Overview

A user is looking to set up multiple brands/domains to be managed in the same backend for the staff and wondering whether this is possible in Kayako Classic.

For instance, one wishes for their clients to be able to submit tickets or initiate the chat accessing different URLs (e.g. http://products.com/, http://productA.com/, http://productB.com/) but manage it from a single backend. (http://products.com/admin, http://products.com/staff)

Solution

This can be achieved with the help of the multi-domain concept where there are multiple Kayako installations sharing the same database. However, note that this is only available to Kayako Classic Download. With the download subscription model, one can use unlimited domains for one license.

OnDemand customers are only allowed a single domain which they can request to change at any time should they decide to change brands.

For the multi-domain instructions consider the following:

• The domain which is used as a product URL in the help desk will be referred to as the primary domain (http://products.com/).
• Any other domain/brand which is used to access the help desk using a different template group is called a secondary domain (http://productA.com/ or http://productB.com/).

If one wishes to add a secondary domain to their Helpdesk, there are 2 main steps to follow.

1. Send a request to the support team to get the new domain added to your account/license.
2. Install Kayako Classic for the new domain.
   
   

Sending a Request to Add a New Domain

1. Click the Submit a ticket button at the top or the bottom of this page. Skip this step if you already have an open ticket for this request.
2. To make sure we processing requests from authorized account holders only, you need to provide any of the following information for authentication:
   • License order ID - it can be checked on the customer’s account on the Kayako portal.
   • Copy of a recently paid invoice.
   • Registered billing email address and company name.
3. The new domain name you want to add.

Once the new domain has been created, proceed to install Kayako Classic for the new domain. 

NOTE: You need to update your license key on your server if a domain name was updated or added. Please Download the new key from your My.kayako.com account.

Setting up Kayako Classic

For installation steps, please visit the Installing Kayako Classic Download article.

The installation of the primary domain is a normal procedure. For all additional domains, one needs to perform the following steps:

1. Place the product files in the document root of the website to be used as the new brand/domain.
2. Rename __/swift/config/config.php.new to __/swift/config/config.php and add the database access details of the database being used at the primary domain in it. It means that the database which is used at the primary domain must be accessible through MySQL-CLI from the server, which is used for the secondary installation.
3. Place the license key in the document root of the secondary domain.
4. Create the template groups in the primary domain, which is to be linked with the secondary domain.
5. Make the changes in the config.php file (on the secondary domains), by specifying the template group name.
   

       /**
   
       * SWIFT TEMPLATE GROUP
   
       * Can be used for multi-point installations. Use this to specify a custom
       template group to load for this installation.
   
       */
   
       define('SWIFT_TEMPLATE_GROUP', 'brand2');

   In the above example, brand2 is the template group name created for the second domain.

Refer to Creating Knowledge Bases for Multiple Brands for instructions on how to manage the knowledge for multiple brands.

 

Testing

Once the setup is completed, customers will be able to access the different brands using a different domain, and they can all be handled from the same backend.