Manage Websites and Languages

In this module, you will learn how to manage websites and languages in Optimizely CMS. Managing websites is primarily for CMS administrators and developers with administrative access rights, allowing them to configure and maintain the various websites hosted within an Optimizely CMS installation. Managing website languages shows how administrators and developers manage the linguistic capabilities of their websites, enabling content editors to work with multiple languages.

After completing this module, you should be able to:

• Explain what the Manage Websites feature is and its requirements.
• Create, update, and delete websites, including domain/URL settings.
• Understand how website languages are configured and enabled.

What Is Manage Websites?

The core purpose is to enable the addition and removal of websites from an Optimizely CMS installation. This is particularly useful for scenarios like creating short-lived campaign websites or managing multiple brand sites from a centralized platform. You access this feature via Settings > Manage Websites.

A significant advantage is they share the same database, content types, and templates. This streamlines the setup and maintenance process. Administrators can also define the content scope, choosing whether assets like blocks, folders, and media should be shared across all sites or be specific to individual sites.

There are two ways to add websites:

• Single-site setup lets you have one CMS site mapped to its own IIS (Internet Information Services) instance. The IIS mapping is with a wildcard or a specific hostname. You can have several single sites with separate databases and code bases on the same server. In that case, you have a separate admin interface for each site.
• Multi-site setup lets you have a single CMS site as the base or default site. Additional sites are created within the administration view, all sharing the same root page, database, and codebase as the base site. These additional sites can be automatically mapped (if the base site uses a wildcard) or require manual hostname configuration. All sites are managed from a single administration interface.

Requirements

The following requirements must be met to manage websites in admin view:

• Available Licenses: Your Optimizely license dictates the number of sites you are permitted to run. The system will inform you of this limit under Third Party Licenses on the Admin tab.
• Unique URL and Start Page: Each website must have a unique URL and a designated start page within the content tree. Importantly, start pages cannot be nested within other pages.
• •Domain Mapping in IIS:For a multi-site setup, IIS must be configured to respond to any hostname (e.g., using a wildcard binding). For a single-site setup, each separate CMS site requires its own distinct IIS site configuration.

If you want to know how to truly manage websites and languages from settings, then go through this demo: