My question is quite similar to this question. However my concerns are not fully answered there, so I am posting a separate question.
I will try to be as detailed as possible here. I have to build a website (SAAS), say abc.com wherein registered users would get a subdomain on the website, like abc.com/def or pqr.abc.com. Now some of those users might want to have their own domains in use. for eg. 123.com or xyz.com. All of these websites need to have identical backend (dashboard). But most importantly a visitor should be able to type a search term on the main website (abc.com), and the search should contain results from ALL websites including the subdomains (abc.com/def or pqr.abc.com) and custom domains (xyz.com).
I am not versed with other frameworks, so I figured out that WordPress could be a good solution. My approach was that every registered user would be assigned role of an author, with them being able to create/edit their own content. I would then add custom post type for the exact type of content they can add. I would then use dashboard customizing plugins (like Adminimize) to configure what admin menus can the editors see. THis way I would be able to define/force the fields they can use for adding content, and I can also restrict the custom taxonomoies and terms they can use. And also be able to search through the content created by any user. The only issue here is to create domains for the users. The I heard of domain mapping. So, is it possible that map domains like xyz.com to abc.com in such a way that whenever a user types 123.com (or xyz.com) in address-bar, they are served the content of abc.com, but still see 123.com (or xyz.com) in their address bar. I believe this is called masked domain forwarding. I tried a bit of it, and succeeded partially in that whenever a visitor types 123.com (or xyz.com) in address-bar, they are served the content of abc.com, but still see 123.com (or xyz.com) in their address bar. The problem is that whenever users type 123.com/wp-admin/ then instead of getting to the login screen, they see blank screen. Not sure if the setup is corret, or if it is even acievable using WordPress.
Another alternative could be using WordPress multisite. But it has limitations for my caase: 1. Search across all sites in network is going to be a very expensive operation 2. I would not be able to force identical terms of custom taxonomies across all sites. I can create the taxonmies and terms using code and put it in a plugin and network activate it. It would work for new terms. But when I decide to delete/edit a term, I will have to login to each site's dashboard to sync the terms.
So, is there a way with WordPress to achieve what i am trying to do :custom domain names and identical dashboards, that can be controlled/dictated by admin (me) , and the facility to search through all the sites/domains.
If not with WordPress, then is there any other framework with which I can do this?