As we discussed in Chapter 1, Planning for Magento, Magento leads the open source community in its ability to manage multiple websites and stores within a single installation. This power of Magento is often overlooked. It is also one of the more complex configuration issues.
Note
Be forum vigilant
When researching how to configure multiple stores in Magento over the years, I have often consulted the discussion forums at the Magento website. With a user and developer base in the tens of thousands, the forums can be a lifesaver, as almost every possible challenge has been experienced and solved by others.
However, when you do find what appears to be a solution to an issue you may have with Magento, take care to confirm what versions of Magento it applies to. For example, configuring multiple stores in Magento changed radically between versions 1.3 and 1.4. Relative discussions in the forums were not always clear in terms of the version used, many times leading to testing...