[wp-hackers] Running several WordPress sites on the same server

[Brian Layman]

 > I am looking to run several WordPress sites on a server. I'm talking like
 > 100+. [...]
 > How would this compare to more of a shared hosting type setup with vhosts
 > and a full copy of the wp source for each site. Any downside to my method
 > or other considerations I should be aware of?

It's certainly doable, though I'd put the logic in the config file 
rather than hitting the DB right away. You'll be fighting occasional 
plugins that have wp-content/plugins hard coded and so you'll have to 
look at each plugin you add.  For only 100 or so on one server, I'd 
still just consider unique installs. The file system is not over 
burdened and the sites are kept independent with no chance of one site's 
hack affecting another site. So I'd just keep it simple.

However, if you want to try something funky just to keep your install 
fresh.  You could always just create softlinks to the WP core 
subdirectories.  Then you aren't running any custom code and you're 
limiting your unique file list.  Updates will still have to update the 
web root for your 100 directories, but that's what scripts are for and 
you have no core hacks this way.

Brian Layman