Looking for the best CMS for multiple subdomains

What is the best platform for multiple subdomains?

[Potsie88]

I will be using about 50 subdomains and I would prefer a single installation. What CMS offers the easiest management. Would WordPress also be a viable option? I only have experience with html. Thank you for your suggestions!

[Marcia]

Wordpress MU is multi-user.

[bill]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld Potsie88.

MovableType can publish to multiple domains right out of the box on a single install. No plug-ins or modules are required.

[maximillianos]

Drupal can also manage multiple sites from one code base. Each site can have there own "theme" files and db, but the core CMS is shared.

Check out the PopSugar.com network of sites. They are a drupal installation.

[jorgo]

I'm looking for something similar ... but if possible no commercial CMS (like MovableType) and none which needs DB replication for each installation (like Drupal).

I know that Typo3 can handle multiple domains with shared or site-specific content, but Typo3 is far to complex when managing just simple sites ... Can Wordpress MU really deal deal different or shared content on each specific domain request? I'll give it a try and make an installation...

Are there any other suggestions?

[meta]

Hi there

Try Umbraco (www.umbraco.org). It is an Open Source .net CMS.
You can handle several domains in the same CMS.

[bill]

but if possible no commercial CMS (like MovableType)

MovableType has always had a free version available. As of December 2007 they've also gone open source [movabletype.org].

[reprint]

Yes, WordPress Mu works really well for multiple websites. Themes and plugins are set up in the "master" site and then are available for each of the other sites off the same codebase. Each site can then pick and choose the templates and plugins that are active.
There is a mu plugin for multiple websites as opposed to multiple blogs and you just parked the other domain names on top of the "master" domain.

I implemented it a couple of months ago and am really pleased with how it is working.

[bilalseo]

< moved from another location >

you can try drupal for handling such bulky contents. drupal is userfriendly and search engine friendly, too.

thanks,

bilal

[edited by: tedster at 2:14 am (utc) on Mar. 5, 2008]

[raedthakur]

is drupal lighter on the servers...and faster?

[raedthakur]

and how is modx ?..i have been hearing good things about it from some my fellow webmasters...

[dbdev]

dotnetnuke... open source .net cms

[ergophobe]

A slow Wordpress install is slower than a fast Drupal install and vice-versa. It depends on plug-ins, modules, caching. Drupal is a bigger and more powerful app and probably on balance a larger load than WP for the same thing, but it is running some major sites (The Onion, NASA, Forbes). It's more about implementation.

ModX is really nice and well worth a look. Very different. I would say that WP and Drupal are more similar to each other than either is to ModX in workflow and you may like one a lot more than the others.

All of these packages and all of the software that run them are free. Download XAMPP or WAMP or whatever and set up a server on your machine. Install all three and see how you like them.

question for dbdev

Is it possible, without spending any money, to set up a testbed version of dotnetnuke? I assume that I would need to run IIS or PWS(?). But what about the database? Can I do like *AMP applications and have a whole testbed server running on my laptop for free?

[dbdev]

Hi ergophobe... sure you can setup a test bed for free on your win xp laptop.

Just download and install Microsoft Visual Web Developer Express (includes a web server), SQL Server 2005 Express Edition and the DotNetNuke starter package/kit.

SQL Server 2005 Express Edition (Free)
[msdn2.microsoft.com...]

Microsoft Visual Web Developer (Free)
[msdn.microsoft.com...]

DotNetNuke Starter Kit (Free)
[dotnetnuke.com...]

You can do a little digging on G for a tutorial on the setup details... however it took me less than 10 minutes to setup everything... I am familiar with these tools though..

HTH.. Mike.

[ergophobe]

Thanks Mike. I think that's important to mention, because part of the reason that say Drupal and Wordpress and Joomla are so popular is because it is so widely known that the entire platform can be set up for free to test. I thought all the components of dotnetnuke would be free(for testing) but wasn't sure about SQL Server.

Of course, shared hosting is slightly cheaper on a LAMP setup, but I think usually on the order of a couple dollars a month.

Of course, I'm a fan of the LAMP platform and I know from past discussions that you're not though in both our cases I believe it's habit, not "ideology" and I do like to see people have choices.