[DEV] Multiple domains/sites access the same database

[Highway of Life]

Transferring the STG website to a new Server, and waiting for the insanely slow DNS entries to properly propagate has enlightened me to the cookie system with phpBB3, and how, by default, it really does not work well with more than one domain at a time.

So, I'm going to create a MOD where it will be able to work with more than one domain at the same time, and access the same database...

http://startrekaccess.com and http://startrekguide.com will be my testing bed, since both are using the same database, but they are different domains.
I plan on making this first thing Friday Morning.

[Highway of Life]

This could be done using the $_SERVER predefined variables, and then assigning the cookie domain to use that domain. This is an adaptation from the domain controlling that we (yautja_Cetanu and I) are using for our 'TheVR' project (I'll include what we are using in the spoiler section below, as that also sets up some other stuff, which you may be interested in)... This gets inserted at the end of common.php.

Code: Select all

    $config['cookie_domain'] = $_SERVER['SERVER_NAME']; // Get the domain information out of the server url (eg www.thevr.co.uk) and assign it to the cookie domain;

Spoiler:

This does more - for example grabs the file name etc and also gets site-specific information from a table of sites on the database. This is how we're handling multiple sites (with multiple domains) off of one phpBB3 install.

Code: Select all

/***** START
ADDED by andrewbelcher for thevr.co.uk
This processes the URL so the correct site settings can be used.
*****/

    $domain = $_SERVER['SERVER_NAME']; // Get the domain information out of the server url (eg startrekguide.com)

    $pieces = explode('/', $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']); // Split up the script filename (including path) by '/'
    $file = $pieces[count($pieces) -1];    // Get the filename (last piece from above)

    $i = 0;
    $path = '';
    while ($i < count($pieces) -1) // Generate the path
    {
        $path .= $pieces[$i] . '/';
        $i++;
    }

    $vars = array();
    if (strpos($file, '?') == true)
    {
        list($filename, $variables) = explode('?', $file); // Split the filename into the script and the variables

        $temp = array();
        if ($variables <> '')
        {
            foreach (explode('&', $variables) as $k=>$v) // Seperate the variables into an array (Name => Value)
            {
                $temp = explode('=', $v);
                $vars[$temp[0]] = (isset($temp[1])) ? $temp[1]: '';
                }
        }
    }
    else
    {
        $filename = $file;
    }

    // Check this against the database
    $sql = 'SELECT s.* , su.domain
        FROM ' . SITES_TABLE . ' s INNER JOIN ' . SITE_URL_TABLE . " su ON s.site_id = su.site_id
        WHERE su.domain = '$domain'
        LIMIT 1";
    $result = $db->sql_query($sql);
    $row = $db->sql_fetchrow($result);

    if (empty($row['site_id']))
    {
        $config['site_id'] = -1;
        $config['site_guest_id'] = ANONYMOUS;
        $config['cookie_domain'] = $domain;
    }
    else
    {
        // Store the information in a config array $config
        $config = array_merge($config, array(
            'site_id'            => $row['site_id'],
            'site_name'            => $row['name'],
            'site_guest_id'        => $row['guest_id'],
            'site_home'            => $row['home'],
            'site_domain'        => $domain,
            'site_file'            => $filename,
            'site_vars'            => $vars)
            );
    }

Hope that helps! It should work fine as no cookies have been handled by that point...

[Highway of Life]

Okay, first, here is a bug report regarding this issue: http://www.phpbb.com/bugs/viewreport.php?b=7904

And the code fix:

Spoiler:

Code: Select all

*** startrekguide.com/phpBB3/includes/session.php    Sun Jan 28 11:08:13 2007
--- startrekguide.com/forum/includes/session.php     Tue Feb  6 18:45:31 2007
***************
*** 804,810 ****
 
                $name_data = rawurlencode($config['cookie_name'] . '_' . $name) . '=' . rawurlencode($cookiedata);
                $expire = gmdate('D, d-M-Y H:i:s \\G\\M\\T', $cookietime);
!               $domain = (!$config['cookie_domain'] || $config['cookie_domain'] == 'localhost' || $config['cookie_domain'] == '127.0.0.1') ? '' : '; domain=' . $config['cookie_domain'];
 
                header('Set-Cookie: ' . $name_data . '; expires=' . $expire . '; path=' . $config['cookie_path'] . $domain . ((!$config['cookie_secure']) ? '' : '; secure') . '; HttpOnly', false);
        }
--- 804,810 ----
 
                $name_data = rawurlencode($config['cookie_name'] . '_' . $name) . '=' . rawurlencode($cookiedata);
                $expire = gmdate('D, d-M-Y H:i:s \\G\\M\\T', $cookietime);
!               $domain = (!$config['cookie_domain'] || $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] != $config['cookie_domain'] || $config['cookie_domain'] == 'localhost' || $config['cookie_domain'] == '127.0.0.1') ? '; domain=' . $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] : '; domain=' . $config['cookie_domain'];
 
                header('Set-Cookie: ' . $name_data . '; expires=' . $expire . '; path=' . $config['cookie_path'] . $domain . ((!$config['cookie_secure']) ? '' : '; secure') . '; HttpOnly', false);
        }

My next version will make it so that it will set cookie(s) for two domains at the same time.

[Handyman]

If you guys want to see how it works, visit these 3 websites and login.
If it works, you will remain logged in on each one.
http://startrekguide.com/forum
http://startrekaccess.com/forum
http://starwarsaccess.com/forum
http://startrekencyclopedia.com/forum

we'll work on it so if you log into one, it logs you into the others.

Also Highway, we should be able to get it to log you into more than 2 at once (I'm feeling optimistic because in a couple days I will have another domain that we can test it on for a total of 4)

[andrewbelcher]

Ah, ok... Yeh - that makes sense...

Thanks! You made me think about something I'd forgotten!!

My solution will work if you're not wanting the cookies to work across domains, but yeah, if you want it to work seamlessly between them, then that's going to require both domains being set.

[Handyman]

There, just added a 4th

[Highway of Life]

There should be no problems because on installation a unique cookie name is given. If the users install normally there are no problems.

Oh, seeing the two domains on *same* database... i think this is not supported and requires a mod. The change you propose is a cheap hack - nothing should directly overwrite or force a cookie domain, this can give us a lot of support headaches.

Oh well... worth a shot.

So if you want it... it's a MOD.

[l3it3r Chris]

I did this many times with phpBB2, and was looking into it when I started my PphpBB3 current site, but decided against it. I was able to get it running, but didn't log the changes made.

[yautja_Cetanu Jamie]

I'm guessing for your mod Highway you're assuming that both domains have the same admins right? So there is no change really to the admin panel?

[Highway of Life]

Right, again... the idea is to use the same database, but just different websites on the same server.
Since it would be insane to run the websites from separate servers.