WordPress MultiSite Setup

This blog is regarding multisite setup in wordpress.

WordPress provides the ability to create a network of sites by using the multisite feature.

There are two types of WordPress networks-

Sub-domains — a domain-based network in which on-demand sites use subdomains
Sub-directories — a path-based network in which on-demand sites use paths

Here we will setup a sub-domain based network, In this blog, we have explained in detail how you can install and set up a WordPress Sub-Domain based multisite to build a network of websites.

Before You Start

Make Sure You Have

A dedicated Host
Subdomain Mapping configured at you server (Usually by allowing wildcards).
A good web host
A working WordPress installation.
PrettyPermalinks enabled on your wordpress single Instance . i.e Your site URLs should look like https://webkul.com/sample-post/ and not https://webkul.com/?p=123

Enable MultiSIte

By default Network Setup menu item does not appear in WordPress Menu, you must first define multisite in the wp-config.php file.

In the wp-config.php add this line :

/* Multisite */
define( 'WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE', true );

This is how wp-config.php will look.

Installing and Configuring the WordPress Network

Back up your existing wp-config.php and .htaccess files .

After the previous step the Network Setup item will be visible in your Tools menu.

Use this menu item to navigate to the Create a Network of WordPress Sites screen.

Navigate to Administration ->Tools -> Network Setup.

In the next screen that appears, proceed with below steps –

Select Sub-domains install.
Add Nework Title
Add Email Address for Network Admin and click on Install.

Final Changes To wp-config.php and .htacces

As soon as you click on install button .You will see the instructions on the next page.

The instructions that you now see, are customized for your installation.

Now, Proceed with these two steps as mentioned in the Instructions:

Although the Instruction that will appear after install will be customized for you. But below is the Sample code that may appear and need to be pasted to respective files.

1. Add the code lines to your wp-config.php file Add these lines just after the which you added in the first STEP Enabling The WordPress Multisite

wp-config.php

define( 'MULTISITE', true );
define( 'SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL', true );
define( 'DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE', 'MY Site' );
define( 'PATH_CURRENT_SITE', '/' );
define( 'SITE_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1 );
define( 'BLOG_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1 );

2. Add the code lines mentioned in the second instruction to your .htaccess file . If you already have a .htaccess file, replace existing lines with the new ones.

.htaccess

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule .* - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization}]
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]

# add a trailing slash to /wp-admin
RewriteRule ^wp-admin$ wp-admin/ [R=301,L]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^ - [L]
RewriteRule ^(wp-(content|admin|includes).*) $1 [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*\.php)$ $1 [L]
RewriteRule . index.php [L]

Your Network is Ready

Now the Network Admin Menu will start appearing in the dashboard’s top left.

Managing A Nework

Now as your Network is ready, here are the menu items that are available in your Network Admin.

Dashboard:
Sites
Users
Themes
Plugins
Settings

Below is the explanation of each Menu Item in Network Admin-

Dashboard:

From this tab, you can move to the main Super/Network Admin Dashboard.

Here is how it looks-

Sites:

In this section, you can see the list of all subsites in your network .You can add, deactivate ,delete and perform bulk actions on the sites.

Adding A New Site

To add a new site to your multisite network:

Navigate to My Sites > Network Admin > Sites, then click “Add New”.

Here ,You can add the Site Address (URL) and Site Title etc.

You can click on “Sites”menu to view the list of available sites.

Activating and Deactivating a Site

From the Sites Menu of Network Admin the Network/Super admin can activate or deactivate the sites.

Plugins and Themes:

There are two ways in which plugins and themes can be managed-

While SuperAdmins can add and delete the themes as well as plugins and can also enable them for the whole network.

The site admins can only activate or deactivate plugins for their specific site.

You can manage the plugins for the whole network under Network Admin -> Plugins, the themes too can be managed under Network Admin -> Themes

The Super/Network Admin View-

The Super/Network Admin can make the plugin Active for Whole Network.

The Super/NetworkAdmin can make the Themes Active for Whole Network

The Site Admin Panel View-

The individual site admins can aciavte and deactivate plugin and themes for their specific sites.

The Site Admin can make the plugin Active for his site.

The Site Admin can activate a theme for his particular site.

Users:

From this tab, you can administer the users of your network.

In a wordpress Network ,The capabilities of the site administrator role are also reduced .

Site admins cannot install new themes or plugins and cannot edit the profiles of users on their site. Only the Network Admin (aka Super Admin) has the ability to perform these tasks in a WordPress network.

Settings:

Settings menu enables you to configure the settings for the whole network.

Below are the diiferent types of settings that can be managed from the settings section-

Operational Settings

You can manage the things like network name and network admin email from here.

Registeration Settings

Under this sub-setting, you can choose to enable new registrations for your network and allow your users to create their own sub-sites.You can also limit registrations.

New Site Settings

In this sub-section , you can describe the the contents of a user’s first post,page and comment as well as welcome emails that are sent to the new users on your network .

Upload Settings

As multiple sub-sites will be running in a single storage space therefore It is quite essential to manage the storage.

Upload settings allows you to manage your server storage resources efficiently.

You can control the storage space each individual site is allowed to use. You can also control the types of files that can be uploaded fom each site and the maximum allowed file size.