Can I have two sites (different URLs) accessing same channel?   

Hi

We have an existing CMS site (call it www.sitea.com) but now the business 
wants to host a second CMS site under a different url (call it www.siteb.com) 
which accesses the same MCMS root channel, content, etc. The only difference 
between the two CMS .Net web applications would be the branding/styling.

IIS isn't my strong point but my understanding is that CMS maps host headers 
to root channels, so I'm assuming two CMS sites can't access the same content?

Are there any other ways around this?

Thanks in advance
Andy

date: Fri, 27 Jun 2008 02:24:01 -0700   author:   Andy Stephens -donotspam

Re: Can I have two sites (different URLs) accessing same channel?   

On Jun 27, 10:24 am, Andy Stephens <andrew.steph...@cheshire.gov.uk-
donotspam> wrote:
> Hi
>
> We have an existing CMS site (call itwww.sitea.com) but now the business
> wants to host a second CMS site under a different url (call itwww.siteb.com)
> which accesses the same MCMS root channel, content, etc. The only difference
> between the two CMS .Net web applications would be the branding/styling.
>
> IIS isn't my strong point but my understanding is that CMS maps host headers
> to root channels, so I'm assuming two CMS sites can't access the same content?
>
> Are there any other ways around this?
>
> Thanks in advance
> Andy

MCMS only maps host headers if you have enabled that feature,
otherwise using IIS you can map two URL's to the same content, using
IIS headers.  (Check in the SCA if this is the case).  If you do have
host headers enabled, then this could be achieved using ISA/Firewal/
Proxy mapping (out of scope for this forum) or alternatively you could
achieve this through programming in a number of ways.  Such as
(thinking out of the top of my head) setting a cookie when the user
accesses siteb, redirect the user to sitea, and display the custom
branding based on the cookie.  Or writing a ISAPI filter to implement
custom master pages, or, or, or...lots of ways.

date: Fri, 27 Jun 2008 02:47:49 -0700 (PDT)   author:   George Leithead

Re: Can I have two sites (different URLs) accessing same channel?   

Yes we have the "map channel names to host header names" enabled in SCA so 
any other suggested solutions would be appreciated...

Thanks again
Andy

date: Fri, 27 Jun 2008 06:22:00 -0700   author:   Andy Stephens -donotspam

Re: Can I have two sites (different URLs) accessing same channel?   

Hi Andy,

you can use the same content in different sites with different URLs:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/4/2/5/4250f79a-c3a1-4003-9272-2404e92bb76a/MCMS+2002+-+(complete)+FAQ.htm#477EA7E7-CA78-456B-BC4D-B3E3AE832ABE

But you would then not be able to determine the different URL again to apply 
a different branding.
I would suggest to check if the solution listed above also allows to add a 
custom http header which then contains the original url entered in the 
browser to add some logic which applies the branding based on this header.

Cheers,
Stefan

"Andy Stephens" <andrew.stephens@cheshire.gov.uk-donotspam> wrote in message 
news:1F513A8B-F7A0-4C75-A694-A0AFF7EFB6D4@microsoft.com...
> Hi
>
> We have an existing CMS site (call it www.sitea.com) but now the business
> wants to host a second CMS site under a different url (call it 
> www.siteb.com)
> which accesses the same MCMS root channel, content, etc. The only 
> difference
> between the two CMS .Net web applications would be the branding/styling.
>
> IIS isn't my strong point but my understanding is that CMS maps host 
> headers
> to root channels, so I'm assuming two CMS sites can't access the same 
> content?
>
> Are there any other ways around this?
>
> Thanks in advance
> Andy
>

date: Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:32:13 +0200   author:   Stefan Goßner [MSFT]