suPHP will be a difficult/complicated install considering the current server setup, or so my host says...Would prefer to not have to try to setup mod_suphp if there are other work arounds due to the number of domains that would impact...

That being said, can I use this without symlinks?

Would a solution be to do a full blown Joomla installation in a subdirectory or subdomain, while sharing the users tables?

Thanks,
Chris

First suPHP and the symbolic links are different things.

suPHP is a module that allows managing correctly the ownership of the files and folders and avoid that all the users on the server are runing under the "apache" owner.

Symbolic Link can works without suPHP if your server is configured to accept the Symbolic Link and allow to follow the Symbolic Link.
You can test if the Symbolic Link can potentially work on your server with the "hello world" application.
See the tutorial video 4 to 7.
www.jms2win.com/en/tutorial#jms12x-7

man..this feels like groundhog day...

Ok...I've setup a multisite in the Album_Rock sub-directory.

The hello.php seems to work in the slave site:
lifejive.com/multisites/Album_Rock/hello.php
That says symlinks are present.

But not in the main site:
lifejive.com/hello.php

So...This is where the slave site should work:
lifejive.com/multisites/Album_Rock/

When I access that directory/slave site, I get a 500 error message, and this in the error log::
[Sat Nov 05 15:45:38 2011] [error] [client 72.161.200.17] PHP Warning: require_once(/var/www/vhosts/lifejive.com/httpdocs/multisites/Album_Rock/includes/defines.php) [<a href='function.require-once'>function.require-once</a>]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /var/www/vhosts/lifejive.com/httpdocs/multisites/Album_Rock/index.php(11) : eval()'d code on line 19
[Sat Nov 05 15:45:38 2011] [error] [client 72.161.200.17] PHP Fatal error: require_once() [<a href='function.require'>function.require</a>]: Failed opening required '/var/www/vhosts/lifejive.com/httpdocs/multisites/Album_Rock/includes/defines.php' (include_path='.:') in /var/www/vhosts/lifejive.com/httpdocs/multisites/Album_Rock/index.php(11) : eval()'d code on line 19


when I posed this before, you told me I had to install mod_suphp for symlinks (or this script) to work based on the errors I'd received (and posted earlier in the thread)...

So...do I or don't I need mod_suphp? I thought you said I did, but now are saying I don't? Sorry to ask stupid questions - I'm just confused here and feel like I'm getting conflicting advice...Will this script work with Plesk without mod_suphp? I've given some examples of errors throughout this thread.

Thanks!
Chris

The error reported let me suppose that you don't have the same owernship and group for the "index.php" that would explain why the index.php file can not be open.

You have to verify that you are have the permission to access the file.

The objective of suPHP is to have correct ownership for all the files and folder.
In your case, as you don't have suPHP installed, you have to manage the ownership of the files and folders manually to make them consistent between each other.

Contact the administrator of your server to setup the ownership correctly and make them consistent between all the files and folders.
Perhaps the administration should have to configure your apache virtual host with user and group that corresond to your FTP user and group.

All files / folders have the same user and group, including the httpdocs folder. I've even chmod'd httpdocs to be 777

All files in the main directory have owner:groups as follows: hendrix:psacln, so I"m not sure what the issue is. When accessing lifejive.com/hello.php, it appears to work, but when I access the multisite install, it still gives the 500 error...

[Sun Nov 06 18:13:55 2011] [error] [client 72.161.209.237] PHP Warning: require_once(/var/www/vhosts/lifejive.com/httpdocs/multisites/Album_Rock/includes/defines.php) [<a href='function.require-once'>function.require-once</a>]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /var/www/vhosts/lifejive.com/httpdocs/multisites/Album_Rock/index.php(11) : eval()'d code on line 19
[Sun Nov 06 18:13:55 2011] [error] [client 72.161.209.237] PHP Fatal error: require_once() [<a href='function.require'>function.require</a>]: Failed opening required '/var/www/vhosts/lifejive.com/httpdocs/multisites/Album_Rock/includes/defines.php' (include_path='.:') in /var/www/vhosts/lifejive.com/httpdocs/multisites/Album_Rock/index.php(11) : eval()'d code on line 19


Any ideas?

Thanks!

Whe you read the error message, it is reported that the file or directory can not be open.

So check that the path exists and if it exists, verify that you have the correct permission. You probably don't have the correct permission.
Contact the administrator of your server to help you identifying the permission restriction that is persent in your server and that forbid the access to the files and directories.