Multisite Implementation

Lineage allows one single Plone instance to appear as multiple web sites to the end user. This enables site managers to have a single repository of content and share it across multiple sites. Later in this case study, learn about more ways Lineage was leveraged across all 10 sites.

An upgrade is not for the faint of heart, but is well worth the event.

While WWS was in the process of building their new Plone site, a new major release came out -- Plone 3. Take a look at this list of highlights^[1] to see why WWS was eager to upgrade:

• Versioning, history and reverting content:some text
  • See who/what/when on content -- who edited it, when they edited it, and what they changed
  • Ability to revert to earlier versions of a document

• Automatic "locking" and "unlocking" of content:some text
  • Eliminates accidental overwriting of each other's content
  • Easy to "unlock" content with the click of a button

• Full-text indexing of Word and PDF documents:some text
  • WWS utilizes PDFs for sharing materials that are often printed and handed out in school
  • This new feature allows them to be searchable on the site as well

• Compatibility with new add-on products moving forward:some text
  • WWS has plans to implement a rich set of tools in the future to enhance communication between the district and the community
  • It was top priority not to be held back by an older Plone version

^[1] A list of new features and upgrades in Plone 3.0 can be found here:
https://plone.org/news/old-news/plone-foundation-announces-plone-3.0

WWS recognized that having a partner like Six Feet Up during the upgrade process would enable the transition to be seamless. Experience with upgrading many other sites paid off -- during the process, the team was able to identify several add-on products which were not being used and alert the client that it would be wise to remove them.  Additionally, all previous data was ported over which included 1 GB of data, LDAP connectivity, and existing user roles/permissions.

Simplify Roll-Outs with Buildout

With the upgrade to Plone 3, SFU was also able to assist WWS in setting up an installation using Buildout – a development tool which enables a fast and easy deploy of a Plone site to any location. For example, use Buildout to:

• Build an instance of a Plone site on a developer's local computer
• Roll out the same site to a test server
• Deploy an exact replica to a production server

Using Buildout, all three instance of the site will contain the same products and dependencies. The only thing that varies between the three is the data (e.g., the contents of the site -- pages, folders, etc.). Want a development server to look exactly like the production server? Use Buildout to create the development site then simply copy over the data file (data.fs) from production. Voilà -- a mirror site for development purposes.

Manage Multiple Sites at Once with Lineage

Lineage enables subdirectories of a site to seem as if they are separate websites to the user, but ties the sites together via simple navigation and managed content for administrators:

• Sites are "children" of a "parent" site:
  Simply add a new folder and change the sub-type to 'child site'

‍

• The new site is automatically created and added to the easy-jump navigation:

• Child sites can share syndicated content with the parent site -- news, events, portlets, etc.
  
  Notice the similarities and differences between the main district site:

And this high school:

• And vice versa -- parent site content and portlets can filter down to the child sites

• All sites have centralized user management for administrators:some text
  • In the case of WWS, all users are maintained in LDAP, which is then linked to Plone.
  • Each site's permissions are then maintained via the "Sharing" tab.

• Each site acts as its own Plone site:some text
  • It has its own top-level navigation
  • Site-specific portlets can be used which are not shared among other sites or the parent site
  • User permissions can be individualized for the child site

Six Feet Up's experience with Lineage can help bring the management of any organization's multiple sites under control.

One Site, Many Flavors

Adding the Theme Switcher product to the WWS installation allowed each school to have their own individual layout -- while still existing as one Plone site installation. For example, the Cary Ridge Elementary School has a different header graphic than Washington Woods Elementary:

• Sites can have different themes ("skins"), or share the same themes.  It's as easy as 1-2-3:
  
  

• Themes can be easily managed and customized by site managers