Drupal has consistently maintained its position as a top CMS platform wildly popular across industries. From retail to entertainment and from fintech to nonprofits, Drupal is everywhere. It’s mainly because of the unmatched flexibility and top-notch features of the CMS platform. Businesses of all sizes rely on Drupal development services to build engaging digital solutions. Whether it’s a website, a web app, or a CMS, Drupal offers solutions that improve your tech ecosystem.
Besides these advantages, Drupal also enables you to manage multiple websites from one platform. The multisite capability is, in fact, one of the distinguishing features of the CMS platform. If you want to handle multiple sites using one CMS, you could hire Drupal developers to build custom solutions. Read on to learn more about Drupal’s multisite capabilities.
What is Drupal Multisite?
The Drupal multisite installation enables you to manage more than one site on a single codebase. You can implement the multisite capability by creating multiple folders for different websites that you want to manage.
When your server receives a request, Drupal manages it according to the domain it comes from. Then the CMS loads the right database and configuration. These include modules, themes, and content, etc. You can also have full control over which website should use which module and themes for better engagement and results.
Main Benefits of Using Drupal the Multisite Setup
The multisite functionality of Drupal offers a diverse range of business benefits. From reducing overhead costs to improving the performance and speed, multisite Drupal development services redefine your digital capabilities. Below are some of the most remarkable benefits of the Drupal multisite functionality.
Enhanced Site Development Efficiency
When your tech team builds multiple sites from one codebase, it saves a substantial amount of development time and effort. Whether you rely on Drupal 8 development or any previous version of the CMS, the multisite approach always adds up to efficiency. Your team can now spend more time on improving the existing capabilities and upgrading various elements. It helps you provide a superior user experience across your websites.
With the multisite approach, you can take time to choose the most suitable vendor or hire Drupal developers per your needs. At the same time, the development team can create more advanced capabilities using Drupal. The functionalities could be incorporated into multiple sites.
Faster Development and Site Launch
With the Drupal multisite development approach, you get in-built installations for sites. It enables you to launch a new website within hours. More importantly, you can achieve much faster development even with a small team of designers and developers. If you’re planning for rapid web development or need multiple websites within a shorter turnaround time, multisite is a suitable approach. You could also choose Drupal migration services to move your existing sites to this multisite platform.
Minimal Site Maintenance Costs
One codebase is easier — and cheaper — to maintain than different codes for different sites. The multisite approach dramatically reduces the overall cost of building and running the entire digital infrastructure of an organization. While your development team focuses on continually improving the existing capabilities, the chances of glitches also reduce significantly. It further minimizes the need for maintenance in the first place.
Things to Consider Before Choosing Drupal Multisite
The Drupal multisite approach is not always the best way to build your digital environment. If you need one business-focused website, there’s no point in choosing the multisite model. Here’s what you need to consider before picking the multisite strategy.
Different Sites with Unrelated Goals
If you need to manage multiple websites with different audiences and goals, the multisite may not be the right approach. In such a case it’s always wiser to build and manage the sites separately. For instance, if you need to manage an eCommerce site and a dedicated customer support site, it’s better to run them separately. You could hire Drupal developers and create different teams for different projects.
Automate Multisite Deployment
Successful Drupal multisite deployment requires an efficient DevOps process. Since you need to deploy changes to multiple, the DevOps support needs to be impeccable. Automation of the deployment process makes things easier. With automation, you can also get better efficiency at a lower cost.
Automated Testing
Testing before deploying every site is crucial for getting the desired results. With manual testing, it’s difficult to thoroughly examine multiple websites. Test automation empowers the process with unit testing and other capabilities. Teams that rely on automated testing techniques get significantly better efficiency.
Wrapping Up
Over the past couple of years, Drupal’s implementation has expanded across different domains. From its position as a CMS platform, Drupal is rapidly growing as a web development tool, and even as an eCommerce platform. The multisite approach further propels its expansion across all kinds of businesses and organizations. At Drupal India, we’ve closely followed Drupal’s journey and evolution. We offer an extensive range of services, including Drupal theme development, migration to Drupal, and tech support.
FAQs
Q. How does a CMS work?
Content Management Systems are Graphic User Interfaces (GUIs) that enable the user’s interaction with a website’s database. CMS is the entirety of the web application, from database tables to admin panel to frontend display.
Q. Is Drupal frontend or backend?
Drupal is a content management system. It enables you to manage the content of your website with an in-built templating engine. You can also use Drupal as a framework to design and develop your website. The best way to build Drupal websites is to hire Drupal developers according to your needs.
Q. How much does it cost to build a Drupal Website?
The development cost for a Drupal website depends on what kind of solution you need. Costs are lower for a website with basic themes and features. If you need a high-performance site with more advanced features, the cost will be different. Drupal India offers competitive and flexible pricing for every kind of web solution.
Q. How long does it take to develop a Drupal website?
The development time of a Drupal website depends on your requirements. If your requirements are limited and predefined it takes comparatively less time. We build Drupal websites in the shortest turnaround time possible.
