Managing sites

You can run any number of sites within a single instance of Kentico. Each site runs on its own domain name and stores content in a separate content tree. The websites share the same web project (code base) and database.

Creating sites

See Installing new sites.

Starting and stopping sites

You can stop or run individual sites in the Sites application. Use the following actions:

  •  Start site
  •  Stop site

When you stop a site:

  • Visitors cannot access the live site
  • Users cannot edit the site in the site-specific sections of the administration interface

To stop a live website with administration enabled, keep the site running and switch it to off-line mode.

Switching between sites on a single domain

You cannot start sites that use the same domain name (or domain alias) as another site that is already running. If you need to test multiple websites on a single domain, such as http://localhost, set this domain for all sites and switch between them using the Start site and Stop site actions.

You can run multiple sites at the same time using alternative host names that point to the same domain (for example http://localhost and http://127.0.0.1).

See also: Setting up multiple websites

Assigning objects to sites

Many objects in Kentico need to be assigned to specific sites in order to be available on the given sites. Site bindings allow you to limit where objects can be used when running multiple websites in the system. You can manage all types of site bindings for individual websites in a single location:

  1. Open the Sites application.
  2. Edit () the site.
  3. Open the Assigned objects tab.

You can assign the following objects to the site:

For example, after creating a new site, you can assign users from other sites in the system:

  1. Select the Users sub-tab.
  2. Click Add users.
  3. Select the users that you want to add to the site.
  4. Click Select.

Deleting sites

You can delete sites from the system in the Sites application.

  1. Click Delete () next to the site that you want to delete.

    • The Site deletion confirmation dialog opens.
  2. Enable or disable the following options:

    • Delete document attachments physical files - if checked, the deletion process removes files attached to the site’s document’s from the file system (stored in the <web project>\<site name>\files folder).
    • Delete meta files physical files - if checked, the deletion process removes the site’s meta files (stored in the <web project>\<site name>\metafiles folder).
    • Delete media files physical files - if checked, the deletion process removes physical files stored in the site’s media libraries (<web project>\<site name>\media folder).
  3. Click Yes.

    • The system displays a log showing the progress of the deletion.
  4. When the process finishes, click OK.

The list in the Sites application no longer includes the deleted site.