ExpressionEngine® User Guide

Legacy Documentation

You are using the documentation for version 4.3.8. Go here for the latest version.

Site Manager

Control Panel Location: Developer ‣ Site Manager

Manage multiple Sites from a single installation

Note

The Multiple Site Manager does not alter the ExpressionEngine License Agreement. The license holder must be the owner of all Sites on a single installation.

One Installation, Multiple Websites

The Site Manager empowers you to create and manage multiple “websites” (Sites) from a single ExpressionEngine installation. These Sites can use your existing domain, sub-domains, a brand new domain, or a combination of the above. Each Site is has its own set of preferences, templates, and channels. This lets you leverage a single ExpressionEngine installation across multiple internet properties.

From School House to University

Think of the Multiple Site Manager as converting a one-building school house into a University campus. The student body (Member database) is campus wide but every department (Site) has its own building (templates), its own way of doing things (preferences), unique curriculum (channels), student lounge (Site specific forums, requires Discussion Forums 2.0+), and rules about what students can do (Member Group permissions are Site specific). Any department on Campus can take advantage of the schools resources (Modules, Plugins, Extensions).

That’s not a perfect analogy but it conveys the scope of what the Multiple Site Manager enables you to do from a single ExpressionEngine installation.

Key Features

  • Multiple Sites from a single installation
  • Multiple Forums from a single installation (requires Discussion Forums 3.0)
  • Member Database is “installation wide”
  • Shared Member Groups across Sites
  • Member Groups can have per Site preferences.
  • Channels and Templates can be accessed across Sites
  • Intuitively organized Control Panel
  • Independent Preferences per site
  • Specialty Templates per Site (Login screens, member profiles, etc…)
  • Modules are Site Agnostic so any Site can use any Module.

Requirements

  • Purchased license of the latest version of ExpressionEngine
  • All Sites must reside on the same server
  • If using sub-domains or domains, directories must be able to access your main installation system directory.
  • License holder must be the owner of all Sites

Permission Restrictions

  • Member Group: Super Admins

Actions

Settings

This will take you to General Settings.

Create New

This will take you to the create site form.

Manage

The icons in the manage column perform actions on the site in its row.

Edit

This will take you to the site’s edit form.

Bulk Actions

The checkbox in the right-most column of the table selects a button for a bulk action. When at least one checkbox is checked the bulk action dropdown menu and submit button will be made available in the lower righthand corner of the table.

Remove

The selected sites will be removed. Removing a site will cause a confirmation modal to appear that will summarize the action.