Wordpress multisite: reusing domain - wordpress

Good day ๐Ÿ˜€
I have a WP Multisite in which a site was running. The administrators decided they would revamp the site, and they did it in a provisional subdirectory so that the original site would be available while the changes took place. So this is the current structure:
mymultisite.com
mysite.com
mymultisite.com/mysitebeingremade
Now that the site changes have been finished, I would like to attach the domain name to the revamped site. So, I try to disable the site currently attached to mysite.com, change its domain to a different one, and attach the domain name to the revamped one. So from the sites configuration I make the following changes in Sites > Edit site > Site info:
mymultisite.com
mysite.com -> mymultisite.com/mysite
mymultisite.com/mysitebeingremade -> mysite.com
But it seems as if the domain name keeps pointing to the old site. What am I doing wrong? Or is it just impossible to reuse a domain name previously used in a multisite, but not in use anymore, for a new site?
I guess that I can just overwrite the original sites with the one with the changes, but I think it is too much hassle for a seemingly simple task.
Thank you ๐Ÿ˜€

Ok, I sorted it out.
It seems that, when you delete a site from the multisite, it doesn't get deleted from the database. Specifically, one entry remains in the table [prefix]_domain_mapping in which the fields 'id' and 'blog_id' are still pointing to the old site that was linked to that domain.
By changing those two fields to the id of the new site that will be using that domain name, and provided that all the changes have been made to the configuration of that site in the site configuration to use that domain for that site, it should work ok.
Thank you,

Related

Installing multiple different instances of wordpress on the same website

I currently have a website up and running that is my freelancing website. What I wanted to do was create a testing subdirectory on the website.
So for example my site would be:
website.com
I want the testing site to be: website.com/test
I need this test to be private and require a password to view, as well as be a different installation of wordpress so I can manipulate it without editing my main website. Is this possible? Currently I have created a test directory from the cPanel that requires a password but it just brings me to a 404 not found page.
I would also like to create more, public, instances that I can use as a portfolio until I get more real clients. So for example I would like to have my site be: website.com/themeOne
Is any of this possible, or am I out of luck? Please let me know I would greatly appreciate any help. Anything I found found online thus far has either not been relevant or has not worked.
You can achieve this by setting up a wordpress multisite installation. I currently use this to host all my clients.
Will work like this.. Main site is website.com
Depending on how long you have had that site set up will determine whether your multisite install will be a subdirectory or a subdomain. If you have had your main site for a while it will be subdomains. ie. xyz.website.com
You will have to set up a wild card subdomain on your server though...so keep that in mind.
Here is the documentation on setting up a wordpress multisite
https://premium.wpmudev.org/blog/ultimate-guide-multisite/
You can install as many WordPress instances as you like in subfolders example.com/test/ or subdomains test.example.com in one hosting account; see http://codex.wordpress.org/Installing_Multiple_Blogs. (You are, of course, limited if your host does not support subdomains. And you may find lots of sites with lots of traffic will slow your whole hosting account.)
For these separate WordPress installs, you can use the same database; simply give each WordPress install a different database table prefix in wp-config.php. https://codex.wordpress.org/Editing_wp-config.php Or, give them all the installs a totally different databases, only limited by your hosting account.
To control access to a WordPress site, there is no need for access control in .htaccess or via Cpanel; use any one of a number of plugins that allow you to restrict access to anyone not logged into WordPress. See https://wordpress.org/plugins/search.php?type=term&q=password
And you can still control the user's role when they are logged into the site with one of those plugins, i.e. editor, administrator, etc., from within WordPress. That's because you want to give a client a Subscriber user level so they can simply login and view the site, rather than Administrator, who can see posts, plugins, etc. See https://codex.wordpress.org/Roles_and_Capabilities
There is no need for WordPress Multisite, unless you want to go that way: see https://codex.wordpress.org/Create_A_Network But be aware that MS requires more server and DNS configurations if you want to use Domain Mapping: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-mu-domain-mapping/

wordpress move to localhost missing css

I'm trying to move a wordpress/buddypress web site to my local pc.
I created a virtual host with the exact same host name, copy the code and DB.
It works but every time I change the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts file to see the live original site, chrome miss-behave and get stuck.
So I tried to change the site domain on my local pc - I search&replace the code & db export from the site domain to my local domain (e.g. mydomain.com -> mydomainlocal.com), and I reinstall the DB.
The site is running but it seems to be missing some stuff - specifically design stuff, e.g. css is different, and logo display the site name instead of the logo.
It seems like the new domain name triggers a different configuration of the site, or a different theme.
Can someone please explain how to properly move a wordpress site localy with a local domain name?
I read some posts about this issue and it seems I was doing it right, I actually don't understand why the site looks different if I changed all reference both in the code and DB.
I'd suggest the problem lies with the fact you've performed a search and replace on the database.
WordPress serializes some data and by running a search and replace on it you'll have changed the lengths therefore breaking the serialization. Often things like theme options are stored in that way and will appear to reset when broken.
In order to update the URL you'll need a more advanced tool like: https://interconnectit.com/products/search-and-replace-for-wordpress-databases/
Further information: https://codex.wordpress.org/Moving_WordPress#Changing_Your_Domain_Name_and_URLs
First You must change domain name in database wp-options table
where option_name is suteurl and home
If not help, see in wordpress admin panel theme settings, some
themes have setting and in setting those can have url setting
In browser , in source you can find errors, and in errors you can see
not correct urls
I was able to solve it answer thanks to Nathan Dawson answer, here are the actual steps I did.
I switch back to the original DB (in wp-config.php),
setup the local host of the original domain mydomain.com (NOTE that I didn't delete the settings of the new local host - mydomainlocal.com)
In mydomain.com/wp-admin/options-general.php I changed the WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL) to the new domain mydomainlocal.com
click save
After saving this settings the site redirects to the new domain immediately, but since I kept the setting of the new domain it worked, and the problem is solved.
EDIT - a quick and simple solution is simply change "siteurl" and "home" in the database table "wp_options" (through phpMyAdmin or similar)

Transferring Development Wordpress To Live Wordpress Without Issues

I am looking for a way to port one wordpress install across to another site.
For example, say I have:
development.example.com
example.com
I want to transfer everything from development.example.com to example.com
Transferring the domain name is always a pain for me and I am hoping someone can help me.
After transferring to a new domain and hosting, I normally have to go into the wordpress database into the options table and change two fields.
siteurl and home (I change these to my new domain name)
I can then run example.com/wp-admin and I will be able to login.
The above works fine on the basic setup, but the issue I am having is that when you have lots of different plugins all adding options and other fields to the database it turns into a bit of a nightmare.
I normally have to remove the plugin folder and reinstall them one by one, and then use a search and replace plugin to change all the options from.
search: development.example.com
replace: example.com
This all seems like a very long winded process considering when I build with codeigniter you only have to change the url in one place config.php and then just run a
cp -rf development.example.com/* example.com
Could someone advise me on how they normally run a transfer with wordpress where all this search replace and login issues arenโ€™t needed.
You have all the details on the When Your Domain Name or URLs Change section in the Codex.
For replacing links, the Velvet Blues Update URLs plugin works well for me.

URL Mapping on a wordpress redesign

I have recently redesigned a website on wordpress. The redesign is in a subfolder of the domain. When I flipped the new website live by following this tutorial 'Using a pre-existing subdirectory install' - (http://codex.wordpress.org/Giving_WordPress_Its_Own_Directory) everything worked as planned.
However, I am still getting the old site when I navigate to the site using www in the url.
This is a likely problem with your hosting setup. Sounds like you don't have your "A" records setup quite right. Check out this GoDaddy support article for an example. It'll be similar across all hosts.
http://support.godaddy.com/help/article/680/managing-dns-for-your-domain-names
Click on "To Add a Record" and read that. Some hosts will require you to have a "#" and a "www" record to make the site direct to the same place with or without the www.
Also remember that it can take up to any hour for records to get updated.
If all else fails, give your host a call!

Understanding how DNS will point to new site

Please can someone help me to clarify what issues i might have when the hosting company changes the DNS settings to point away for the current old site (basic html) and to the new WordPress version of the web site?
Both sites are with the same hosting company (I cannot change hosts or hosting names now, my client and the hosting company are long term business partners). I think the server that the current live website is unable to host WordPress. So they set up another server for WordPress and called it something completely different.
Old website address http://www.therealwebsitename.co.uk
Current Location of new WordPress site on hosting server: http://test.blahsystems.co.uk
I think this bit is important!!
The new website is on a Windows Server and uses pretty perma links and also the .html pages plugin. There are also some redirects going to 7 pages on the old site. Everything is currently working ok.
Nest week the hosting company are going to change the DNS settings to point to the new website http://test.blahsystems.co.uk which will hopefully become the new website with the new address of http://www.therealwebsitename.co.uk
The hosting company have also said that I should not have used Permalinks at the moment because once the DNS is pointed to the new site the links will have become permanent (well I had already set up permalinks before they told me). I have not used the full address when making any links within the site.
Will the 'Find & Replace' plug-in on the database still work ok to make any required changes? I am confused as to how the DNS change actually works, will this affect what the links are called in the database or can I still change them from:
http://test.blahsystems.co.uk
to
http://www.therealwebsitename.co.uk
I presume I will need to change the Word Press address and site address in the settings panel to http://www.therealwebsitename.co.uk, once the DNS propagation has finished.
Very long winded I know but any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Ok - I will do the best I can to answer these 8-)
Please can someone help me to clarify what issues i might have when
the hosting company changes the DNS settings to point away for the
current old site (basic html) and to the new WordPress version of the
web site?
When you change your DNS - it's like moving into a new house.
The whole building can change - so it sounds like you're leaving a Windows environment for a Linux environment. Which is cool.
What happened on the old site - should not really impact the new site OTHER than the fact that search engines will still try to remember the old sites structure. It will take time for the search engine to realize that things have changed and that pages are new or missing.
301 Redirection can help with this.
Both sites are with the same hosting company (I cannot change hosts or
hosting names now, my client and the hosting company are long term
business partners). I think the server that the current live website
is unable to host WordPress. So they set up another server for
WordPress and called it something completely different.
Old website address http://www.therealwebsitename.co.uk Current
Location of new WordPress site on hosting server:
http://test.blahsystems.co.uk
I think this bit is important!! The new website is on a Windows Server
and uses pretty perma links and also the .html pages plugin. There are
also some redirects going to 7 pages on the old site. Everything is
currently working ok.
WordPress can use permalinks. If you have moved pages around - like mysite.com/about-us and it's not called mysite.com/about - you will need to create a 301 Redirect to let search engines know.
Nest week the hosting company are going to change the DNS settings to
point to the new website http://test.blahsystems.co.uk which will
hopefully become the new website with the new address of
http://www.therealwebsitename.co.uk
The hosting company have also said that I should not have used
Permalinks at the moment because once the DNS is pointed to the new
site the links will have become permanent (well I had already set up
permalinks before they told me). I have not used the full address when
making any links within the site.
I don't think using permalinks will cause a problem. They aren't "permanent". Nothing is - it's all in a transient state.
Will the 'Find & Replace' plug-in on the database still work ok to
make any required changes? I am confused as to how the DNS change
actually works, will this affect what the links are called in the
database or can I still change them from:
http://test.blahsystems.co.uk to http://www.therealwebsitename.co.uk
Sounds like this plugin is outside of the WordPress install? If so - it should still work.
If it's a plugin your hosting provider is giving you, then there should be no problems.
I presume I will need to change the Word Press address and site
address in the settings panel to http://www.therealwebsitename.co.uk,
once the DNS propagation has finished.
Yes, make sure to update your General Settings prior to the site going live so you don't have any down time.

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