Michael Biddle and the Internet Brands team released an interesting plugin for vBulletin 4 called "Cerberus" that allows you to run multiple forums from a single vBulletin 4 database. It is also compatible with vBSEO.
The key benefit for admins who run multiple forums is being able to make updates on a single server that roll out to all sites. For 1 or 2 sites, this is convenient. For 10,20,50, or 100 sites this is a huge efficiency tool!
Kudos to Mike and the rest of the IB guys who developed Cerberus!
Question: How does it handle 3rd party plugins that have site specific data included in the plugin settings? Example: A gallery app that asks for the site title or domain name?
Cerberus - Run multiple vBulletin sites with one install and one database
Apr 8 2011 3:16
by Kevin Wilkinson
Topics: 2
Replies: 15
Unfortunately Cerberus doesn't handle any 3rd party plugins nor does it even handle vBulletin's own Blogs & CMS sections. The IB guys warned that even though they use a version of it for their own sites that it is limited, unsupported (for now at least), and should be treated really as a 0.0.1 Alpha version.
In the vBulletin.org thread for it there have been some community updates for it but nothing official. The version that I'm running fits my needs for now and allows me to quickly roll out a virtual site for testing or to get some ideas of interest in a particular topic.
It isn't for everybody though. It does require some knowledge of setting up parked domains and, in the case of people like me running portals like vBadvanced, they need to be able to be comfortable banging out some PHP changes if they want to do something like what I'm doing where I have unique content per domain on the portal page.
The beauty of that setup is that if I do a virtual site for "Lightbulb Collectors" and it isn't getting enough interest, then I can simply remove the configuration entry for that site and have the content show up on my main site instead of having to do any type of import process. Plus there are the obvious benefits that you mentioned... when I updated vBulletin a new version I am only doing on update to the master database that then handles all of the virtual sites as well.
Cerberus is also part of the reason why I am having a hard time with some recent decisions!
For example, in the past if I thought of an idea for a new site then I would have used it as a chance to checkout other software such as IPB (or, these days, it'd be XenForo). If it didn't work out then I would either just shutter the site or import it into one of my other sites. These days, though, Cerberus makes it very easy for me to have a virtual site up & running very quickly so I have to ask myself if I still want to take the old method of testing out the site or just do it as a virtual site.
PS: Tell V-Gor nice job with the Chihuahua cerberus!
In the vBulletin.org thread for it there have been some community updates for it but nothing official. The version that I'm running fits my needs for now and allows me to quickly roll out a virtual site for testing or to get some ideas of interest in a particular topic.
It isn't for everybody though. It does require some knowledge of setting up parked domains and, in the case of people like me running portals like vBadvanced, they need to be able to be comfortable banging out some PHP changes if they want to do something like what I'm doing where I have unique content per domain on the portal page.
The beauty of that setup is that if I do a virtual site for "Lightbulb Collectors" and it isn't getting enough interest, then I can simply remove the configuration entry for that site and have the content show up on my main site instead of having to do any type of import process. Plus there are the obvious benefits that you mentioned... when I updated vBulletin a new version I am only doing on update to the master database that then handles all of the virtual sites as well.
Cerberus is also part of the reason why I am having a hard time with some recent decisions!
For example, in the past if I thought of an idea for a new site then I would have used it as a chance to checkout other software such as IPB (or, these days, it'd be XenForo). If it didn't work out then I would either just shutter the site or import it into one of my other sites. These days, though, Cerberus makes it very easy for me to have a virtual site up & running very quickly so I have to ask myself if I still want to take the old method of testing out the site or just do it as a virtual site.PS: Tell V-Gor nice job with the Chihuahua cerberus!
Admin
Topics: 130
Replies: 412
Yes, I suspected it would be quite the dev challenge to get Cerberus fully handling plugins, unless the plugins themselves built-in compatibility for it such as querying all data with some "instance identifier" key, etc.
Really cool use case you outlined for testing a site concept and then rolling it back into your main site content if you don't think it's going to go further. I like that idea a lot. Very efficient.
If vBulletin built in an API that handled plugin installations (or updates), it could be possible to actually build an auto-updater that rebuilt multiple instances instead of trying to run a single instance and manage all the different site data (plus plugins).
vGor's version of Cerberus isn't very fierce, but we like 'em!
Really cool use case you outlined for testing a site concept and then rolling it back into your main site content if you don't think it's going to go further. I like that idea a lot. Very efficient.
If vBulletin built in an API that handled plugin installations (or updates), it could be possible to actually build an auto-updater that rebuilt multiple instances instead of trying to run a single instance and manage all the different site data (plus plugins).
vGor's version of Cerberus isn't very fierce, but we like 'em!
Topics: 17
Replies: 14
Nice, and i like how to name fits in with the plugin. 3 headed dog one body -> 3 sites one backend 
Admin
Topics: 130
Replies: 412
Nice, and i like how to name fits in with the plugin. 3 headed dog one body -> 3 sites one backendYes, but the downside is that now if we decide to build that capability into LF, I'm not going to be able to use any funny 3-headed dog images! =)
I really like the name the IB guys picked.
Topics: 17
Replies: 14
Yeah you really need to be careful when it comes to them. You don't want to get sued now do you
Wordpress supports this.
You install the add-on and you can en/disable it for every instance.
You install the add-on and you can en/disable it for every instance.
Admin
Topics: 130
Replies: 412
@Brandon_R
Yikes, no comment!
Yeah you really need to be careful when it comes to them. You don't want to get sued now do you
Yikes, no comment!
Admin
Topics: 130
Replies: 412
@ragtek
True. Wordpress has a lot of good examples. Our Launch.apps system is more inspired by their handling of stuff than any of the traditional forum plugin systems. This is something we'll discuss, because it is something we'll want to look at in the early days of our framework.
Wordpress supports this.
You install the add-on and you can en/disable it for every instance.
True. Wordpress has a lot of good examples. Our Launch.apps system is more inspired by their handling of stuff than any of the traditional forum plugin systems. This is something we'll discuss, because it is something we'll want to look at in the early days of our framework.
Topics: 1
Replies: 3
True. Wordpress has a lot of good examples. Our Launch.apps system is more inspired by their handling of stuff than any of the traditional forum plugin systems. This is something we'll discuss, because it is something we'll want to look at in the early days of our framework.
Sounds nice:)
Can't wait to see the framework and the launch.apps system
For us, the Launch.apps system is what dreams are made of! We can't wait. =)
