you mean by URL, but in Filters you can select any nodes, or leave filter empty, and the same nodes will appear on all sites. If you mean to have forums with the same name, but different content on different forums, you can do that as well, just you need to create multiple nodes with the same name, and use the filter again mentioned above.

3. As you see from the filter, you can just enable/disable any nodes. However, when parent node is disabled, the child can not be enabled (at least with current implementation). So, in you case, most likely as a result you will have "Site 1" displayed in front-end, if you will organize your forums as "Site 1-> Category -> Forums", "Site 2 -> Category -> Forums". So, we will recommend you to import forums as they are actually on your boards, and just enable/disable each for each domain.

Will this work if we decide to have 2 domains or does it only work for subdomains?

Yes, it works fine with different domains, including cross-login/logout (this is not done via cookies, but with encrypted request between domains, that is why it is possible).

Thank you!
 
I have one final question. If we set this up for another domain, can we "hide" specific nodes/forums on specific websites. Take for example I create a domain called xencentral1.com and I want to only show a forum called xencentral1 Mods, and then I have a 2nd domain xencentral2.com and I want it to only show xencentral2 Mods.

Will this work
 
I have one final question. If we set this up for another domain, can we "hide" specific nodes/forums on specific websites. Take for example I create a domain called xencentral1.com and I want to only show a forum called xencentral1 Mods, and then I have a 2nd domain xencentral2.com and I want it to only show xencentral2 Mods.

Will this work
Sure, it is exactly how forum filter is meant to work. Please check our two demo boards - http://demo.xencentral.com/ and http://demo2.xencentral.com/ which are both actually the same XenForo installation, and you can see a category in the first board which is not shown in the second, and vise versa. It is done by enabling/disabling forums for each domain.

Thank you!
 
Is the install just via the add on control panel or are other manual changes required? How compatible is this likely to be through Xenforo updates? Thanks
 
Is the install just via the add on control panel or are other manual changes required? How compatible is this likely to be through Xenforo updates? Thanks

No manual changes are needed. Just uploading product package and importing XML file is enough (and installing our framework if you have not it installed yet, please check here for full instructions).

The product should be compatible with upcoming versions of XenForo as well, as it depends on core structures of XenForo only which are very less likely to change, and is properly coded. So you should not have any problems with upgrades in the future (of course, no manual special actions are needed when XenForo is upgraded).

Also as far you have have active support/updates subscription for product (1 year subscription is included in new orders) you will always get the latest updates, including compatibility updates for new versions of XenForo.

Thank you!
 
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Would like to see a way added to name node catagories based on domain.. So they can share between different domains but sections titled differently.
 
Quick question

Does this mod allow multiple domains to share the same DB. Lets say a partner website wants to run a cobrand and a forum on their site off our data, we can purchase another license from xF, install on that website and then run their forums using this mod?
 
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