My account with Westhost allows several domains to be hosted under the same account. I have installed and configured osCommerce successfully for one of my domains using the Site Manager. I would like to set up another ecommerce site under my other domain in the same account.
Can I download and install osC in another directory (e.g. /var/www/vhosts/domain2/catalog)?
Do I need to do anything with MySQL? Use a different Database name? Any conflicts?
Any advise from someone who is currently doing this on Westhost would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advanced,
Dave
I just went on here to post the exact same message. I have a westhost account and after long consideration decided on OS Commerce instead of MIVA. I have 2 domains, a primary and secondary and with time could have a third or more. It just happens my secondary will be my first active ecommerce store. I know I can set up multiple stores but only the first store is automatic, the rest I have to do on my own. Where can I get instructions on how to do it, where to upload, how to set up, etc?
Yes, you can run multiple copies of osC on the same account. You will have to install them manually, though. It's a fairly painless process. The installation is like any script that you have to "install", and they have directions on their website (http://www.oscommerce.info/docs/english/c_installation_and_upgrades.html) to help walk you through it. It's possible to share a common database with all of your osC stores by using table prefixes (which can be setup during installation), but it's good practice to keep them separate with their own privileged users.
I'm not sure to what length the Westhost installation goes to secure your store, but you may have to add your own .htaccess file to the admin area of your store, and set some file permissions manually.
The biggest hurdle you'll face is getting additional security certificates to work on your other stores. Since you can't install additional IPs on Westhost's standard VPSs, and because SSL is IP based, you'll have to configure Apache to use a different port for each secured domain you have (e.g. https://www.myseconddomain.com:4443 (http://www.google.com), https://www.mythirddomain.com:4442) (http://www.google.com). Now, I'm not entirely sure you can actually get this to work on a Westhost VPS as I've never attempted it.
You could use the shared cert if you installed the cart somewhere in the default document root (/var/www/html/), but then it'd be accessible from your other domain(s). You could also get a reseller account. That would allow you to create multiple, separate VPSs with dedicated IPs.
Thanks for your reply, rispku.
Regarding the security certificates: I thought that since all customers on the VPS server are all sharing the same shared SSL on the same IP address that this would not be an issue. Any opinions?
Dave
Hi Dave,
That's not exactly correct. The shared cert isn't actually installed on your account or assigned to your domain. The cert is installed on another server and issued to ssl4.westserver.net.
If you intend to use the shared cert, then you'll have to create the secondary account within the default document root. The shared secure url can not be used to access files outside of this directory (afaik).
If having a personal cert for each of your stores/domains is important to you, then my opinion for you is to switch to a reseller account that comes with multiple IPs, or find another VPS host that'll provide you with additional IPs.
Thanks for the info. This should help me a lot but I guess I have one question, what exactly is the security certificate? Will it affect me in any way if I have to share it between the two stores?