One Magento installation with two websites, on separate vhosts - apache

Question

I have a client that maintains two different websites, each of which is set up as a separate virtual host in Apache. I installed and configured a Magento store within one host at domain1.com/store. They client now wants a store set up at domain2.com/store that shares products with the store on domain1.
All the instructions that I've seen to set up multiple websites within Magento require that the different websites be on the same host. Unfortunately, that isn't an option with our current setup. What's the best way to implement this?

Answer 1

So i think you should first think about your structure and what you're trying.
1.) Magento supports a multishop solution. For this you create many shops in one instance. Then you can set the Magento store in your vhost file with SET ENV or direct in your index.php file like this:
switch($_SERVER['HTTP_HOST']) {
case 'domain1.com':
$_SERVER["MAGE_RUN_CODE"] = "domain2";
$_SERVER["MAGE_RUN_TYPE"] = "store";
break;
default:
$_SERVER["MAGE_RUN_CODE"] = "domain1";
$_SERVER["MAGE_RUN_TYPE"] = "store";
break;
}
You have to change your index.php file that Magento know which shop the system should call (Create the shops in your Magento configuration).
2.) When you need more hosts Then make one database. Install the shop with all sites and then copy them to a new location. In the new location you can set the shop with the snippet in step 1.
Then you can build many hosts with one database but if you want with one administration and one database.
When you build the second solution you should think about that the database server should be in the same network.Otherwise you get a very bad performance.

Answer 2

You should point both Vhosts to the same magento install??
Then in the backend/admin section add a separate "Store"? Magento is totally designed to do this:
See Here
You can share store inventory, or keep it separated. You can also share main Template files -- Or keep them separated ... Share Skin files -- Or keep them separated. Point both vhosts to the same install directory and let Magento do the job it was designed for, without ever having to do the heavy Server Administration task of separating two installs by domain, but having the same Install.