Custom Create Site link to create site on different WSS farm

I am working on a project right now that has about 4 standalone WSS farms and a central SPS portal farm. The WSS farms are geographically spread out.

I wanted to provide users the ability to create a new site on any farm as easy as they can using the “Create site” link in the SPS “Sites” list.

 

 

Now, in the portal settings you can specify the path to the Self Service Site Creation page on any WSS farm for the “Create Site” link … but you cant specify multiple ones … only one. This will allow you to specify what farm sites are created on. This is great if you have a seperate WSS farm for your sites ... but not that good if you have multiple farms.

So... as a really quick and simple solution to this I added the HTML below to the following page:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\60\TEMPLATE\1033\SPSSITES\LISTS\SITESLST\Summary.aspx

Find the following line in that file:

<SPSWC:CreateSiteToolBarButton runat="server" id="TBBNewSTSSite" ToolTipLocId="SiteRegistry_ActionBar_CreateSTSSite_Text" TextLocId="SiteRegistry_ActionBar_CreateSTSSite_Text" />

Insert a new line after this one like this:

<tr><td width=0 class="ms-pvtbicon"><img alt="" src="/_layouts/images/trans.gif" /></td><td class="ms-pvtbbutton" style="width:125px;word-wrap:break-word"><a id="TBBNewFarmBSTSSite" class="" href="https://FarmB/_layouts/1033/scsignup.aspx?ReturnUrl=http%3a%2f%2fPortal%2fSiteDirectory%2fLists%2fSites%2fNewForm.aspx&amp;Data=Sites&amp;PortalName=PortalName&amp;PortalUrl=http%3a%2f%2fPortal%2f" title="Create FarmB Site">Create Site on FarmB</a></td></tr>

 

You will need to change the bits in red to values for your setup E.g. FarmB should be the url to your WSS farm you want the sites created on.

 

The PortalName is the name of your portal ... this for the "Up to ..." link on any sites that are created.

The Portal is the URL of your portal ... this is the URL for the "Up to ..." link on any sites that are created.

 

After you have done all this. Save the file and refresh your sites page on the portal. You should see something like this:

 

 

Now when you click on the "Create Site on FarmB" you should be taken to the Self Service Site Creation page for new sites on WSS FarmB. You should also be sent back to the page in the portal to add a site listing for your new site, so your new site on FarmB can be listed in your portal sites list.

 

I am sure you could knock up a better way of choosing which farm to create the site on ... a drop down or something ... but for one or two additional WSS Farms this will do.