Installing Multiple Movable Type Blogs Using Add-On Domains, CPanel, and an FTP Client

The below instructions were written after I received a panicked phone call from a friend who was installing Multiple Movable Type Blogs on Add-On Domains. After reading the available instructions, I understood her pain. At some point, I intend to submit me these to SixApart’s Movable Type documentation, but I’d like to polish these a bit first, so here’s the first draft.

This installation was done on BlueHost without direct access to the server, but the instructions should work for other hosting companies as well. In the past, I’ve used a custom .htaccess file to do many of the things discussed below. That was easiest for me, but unless you really know what you’re doing, you could, and probably will, really screw up your site. My advice, if you are wondering what .htaccess means or have only a vague notion what it means courtesy of Wikipedia, leave the .htaccess file alone. The steps below should work without customizing your .htaccess file. Hopefully, this will make the installation a bit more accessible to semi-geeks and do-it-yourselfers. If you’re still a bit daunted by the task, go to Rent-A-Coder or a similar site and post a job. Make sure they set-up and test each of your domains prior to final payment!

1. Backup all your internet files and databases and store them in a safe place on your personal computer. If, heaven forbid, something goes wrong, this will save you many hours of anguished hair pulling and heart ache. Your hosting provider should have instructions on doing this. If not, CPanel and PHP admin (MySQL interface) which are used by many providers, have step-by-step instructions. These may be better than what you host provides and are definitely worth reading.
2. Download a copy of Movable Type and unzip it.
3. If you have already set up subdomains and add-on domains, delete them. Using CPanel, delete the subdomain. Then, delete the add-on domain. This is CPanel’s required order.
4. Connect to your host using either an FTP Client or the CPanel file manager. CPanel file manager will probably be faster than FTP and is well suited to deleting files and adding folders.
5. Go to your /public_html folder. In this folder, delete everything except your .htaccess file. This gives you a clean slate and helps you see what still needs to be done. Note: Don’t delete you .htaccess file. Typically, it is hidden from view unless you click "show hidden files".
6. Create a folder in the /public_html folder for your subdomains/add-on domains, label it, and jot down the folder name. For example, mine is labeled vhost.
7. Create a folder in the /public_html folder and label it mt-static. (This is directly from the Movable Type Quick Install instructions.)
8. Create a folder in the /public_html folder and label it .cgi-bin. Open that folder and create a folder within /public_html/.cgi-bin and label it mt. (See Movable Type Quick Install Instructions.)
9. Go to your CPanel.
10. Click Add SubDomain. (If you do not do this first, you will be unable to select the appropriate directory for your add-on domain!). Type in the url of your add-on domain without the .com in the box provided. Under file location, type in your folder name and click create.
11. Go back to your main CPanel screen.
12. Click Add-On Domain. Select the domain name from the pulldown or type it in if it’s not available. Click add-on. In step 4, select from the pulldown the folder you created earlier for your subdomains/add-ons. Click create.
13. Go to your FTP Client, refresh it, and verify that your add-on domains now have folders under your /public_html/(subdomain/add-on) folder. Example: /public_html/vhost/. Now, check each of the new add-on domain folders and verify that they are empty. If they are not empty, delete all files and folders! (These were created automatically by your web host and point to some variation of a coming soon page. They may conflict with other files later on, so delete everything.)
14. Setup your database. I prefer MySQL because that is what I’m more familiar with. If you use something other than MySQL or PostgreSQL, you will require more instructions than what I am providing here. Write down the database type (ex. MySQL), complete database name, username, and password. The database name and username are the ones displayed in MySQL Admin’s table after you create them. Typically they look something like mysite1_mt, where mt is the name of the database you created. You will not be able to access the database without the mysite1_ prefix! The same applies to your username.
15. In your FTP Client, go to the /public_html/mt-static folder you created earlier. Click upload and navigate to your local copy of Movable Type. Inside the Movable Type folder, open the mt-static folder. Select all (ctrl + a for most folks) and click upload. This does not erase the files from your computer. It copies them to your web server. Now, go play with your dog or read a book while everything is uploading. Uploading files is like watching water boil. The longer you watch, the longer it takes. Most FTP clients make a noise when their done uploading. If yours doesn’t or you don’t know if it does, check back every fifteen to twenty minutes.
16. Once the mt-static files are finished uploading, go to /public_html/.cgi-bin/mt/. This is where you will put everything except mt-static. Click upload. Select all (ctrl + a) and scroll through until you locate the mt-static folder and deselect mt-static. Click upload and and take a nice long walk. Come back in an hour or so.
17. Now, follow the directions on the Movable Type Quick Install to navigate to your page and set up your primary domain blog. Once that is complete, return to your FTP client.
18. In your FTP client, go to /public_html/.cgi-bin/mt/mt-config.cgi and download this file to your computer.
19. Open the downloaded mt-config.cgi using your text editor (Notepad, TextEdit, BBEdit, KEdit, etc. They all work for this.)
20. Under Required Settings, change the CGI Path and the StaticWebPath. To prevent security conflicts in Firefox, Safari, and Opera, the root url (ie: http://example.com) must match the root url of the primary site. In other words, if your primary site is http://www.example.com, your CGI path and Static Web Path should both begin with http://www.example.com, instead of http://example.com. If it does not, some features including writing new posts and changing themes will not function properly in these browsers. (They will still work in IE, which should make you question using it, but that’s a topic for another day.) In the end for the Primary Site’s blog with url http://www.example.com, your paths should look like this:
    #======== REQUIRED SETTINGS ==========
CGIPath http://www.example.com/cgi-bin/mt/
StaticWebPath http://www.example.com/mt-static/
StaticFilePath /home/example/public_html/mt-static
#======== DATABASE SETTINGS ==========
ObjectDriver DBI::mysql
Database examp1_mt
DBUser examp1_admin
DBPassword admin
DBHost localhost
    This allows all our add-on domains to access the stylesheets, widgets, etc.
21. Save the file using the mt-config.cgi name to a new location on your computer. When you do this, turn off the .txt extension and set the text encoding to ASCII. (Type text encoding into your help to locate this on your text editor.) This way you still have the new one and the old one.
22. In your FTP Client, go to public_html/.cgi_bin/mt/. Upload the new mt-config.cgi. When it asks if you want to replace the existing file, click yes.
23. Refresh your blog and verify that it still looks the same. If it doesn’t, there’s a typo in the urls, you wrote in the mt-config.cgi file. An easy way to check is to copy the url from your local mt-config.cgi and paste it into your web browser. If you get an page not found error message, the url is wrong. Correct the error and repeat step 21. Server error messages are a different ball game and may stem from a variety of causes including old .htaccess settings, corrupted files, etc. These should be troubleshooted by a professional. My advice is to take a screen shot of the error message and post the error on Movable Type’s forums or contact your host’s help desk.

In the past, I’ve used Scripts and Fantastico to automatically install software. I’ve never had good luck with these methods because the installation didn’t meet my needs, so I prefer manual installation. In theory, you could cut out steps 7, 8, 14, 15, 16, and 17 using one of these or a similar product where the Movable Type files are provided by your web host. I haven’t tried it and my host does not provide Movable Type on either of these platforms, so I don’t know.

Suggestions and comments to improve the above are welcome. Enjoy!

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