How do I install two buddypress networks on one server?

This is more of a web server setup question than a WordPress question. The answer will vary depending on the web server (nginx/apache/lighttpd,etc) you are using. Ultimately, you will need two virtual host configurations – one for each site/network.

Is it as simple as copying htdocs to htdocs_new_network and creating

* a new DNS entry for *.new_nework.com and
* a new virtual host for *.new_nework.com pointing at the htdocs_new_network folder and
* a new database for the content?

I am worried that when I copy htdocs over I risk corrupting my existing installation.

* What configuration files need to be changed in htdocs_new_network?

Both networks will be using the same PHP engine.

* Will this just work?
* Will it double the memory requirement?
* Will caching go horribly wrong?

Thank you very much for your help

Can you provide some details about your hosting environment?

setup 2 virtual hosts. then install wp into each space. add a new database, so each sites uses its own db. uses more resources, but it’s not duplicating apache, php, or mysql.

My hosting environment is

* Bitnami LAMP stack running on Amazon Web Services

My thoughts were along the lines suggested by Bruce_ but because I could find nothing online about this scenario I thought I better check in this forum.

I will have a go and report back.

This plugin claims to be able to have multiple BP instances: https://buddydev.com/plugins/buddypress-multi-network/

Thank you Mika,

I have read the documentation on this plugin and although it is very good it is a bit too scary for me at the moment. It seemed to break due to point releases of BuddyPress and BuddyPress 2.0 is due out on April 16th 2014.

The author points out that there are several open issues about cross-network authentication. For security I need absolutely
clarity in this area.

My technical ability is too low at the moment to maintain this plugin so I think that I will wait until either I am better or the plugin moves into BuddyPress core (if ever).

If you’re worried about cross network information contamination, I actually wouldn’t suggest Multisite for this. Yet. You can always tell if you’re on a network :/

I have written detailed instructions here.

https://blog.jamesbayley.com/2014/04/04/creating-a-wordpress-farm-on-a-bitnami-server/

In summary,
* single Apache
* multiple virtual hosts
* one WordPress Multisite install per host
* WordPress Multisite has to installed manually because I don’t have a script for it.