SEO URLS and Multi Store Configuration -- Resolved

We are having issues getting the SEO URLs to work properly in multi store configuration on 1.5.0 and have changed changed "RewriteBase /" to "RewriteBase /stores/" as suggested in other posts, but this does not work for us.

The cart has been configured in a separate directory for the default store i.e. http://www.defaultstore.com/stores/

The other stores domains have been pointed to the document root - i.e. home/public_html/defaultstore.com/stores/ and the store and secure URLs configured in opencart as http://storename.com/ and https://storename.com

I have seen where it is suggested to move the default store out of its directory, but that is something we really need to avoid as our stores are already linked to external sites and would cause a lot of other issues for us. SEO Friendly URLS are currently disabled, but we need to find a work around as soon as possible.

You need to point all domains to the same document root as the default domain

So you would have to enter the following in a browser to access each store

maindomain.com/stores
secondstore.com/stores
thirddomain.com/stores

I tried to do as you suggested, but it would give me 404 not found errors. I read on the forum that SEO Friendly URLS would not work properly in a multi store configuration if the default or main store was in a sub directory rather than the root. So I moved it from /stores/ to the root and pointed the remaining domains accordingly in cpanel. The SEO URLS are working correctly, but I am now having a different issue. When I go to test the stores other than the default store I get a 404 error upon checkout and a warning about ssl -

"Your connection is encrypted with 256-bit encryption. However, this page includes other resources which are not secure. These resources can be viewed by others while in transit, and can be modified by an attacker to change the behavior of the page.

The connection uses TLS 1.0.

The connection is encrypted using AES_256_CBC, with SHA1 for message authentication and DHE_RSA as the key exchange mechanism.

The connection is not compressed."

As long as all the domains have the the subdirectory suffixed as per my example above then they should work.

But you have it working on root, so that's probably a better solution.

--

Regarding the non-secure content, would need to see a link to the site to see what content is being served from a non-SSL domain.

Usually it is either a hardcoded graphic or external javascript resource in the header.tpl

After moving the main store to the root directory, I encountered problems with internal server errors. I tried an upgrade to the newest version of the cart, but it seems like things just got worse. Not sure if it is an issue on the server or what. I restored the site back to the point, where the SEO URL issues were not working properly, but now I am having problems with the theme for the main store not loading properly and catalog and product images not displaying on the other stores.

Is there someone who might be willing to take a look at the configuration of the cart and the admin area and tell me if this is an issue with my host or if there is something else going on? I am desperate.

Since I have not received any response, thus far, I have had to keep trying to resolve this on my own.

I have done a fresh install of version 1.5.0 on the server, and have all the images and such working properly. The cart is in a sub directory and I have set the .htaccess file as instructed. We are in a multi store configuration and I am still having issues with SEO URLS:

I went to the .htaccess file and changed RewriteBase/ to RewriteBase /ocart/
with SEO URLS enabled the main store is working properly, but I get 500 Internal Server Errors on the other stores.

To configure the other stores I went into cpanel under Addon Domains and set the document root to /public_html/ocart/
I configured the stores in the admin area of opencart as instructed i.e. http://www.addondomain.com/ and https://www.addondomain.com/ when I follow the url with SEO URLs enabled I get a 500 Internal server error.

Since the first attempt did not work, I went back into cpanel and chose manage redirection for the addon domain. I configured it to point to http://www.addondomain.com/ocart and then went to the cart admin area and set the domain to http://www.addondomain.com/ocart/ and https://www.addondomain.com/ocart/ still no luck I continue to receive the 500 internal error.

If SEO URLs are disabled the cart seems to be functioning properly for the main store and the addon stores.

I have been told by Daniel that "seo urls works fine on multi stores. just because one person has a problem does not mean there is one. 500 error normally means you have done something to the server." He also told me to "search the forum or hire a web developer to help you." I have searched the forum and tried different solutions, but have had no luck in resolving it that way. Plus, I haven't done anything to the server configuration and am not having much luck with getting support from my host. I have also posted this on the commercial support forum, but am not getting any response.

If someone could advise me on what settings I should have my host check on the server I would appreciate it.

OK, so you have opencart installed in the 'ocart' folder

So for your main store you go to http://www.yourmaindomain.com/ocart ?

If that is correct, then for SEO URLs to work on your multi-stores their domains must point to the main domain root and not yourdomain.com/ocart

The multi-stores will then be accessible vi http://www.multistore1.com/ocart - http://www.multistore2.com/ocart and so on

The .htaccess RewriteBase will be set as: RewriteBase /ocart/

You may also need to comment out:

# Options +FollowSymlinks

Hope this makes sense and assists in fixing your problem.

You could technically change the rewrite base dependant on the url to cater for different url structures, but it requires quite a bit of technical wizardry and access to apache config files, which you wont have if you've got shared hosting

hi,

I got the same problem here: error 500 in the 2nd site, when I enable SEO urls

In my case, I made a demo site for my extension: http://www.qqbee.com.vn/demo/opencart/
the 2nd site is http://demo.qqbee.com.vn/
the folder is /demo/opencart/
and the .htaccess, I have just edit: I tried to test in the fresh install of the OC 1.5.1.3 but still got the error 500
main site is: http://www.qqbee.com.vn/demo/upload/
the 2nd site is: http://shop2.qqbee.com.vn/
the folder is /demo/upload/
and the .htaccess, I have just edit: I did as the FAQ to make multi-site below. Am I missing somethings?
More info, the root of site http://www.qqbee.com.vn is a joomla page, is this the source of the problem?

Q. How to setup multi-store in Opencart.

A. The steps are as follows:

In CPanel

Go to your CPanel,
Open Domain > SubDomain,
Fill in the subdomain input filed, such as: mobile (my second store will be http://mobile.yourstore.com),
Look at Directory Root input field, CPanel will fill it automatically. Don’t use it,.. Replace with your main store’s OpenCart installation folder. In my case /public_html/shop. Click Create.

In OpenCart Administration

Go to System > Settings,
Click Create A New Store button,
Fill in all required fields including the logo, favicon, etc.
In Store URL, fill it with http://mobile.yourstore.com,
Click Save
Done!!

The simple answer to all these problems is that ALL domain names need to point to the same root folder.

If your main store is in a subfolder and therefore accessed via yourdomain.com/subfolder your multi-store stores must also be accessed by multistore.com/subfolder

that mean for my case,

I need to do:
http://demo.qqbee.com.vn and http://shop2.qqbee.com.vn

or
http://www.qqbee.com.vn/demo/opencart and http://other.domain.com.vn/demo/opencart

??

If you access your main store at www.domain.com/demo/opencart

then your multi-stores should be http://www.qqbee.com.vn/demo/opencart and http://other.domain.com.vn/demo/opencart

Yup. Basically you need to be making add on domains not subdomains

done.
now I have:
http://www.qqbee.com.vn/demo/opencart
http://demo.qqbee.com.vn/demo/opencart

thx for support

uksitebuilder wrote:OK, so you have opencart installed in the 'ocart' folder

So for your main store you go to http://www.yourmaindomain.com/ocart ?

If that is correct, then for SEO URLs to work on your multi-stores their domains must point to the main domain root and not yourdomain.com/ocart

The multi-stores will then be accessible vi http://www.multistore1.com/ocart - http://www.multistore2.com/ocart and so on

The .htaccess RewriteBase will be set as: RewriteBase /ocart/

You may also need to comment out:

# Options +FollowSymlinks

Hope this makes sense and assists in fixing your problem.

Thank you, I have done as suggested and the categories and product pages show up on all stores with SEO urls enabled, but if I try to checkout from any of the add-on domains I get a 404 page not found error. If I disable the SSL url in the cart admin settings the checkout page appears as it should, but that is not an option.

We are using a multi domain ucc ssl cert installed by the hosting service and GeoCerts ssl check indicates the certificate is installed correctly. We received green check marks on all responses from GeoCerts and where it says Certificate Chain Complete we get... "All of the correct Intermediate CA Certificates are installed. Your SSL certificate is installed correctly and should be supported in all the major web browsers without problems."

Have contacted our hosting provider on this issue as well. Is there anything I might be able to direct them to on the server side other than ssl that might be causing the problem?

Thanks to those of you who offered assistance. The hosting provider was finally able to help me resolve the issue.

Sorry to drag this out.........but.

I currently have my original store called: http://www.hobby-drones.com. In 'settings' it has a store URL of http://www.hobby-drones.com/opencart/ This has been working for months.

I created a second store called http://www.circlecityhelis.com. In 'settings' it has a store URL of http://www.circlecityhelis.com/ That opens the correct store.

BUT I am assuming from what I have read, is that to get SEO to work, the second stores url in 'settings' should be http://www.circlecityhelis.com/opencart/. Is that correct?

When I create the store url as http://www.circlecityhelis.com/opencart/ it opens the original store of http://www.hobby-drones.com.(of course wrong)

What do I need to do to get SEO to work for both stores. And how do I know that SEO is working?

Thanks,
Lou

Been having all sorts of problems with this for days and now it finally works - so PLEASE READ THIS if you need help!

I have one installation only of O.C. version 1.5.6.4 which is not under ROOT but in a FOLDER called /opencart/.
I have 3 stores using the multi-store facility.

Store 1 is linked to domain1.
Store 2 is linked to subdomain of domain1
Store 3 is linked to different domain, domain2.
In cpanel, domain1, the subdomain of domain1 and domain2 all point to public_html/opencart/.

Store URLs for the 3 stores:
Store 1 is http://domain1/opencart/
Store 2 is http://subdomain/domain1.com/
Store 3 is http://domain2.

I did the following:
- Add the SEO keywords to all products and categories (unique keywords).
- Switch on SEO URLs - System>Settings>Server>Use SEO URLs. You only get this option on the DEFAULT store.
- Edit the htaccess file.
I did all that and my SEO URLs worked for the default store, domain1 but on the other 2 stores I just got an ERROR 500.

SOLUTION - READ ON - THIS IS THE IMPORTANT BIT......
If you have O.C. installed into a FOLDER, NOT the ROOT then you need to edit the htaccess file IN THE INSTALLATION FOLDER i.e. in my case /OPENCART/. I also found one in the ROOT and was editing that one by mistake which was obviously wrong!

I know it says this in the documentation but I was thrown by the fact that were 2 versions of the file, one in the ROOT and one in the /OPENCART/ folder.

My SEO URLS now all work in ALL 3 STORES.