One domain, 3 subdomains, & eventually a store

Hi,

I’m new to self-hosting. And apparently I selected a setup that is complex. I’ve read through the forum questions, but I still have some questions.

I’m not sure of which direction to go with the structure.

I’ve played around with 2 scenarios which pose different issues. I feel like this plugin may be the solution.

1st Scenario – Domain1.com, Subdomain1, Subdomain2, Subdomain3 with separate WP installations.

2nd Scenario – Domain1.com, Subdomain1, Subdomain2, Subdomain3 sharing one WP installation.

*eventually I would like to add a store as Subdomain4 to either scenario.

In the 1st scenario, there are 2 questions.

1. I wouldn’t publish content to Domain1. I would only publish to the subdomains and use Domain1 as a shell, umbrella, portal (not sure of the jargon here). I would want Domain1 to show content published from the subdomains. If this is feasible, it leads to my next question.

2. Can you offer a consolidated RSS feed subscription, email subscription or do readers have to subscribe to each subdomain in order to get all the content?

* I saw in one of your responses you said NOT TO USE this plugin for vanity domains and I’m not sure of the terminology, but I wonder if that is what I would be attempting to create in this scenario.

The 2nd scenario eliminates the site subscription issue, but there is another concern.

1. This setup seems to also eliminate the benefits of having subdomains (content control and seo), because you can’t choose to publish under a subdomain. All content was published under Domain1, which in hindsight makes sense, but… it lead me back to reading through plugin details attempting to understand how to make this work.

Given that I intend on adding a store in the near future (before I feel the need to upgrade or rebuild the site), I want to make the best of my options. If you could point me in the right direction that would be great. Is this the plugin that I need?