I have 25+ years working with computers, most of them designing, creating, and maintaining web-based applications and infrastructure. I spent nearly 11 years at Open Text Corporation where I was recognized as one of the most knowledgeable people in all Architecture, Security and Performance related topics -- often the final authority on such matters. About 1 year ago I left Open Text and formed my own business, the Global Alliance of Trusted Experts -- the vision is a set of online communities united under a common framework of the GATE Village Trust System (http://www.gatevillage.net/trust). I have years of experience as an IT expert, including designing and managing OTs Application Service Provider division and knew without a doubt that Open Text's ECM Suite was not the right platform for my vision -- it is far too centric to a single business, and it has a difficult time hosting multiple, disparate sites on a single platform; that and the cost of the software lead me to look elsewhere. Drupal is where I landed and this book is intended to help explain the journey with a hope that it might help others attempting something similar. The goals of the site are: 1) Managed service -- while there are many competent administrators clearly capable of running a CMS-based web site, there are many MANY more people wanting to host a community that really don't have the skills or interest to do so themselves. The model is to provide a useful platform where communities can be built without forcing the community builder to have a great deal of knowledge, expertise or interest in the technology ... they should be focusing on content and showing the world their own Authentic Voice 2) Expert abilities -- I know a LOT of IT experts around the world and I know that many of them would only be interested if they could ply their trade and make their own statement; simple has it's place but a community building platform needs a lot of bells and whistles to build with 3) Highly functional -- I very much want site builders to have choices available to them and not be forced into a certain way of thinking because of the solution in front of them -- some folks think from a DB-centric point of view (views), others from a business oriented point of view (CCK) and still others want to emulate other sites (core functionality) ... I want to avoid the axiom "to a person with a hammer, everything looks like a nail" 4) Secure -- I need to be sure that I can protect all users from malicious activity and from themselves; security is important and, unfortunately, not always easy to achieve and (even more unfortunate) rarely are people willing to pay for it until they have been personally burned 5) Provide an integrated WCM/ECM platform -- a place where a business can run an integrated Intranet and Extranet site with confidence that the two activities will not interfere with the other 6) Allow the GATE System of Trust to be implemented as a ubiquitous feature of all GATE Village Trusted Neighbourhoods (https://www.gatevillage.net/trip) 7) Stay out of custom code as much as possible -- I had many distinct favourite speeches I would give to customers but one of the best was in explaining how custom code is the best way to ensure problems will occur on your site -- thus I needed a platform that was fairly mature, had a good following, and was relatively cheap (or free) To that end I have a multi-site Drupal setup that shares many aspects of the database, including (in some cases) CONTENT, users, and code; I have a site that can create a new mostly-completely-configured community with hundreds of modules enabled and configured in a few short minutes; there are hundreds of modules to choose from, all pre-configured and working together. This book tells of my story of creation, the strategies used, the successes and the failures. I hope to keep this up-to-date over time but the best way for that to happen is for you to comment and encourage me to keep writing.