A lot of people that are involved in the WordPress community have heard of WordPress Multisite. Technicians, Web Developers and those in related fields know what we are referring to. The purpose of this article is to explain what it really is, as simply as possible.
What is WordPress Multisite
WordPress Multisite is a web platform with multiple WordPress sites. It combines one central website with multiple sub-domains. The use of it is suggested for Universities, which have multiple fields of teaching, Blog Providers – a perfect example would be WordPress.com – that have multiple bloggers where everyone can create their own blog or online classes. For historical reasons, WordPress and WordPress Multisite used to be separated, but now it comes as a plugin which makes things a bit more complicated.
This will be a guide to set things up.
Steps of installation
Step 1: Preparation of WordPress
First of all, WordPress has to be installed. It would be nice to have a backup of the file and databases saved, just in case something goes wrong.
Deactivation of all plugins is necessary.
Also, verify that all Permalinks are functional.
Step 2: Allow Multisite
To enable Multisite, first wp-config.php has to be configured. Open up wp-config.php with an editor and add the following line above the comments saying /* that’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging */.
Next time you log in you should see the Network Setup has been added beneath the tool bar.
Sub-Domains or Sub-Directories Configuration
Inside the Tools > Network Setup menu, you have to decide what kind of mode is more convenient for you to use. Be careful, because changing it back is NOT possible.
- Sub-domains
The use of Sub-domains requires the use of Wildcard DNS records. Ask your host if they can set them up for your site. Just to note, not all companies support this kind of function.
- Sub-directories
This is the simplest way to make it work. You don’t need any host company to do any setup for you and you are free to go. It is highly recommended.
After you decide what kind of mode you are going to run, click Install. Later on, a message will appear titled as Enabling the Network telling you what to do next. After the procedure is done, it would be wise to make a back-up before you proceed to the next step.
Before the end
Add the generated code from the Enabling the Network to the wp-config.php, and delete the line define
('WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE', true);
Also the same thing will be done to the .htaccess file copy/paste the generated mod_rewrite rules.
Save your new .htaccess file and re-upload it to the root of your website.
Setting up the plugin folder
Before any installation of a plugin, a plugin folder must be created. To do that, we create a folder inside wp-content with the name mu-plugins. After that, we give permissions to the folder at the number of 755. Without this, the plugin will not be able to be installed or downloaded.
This is pretty much it. An important point is that you are able to see the Network Admin and My site separated, inside my sites category.
Everything should now work properly.
Conclusion
Multisite WordPress is an important feature for those who own multiple sub-domains which are frequent cases in many applications. For any queries, questions, or comments to improve the article, I will be glad to discuss them with you.