WordPress MU

I have poured through the forums and even though there are a number of topics that are similar, they don't quite answer my questions.

I would like to install WPMU on the root of a domain - eg. http://www.thedomain.com.

Then I would like to set up individual blogs for geographic zones, such as:

chicago.thedomain.com
losangeles.thedomain.com
miami.thedomain.com

and so on.

These domains would be manually set up. Each sub-domain would have its own admin who manages and accesses only that sub-domain and its users. The admins should not have access to the database, to the theme design, or to the underlying code for the system.

Users would sign up for their individual blogs under a specific sub-domain, and their blog set up would be manually approved by the admin for that sub-domain. Their individual blogs would be named as:

chicago.thedomain.com/user1/
losangeles.thedomain.com/user2/

They would also have to choose a particular category something like business vs. personal.

The users would have the basic functionality of a typical free blog on wordpress. They would get additional functionality for a small hosting fee again, like wordpress does - i.e. customizing their templates, adding widgets available at that level.

The root domain, http://www.thedomain.com would feature the latest posts from users from each of the sub-domains plus supply a directory for visitors to drill down to the sub-domains, and from there to posts from the individual user blogs.

The hosting is on a dedicated LAMP server with its own IP address, with the ability to add additional IP addresses if necessary.

What I am hoping to avoid is setting up new installation and database for every sub-domain added. If all goes well the successful implementation will result in hundreds of sub-domains being set up. It would be ideal to be able to administer all of them from a central admin point, upgrade from a single install and add functionality with plug-ins from a single instance.

Is this a realistic scheme with WPMU? Is it possible to implement this using a plug-in or mod that will not disturb the core code?

Thanks in advance for your advice and know-how.

Sharalee

Yep, entirely possible.

http://wpmututorials.com/plugins/blog-categories/

Thank you so much! That is exactly what I was looking for!

Sharalee

I just realized that you might be Andrea from the WPMU Tutorials site! Thanks for sending me there - it's a really great resource site!

May I ask if the solution posted on WPMUtutorials was implemented on some WPMU site or just a framework ?
If it's possible to see a site already have this implementation would be great!