I've run into an odd issue that I'm hoping to get some insights on. Specifically, I've built a master website that I wish to create about 125 slaves from. Each slave will have its own database. However, every time I try to create a slave from the master template (based on the current installation of joomla which includes JMS Multisite), i get an empty slave as if I wanted to create a fresh slave. I have purposefully left out any content the the table-prefix fields as I wanted all of the information in the master db to copy over to the slave db as the documentation calls for.

The odd thing is that this did work for me in the past once. I had since made many changes to my master site so I decided to delete the template I had created and create a new one. Ever since I did that I have not been able to create a slave site containing the content of the master. Every single slave begins a fresh joomla install.

One other thing I did do in the interim was attempt to install JACLPlus which I realize was likely a mistake. I've since cleaned up my db based on a file-compare on a copy of the db before I installed JACLPlus but I can't be 100% certain that I've removed all the damage. I'm hoping that I'm just doing something wrong with JMS Multisite as opposed to having to roll back a month's work of work just to get this to function.

Another thing I did in the interim was to install JMS Article and Menu sharing.

So if you could please point me to step-by-step instructions to make sure I'm properly creating my master template and then slave sites so that the slaves (each with their own unique db) contain the exact same content as the master, I would greatly appreciate it.

I'm hoping to avoid a fresh install of JMS Multisite on a month-older version of my site but that may be my only option if you determine I'm doing everything correctly and believe my install is corrupt.

I'm running Joomla 1.5.23 and JMS Multisite 1.2.52 & patches 1.2.57

I'm in exactly the same boat, its now day 5 of trying and I'm no further ahead.....

As a follow up to my initial post, I'm still having a lot of trouble here. I've tried JMS Multisite on some older versions of Joomla and different MYSQL databases that were much more simple and I've had exactly the same results.....so I'm convinced that there is a missing step here.

In the official documentation, there is mention of the following:

"Replicate an existing websites using rules define in a template:

In this case, you will not have to re-install extension and other data. The website that is defined in the template will copy totally copied to create the new website. So you can pre-install extension, pre-fill content, …"

HOWEVER - once you get to the Template management section, there is contradictory information within what the documentation says and what the "tool tips" say when you are with the template manager.

The bottom line is that I cannot seem to duplicate my initial website full of content into slaves sites. Every slave I create winds up at the step of an initial "clean" joomla installation that (once you are in the admin) has a link to the existing template theme, though it is not selected as default.

PLEASE HELP!

OK folks, I believe I've found the issue.

The basic aspect that has been discussed in varying degrees throughout the documentation and the video lessons that was confusing has to do with the "New DB table Prefix." Throughout the documentation there is mention of making sure it is DIFFERENT than what was before. Well, this may be true if you are using the same database for all sites, but if your are creating separate databases for each child/slave site it needs to be the SAME! In other words, when you create your child/slave site based on a TEMPLATE, when you enter in the specifics for the child/slave site's database, for the field "New DB table Prefix" you need to enter "jos_" - THAT IS THE KEY TO MAKE SURE YOUR CONTENT IS DUPLICATED FROM THE MASTER SITE TO THE SLAVE SITE.

To recap, in order to created child sites based on content in the master site you need to first create a template, and then create you child sites.

STEP A. -- CREATE TEMPLATE

When you create your TEMPLATE based on the MASTER SITE - the only items to enter are ID (the name of your template), TEMPLATE SITE (select your master site from the drop down), and then make sure SHARE THE WHOLE SITE is checked.

STEP B. -- CREATE CHILD/SLAVE SITES

When you create your child/slave site, you need to enter:

1. SITE ID
2. LIST OF DOMAIN NAMES (I used the actual URL for the child site - no variables)
3. TEMPLATES: (select the name of the template you created in Step A)
4. NEW DB SERVER NAME: server name of your child site DB
5. NEW DB NAME: name of child site DB
6. NEW DB USER: user name of child site DB
7. NEW DB PASSWORD: password for child site DB
8. NEW DB TABLE PREFIX: jos_
8. DEPLOYED DIRECTORY: the full physical path to where the child/slave site is to reside
9. CREATE DEPLOY DIRECTORY: i always select this to make sure the directory is created

HIT SAVE AND YOU'RE GOOD TO GO! Hope this helps everyone.

When you create a new website and get a "blank or empty" page, this is the symptom of a PHP fatal error.
When you have a blank page in the front-end of a slave site and that you can access the back-end, check that you have effectivelly a joomla template defined.
Some people remove the default joomla template and when you create a fresh slave site, it requires this "missing" joomla template. So this can be a second reason of the problem.

Creating a website into another DB is possible and it is recommended to always provide different table prefix (event when in different DBs). So your asumption is wrong concerning the fact that you have to use the same table prefix when using different DB.

It is NOT RECOMMENDED to use jos_ as table prefix. This will avoid you replace or destroy a slave site when you make a mistake.

I suggest that you have a look in the tutorial video 0.d that present an overview on how to create a fresh slave site and also show how to replicate the master website (so how to create a rule for the replication).

In general it is frequently required to create the new DB before creating the slave site.
It is also recommended that you use the same MySQL user for the different DBs to simplify the replication and let MySQL perform the replication itself.

I've now tried everything here but still the DB named in Site Manager is the Master one. The tables are not created in the db. I've tried many other options also and its not working they way described. I've read copious amounts of posts and watched many tutorials - Day 6 and I'm thoroughly confused....