Is it possible to set up WordPress in a subdirectory?

Question

Hi; here's the story:
I'm virtual-hosting 3 websites (including mail and ftp) on our in-house MacMini SL server. These sites are pretty basic, and each resides in its own folder on the secondary (non-system) drive inside our MacMini:
/Volumes/harddrive2/websites/domain1
/Volumes/harddrive2/websites/domain2
etc.
This setup has worked well for several years. But now we want to upgrade our main site ("domain1"), and have begun working with a web design company. This company has told us that we need to have WordPress installed in order to accomplish some of the functionality we have asked for. They also requested that we set up a subdirectory within our main "domain1" directory where they can build and test the new site; then, once it's ready to go live, we would move the new site up one level, replacing the files that are currently in the "domain1" directory. So the folder structure they're asking for looks like this:
/Volumes/harddrive/websites/domain1/testing
I downloaded MAMP and WordPress (I realize now that MAMP was not strictly necessary, but as I'm not an IT pro it seemed like a fairly user-friendly solution), and indeed, I was able to install all of the necessary files, create a database using phpMyAdmin, install Wordpress, and create a WP admin account. The problem is that I have not been able install WP such that it resides in the /testing subdirectory. There are a couple of issues that may be relevant here:
1. MAMP defaults Apache to port 8888. If I don't change that assignment, the consequence is that I have to include :8888 after the domain in order to interact with WP. (I can change the port to 80, but this then interrupts all traffic to my existing websites.) I'm not sure if using :8888 for Apache may somehow be inhibiting my ability to target WP to the /testing subdirectory.
2. Interestingly, if I place all the WP files in the /testing subdirectory (which is where I want them), I am able to complete the WP setup (and this works whether Apache is using port 8888 or 80). But the strange thing here is that after WP is up and running it still sees the "domain1" directory, rather than the /testing subdirectory, as the path to WP. IOW, when I look in Settings > General in WP after the WP set up is complete, it shows www.domain1.com as the path to WP, and not www.domain1.com/testing, and any attempt to access WP with a URL that includes the /testing subdirectory fails. No matter what I do, I can only access WP using the main domain directory (www.domain1.com/wp-login.php).
When I asked this question on the WP forums, I was advised that this is a server configuration issue that I should pursue with Apple. Put simply: WP needs to reside in the /testing subdirectory while we work on the new site, and then everything in that subdirectly needs to move up one level to the domain1 directory and function there when we're ready to launch. If anyone can suggest a configuration that will make that possible, I would appreciate it; or, if there is some other approach that will accomplish the same end, I'm all ears. Thanks so much.

Answer 1

With Server Admin, you'd switch the "old" virtual host entries for the port and the domain name over to the new directory, and you should be good to go.  You'll want to test the web site after that switch-over, of course, on the off chance that the testing virtual host's details got embedded in a configuration file or into the HTML of the web site somewhere.  If the web folks have been following typical web design practices, the whole site is relative to the domain, and the domain itself is not encoded in the HTML.
As for what you didn't ask...
I did not, do not and would not recommand using MAMP here.
MAMP adds complexity to an OS X Server configuration, and adds the potential for vulnerabilities, and you already have a new maintenance project and security risk you're managing with a content management system. 
When last I checked, the MAMP folks specifically recommended against using it in production and against exposing the package to the wilds of the Internet.  It was intended for development and testing.
To be clear: I don't have anything against MAMP for web development use on OS X client and do occasionally use it for that purpose, but I can think of no reason to use it in an OS X Server configuration.
For this case, I would recommend using the existing OS X Server 10.6 Server Admin.app tool to add a virtual host on a variant port.
As a maintenance and security matter separate from the use of MAMP or the integrated Apache server present in OS X Server, Wordpress, Drupal and various other content management system packages are unfortunately common targets for attackers.   From direct experience dealing with the resulting messes from successful breaches at various sites, uncomplicated web site defacements and the SEO-placement hacks are about the least nasty problems that arise.  If the attackers delete stuff, or start generating spam, or swipe sensitive data, things get ugly.
And to be clear on CMS packages: I don't mean to scare you off Wordpress, Drupal or another CMS either.  I use and depend on CMS packages.  This is simply to underscore the need to monitor the CMS security notification lists for new attacks, and to expect to need to keep your Wordpress patches and updates current, to keep your OS X Server backups and web database backup exports current and tested, and to actively monitor your servers.  Your web folks may or will be providing you with a mysqldump database export for backups, or an analogous export for whatever database you're using.