In December 2007, I was deep into my experiment with b2evolution as a blogging platform. One of the things that attracted me to b2evo was its built-in support for multiple blogs from a single installation. I wanted to run several niche sites without maintaining separate software installs, and b2evo made that possible.
This post documented the technical steps I used to get multiple b2evo blogs running on different domains from one shared hosting account. It was a real hack, involving symbolic links, stub files, and careful configuration of Apache mod_rewrite rules.
The Original Setup
Here is what the configuration involved on a Lunarpages shared host running b2evo version 2.20:
- Install b2evo on your primary domain in a subdirectory
- Create add-on domains through cPanel, which creates subdirectories under public_html
- Create symbolic links from each domain directory back to the main b2evo installation
- Create stub index.php files in each domain directory that reference the correct blog ID
- Configure .htaccess files with mod_rewrite rules for each domain
- Edit the b2evo configuration files to compute the base URL dynamically
- Adjust cookie paths to work across domains
It worked, but it was fragile. Cookie behavior was inconsistent. You had to log in separately to each domain. And any b2evo update risked breaking the symbolic link structure.
Why This Does Not Matter Anymore
I share this post as a historical artifact because it illustrates how much the web hosting and content management landscape has improved since 2007. The problem I was solving, running multiple websites efficiently, is trivially easy in 2026.
WordPress Multisite handles multiple sites from one installation with proper administrative tools, no symbolic links required. Managed hosting providers like Cloudways and SiteGround let you spin up separate WordPress instances in minutes. Modern hosting control panels have eliminated most of the manual server configuration that used to be necessary.
If you are running multiple websites today, you have options that were unimaginable in 2007. The technical barriers that used to require engineering knowledge and command-line access have been abstracted away by better tools and better hosting.
The Lesson That Still Applies
The one thing from this post that remains relevant is the impulse behind it: finding efficient ways to scale your online presence. Whether you are running one site or ten, thinking about operational efficiency from the beginning saves you enormous headaches later. In 2007, that meant clever server hacks. In 2026, it means choosing the right hosting provider and management tools from the start.
How do you show the message ‘Notify me of followup comments via e-mail’? It’s a skin tag? I haven’t found it on the docs!
Hum, sorry me 🙂 I thought that it was a b2evo blog 🙂
Well, it was a b2evo blog once upon a time. I love b2evo and even made a donation to the development team. I wish them well.
I was forced to switch back to wordpress in some cases because I needed features (via plugins) that were not yet available on b2evo. And, I did not have time to develop them myself due to other priorities.
There are things about b2evo that are superior to wordpress — it’s just a little too early in the development lifetime for me to play.
Mark, before I try this, can you tell me why this works? Are there any implications to it to my other add-on sites?
Mark — You should know that I wrote this post a lifetime ago (Dec 2007). I strongly recommend that you talk to the guys over at b2evo. They are brilliant, and they can help you (use the forum).
I switched to WordPress in January of 2008 and have lost track of the development of b2.
Why this works (or worked in 2007): Basically this approach uses sym links to make sure the relative paths in the b2 code find all the files that they need to find. The stub file allows you to find an “index.php” file in the domain that you are adding. Put the two together, and the only problem you have left is login cookies. I solved that (above) but do not really understand the solution.
No — this should not impact any other addon domains that are running separate b2 installs or other software.
So, again, I strongly recommend that you talk to the b2 evo developers before proceeding if you are adverse to down time.