WordPress MU

a wordpress mu install has been set up at lifeisglorious.com. it was set up as subdomains.

I would like to manually configure and administer the blogs, running multiple blogs on the site, but NOT allow people to set up their own blogs for the moment.

Just now, there are no resources to pay for the server, so this is all set up on a free account. I know that everyone says it is not possible, but for now (almost) everything works, at least enough functionality is there to realize the project intended.

everything seems to work well enough. I can create users and blogs, but the blogs are not being properly set up and mapped.

Is there a way to configure them manually without having the wp engine do it?

the blogs.dir is set up, but nothing is being created there when the blogs are created.

the only other alternative I have now is to set up separate wordpress installs in subfolders, but that is very time-consuming, not to mention resource-hungry.

So, for instance, if I can already set up a sub-domain for (as an example) your.lifeisglorious.com in a folder lifeisglorious.com/your, is there a way to map to that, so that there is a back end and a front end for that blog?

is this making any sense to anyone?

Greetings
Gargi

What do you mean nothing is created. WPMU blogs are virtual, and I don't think anything is created in the blogs.dir until you upload something that needs it.

"this is all set up on a free account. I know that everyone says it is not possible, "

Uh no, we say it's possible, it's just not practical if you want a large number of blogs and/or visitors. Perfectly fine if you;re small and testing or learning the ropes.

I see what you're trying to do, but that's not how MU makes the blogs. You need to read the readme.

And this:
http://wpmututorials.com/basics/mu-is-virtually-yours/

@SteveAtty, @andrea_r

thanks for your response.

what happens when I try to surf to the new blogs I created is:

Forbidden
You don't have permission to access / on this server.

Additionally, a 500 Internal Server Error error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
Apache/1.3.33 Server at in.lifeisglorious.com Port 80

So, I am not sure what went wrong and what I can do about it.

.htaccess file. renamed the admin folder for security reasons...

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /

#uploaded files
RewriteRule ^(.*/)?files/$ index.php [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !.*wp-content/plugins.*
RewriteRule ^(.*/)?files/(.*) wp-content/blogs.php?file=$2 [L]

# add a trailing slash to /renamed_admin_folder
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^.*/renamed_admin_folder$
RewriteRule ^(.+)$ $1/ [R=301,L]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule . - [L]
RewriteRule  ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?(wp-.*) $2 [L]
RewriteRule  ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?(.*\.php)$ $2 [L]
RewriteRule . index.php [L]

<IfModule mod_security.c>
<Files async-upload.php>
SecFilterEngine Off
SecFilterScanPOST Off
</Files>
</IfModule>

I tried a wpmu install using the folders instead of subdomains option, but it does not work at all godaddy ad-supported account.

Yes, it is for testing purposes and will remain small for the time being.

If there is no access to the apache httpd.conf, this won't work at all? Or is there a way to map using a plugin? Or to map manually? my question, again...

TIA
Gargi

".htaccess file. renamed the admin folder for security reasons..."

Can you put it back to default, please? Kinda hard to troubleshoot if you've already made edits.

MU uses mod_rewrite to work. This is how it builds the URLs for the subfolder blogs and the blog's admin areas. mod_rewrite is how pretty-permalinks work. If you can get to /about/ off the main blog, it;s probably working.

you do not need to edit the httpd.conf for wildcards if you're not using subdomains.

That being said - you're on GoDaddy. They have traditionally & historically disabled MU from working on their lower account levels. a quick check with godaddy support may have told you. :)

".htaccess file. renamed the admin folder for security reasons..."

Can you put it back to default, please? Kinda hard to troubleshoot if you've already made edits.

ok, my mistake.

MU uses mod_rewrite to work. This is how it builds the URLs for the subfolder blogs and the blog's admin areas. mod_rewrite is how pretty-permalinks work. If you can get to /about/ off the main blog, it;s probably working.

Yes, thanks, I did check out the link you posted above BTW and it seems like a really nifty way to solve the problem of hundreds of subdomains.

About works, also changed the permalinks settings for nice urls and that seems to work ok, too.

you do not need to edit the httpd.conf for wildcards if you're not using subdomains.

Well, I *am* using them, I mean, that is the way this install was set up, to use blog1.domain.com. Is that what you mean? The folders option did not work the last time I tried it on this server.

That being said - you're on GoDaddy. They have traditionally & historically disabled MU from working on their lower account levels. a quick check with godaddy support may have told you. :)

Yup. But, we got this far with it. Mostly, I just like this software and want to use and test it and don't have any other server available. It was definitely worth a try!

Thanks for your help.
Gargi

"Well, I *am* using them, I mean, that is the way this install was set up, to use blog1.domain.com. Is that what you mean?"

Yes, that's what I meant about subdomains.

So the httpd.conf edit has to be done. Ask Godaddy support about it. Also add the * to your DNS records.

Ok, thanks for your time Andrea. For the moment it seems there is no way to do this, as it involves upgrading and getting a dedicated IP. So, it will have to wait for the time being.

It was instructive to learn this about the application, however, so not a total loss. I mean, the way it works with the wildcards and mod_rewrite instead of making 'real' subdomains on the server each time a new blog is created.

You are right, that is "neat-o cool".

Greetings and thanks, again,

Gargi