BuddyPress.org

I am running WP 3.0.4 multi-site (subdirectory) + BP 1.2.7. Buddypress is installed on a secondary blog, /community.

When we set it up, we could not use the root blog at blogs.otis.edu/, so I have tried to hide it, with moderate success. The DNS redirects blogs.otis.edu/ to blogs.otis.edu/community. New users are added as subscribers to another blog, /dashboard, if they don’t already have a blog. The pages load, people can log in, there is joy in the world.

However. If you make a typo with the URL, e.g. /communityyy, the “Error establishing database connection” page appears. Not a 404 Page Not Found error. Same thing when someone goes to a page in the root directory, e.g. /wp-login.php. This latter one is annoying since the new registration emails point to /wp-login.php instead of /community/wp-login.php.

Another factor: On the Sites-Edit screen, the root blog’s siteurl = SERVERNAME.otis.edu. and it is NOT editable. All of the other subblogs, including /community, have the siteurl = blogs.otis.edu. The only place I have found that SERVERNAME to appear is in my FTP client; it does not appear in wp-config.php.

Any ideas on how to properly configure my site? My ideas include:
– finesse the DNS redirect
– adding more rewrite rules to .htaccess
– moving BP to the root blog
– use a domain mapping plugin

Thanks in advance.