In this article we will learn about WordPress multisite there are many situation where we can use this feature of WordPress we also tell about its advantage as well as disadvantages. Sometime one question will arise in your mind that how big organization manage their large website so in this post we will show you how to setup and install WordPress multisite as large organization used this feature of wordpress on there website network after following this article you can confidently manage multiple WordPress site by yourself.
What is WordPress Multisite Network? It’s Advantages and Disadvantages
A WordPress Multisite Network means you can manage multiple WordPres site from single WordPress Installation by the help of Multisite you can create new sites and manage them using the same username and password. By the help of this feature you can allow other users to signup and create their own blog in your WordPress Multisite Network using your domain name.
What are the Advantages of using WordPress Multisite Network ?
Here we list some common benefit of using WordPress multisite network as given below
- Network Admin can easily manage multiple WordPress site from a single dashboard area.
- Each Admins can manage their own WordPress site as each site’s can have its own admins in WordPress Multisite Network.
- You can easily manage your WordPress Updates for all your WordPress multisite as you only need to update its plugin and themes from one install.
- You can install themes and plugins on mupltiple sites with one download.
What are the Disadvantages of using WordPress Multisite Network?
Here we list some common disadvantages of using WordPress multisite network as given below
- When your main site will down all other site’s in network will also down as all are sharing same resources on the network.
- If your site will hack this mean all other site in network will get hacked.
- May be some WordPress Plugin will not work properly on multisite network.
- If you are a beginner level user than it is difficult to manage server in case of unexpected traffic.
Who Can Use WordPress Multisite Network
Here we will show some example that who needs a WordPress Multisite Network if you are not comfortable with multisite network install you can also use service like ManageWP or InfiniteWP to manage multiple WordPress site.
Here we list who can use WordPress Multisite Network
- A business site with sub-sites for different location.
- A news or magazine site so that its different section can be managed by different teams.
- School and colleges can use this if they allow there student to create their own blog on school or colleges servers.
- Government sites can use multisite for different departments and locations.
- You can also use multisite network to running your own blog network.
What are the Requirements for a WordPress Multisite Network?
The first and important thing require for multisite network is a good hosting there are different-different kind of hosting like shared hosting, VPS (virtual private server), dedicated hosting and cloud hosting.According to your need you can use one of the hosting type.
You can choose among Bluehost, HostGator, SiteGround and Inmotion Hosting all are good and managed hosting for WordPress CMS.
Apart from hosting you will also need to learn installing wordPress and editing ,uploading and downloading files through FTP.
What Domain Structure we can use for WordPress Multisite Network
There are two types of domain structure known as subdomains or sub-directories for example
- Http:// site.example.com (Sub-Domain Structure)
- Http :// example.com/site/ (Sub-Directories)
If you choose sub-domain for your multisite network website then you will have to configure wildcard domains in your server .You can look at the following example to configure wildcard domains in your server.
Go to your web hosting account then go to your cPanel dashboard ,scroll down to domains section and click on the subdomains.
After that you will see a screen like below image now you need to enter * sign in the subdomain field and select your main domain from the drop down menu and make sure your document root will be /public_html/ and now click on create button to add wildcard subdomain.
And if you choose sub-directories structure for your multisite network website then you have to enable pretty permalinks on your root site.
How to Enable WordPress Multisite Network Feature
Multisite Network feature comes built in each WordPress install.After installing WordPress in normal way you can enable this feature.
You can also enable WordPress Multisite Network on your existing WordPress site but before you enable it you have to take backup of your WordPress site.
To enable multisite network log into your server and edit the wp-config.php file using ftp program or inbuilt editor provided by your hosting company.
Now add following code into your WordPress site’s wp-config.php file just before the line /*That’s all stop editing! Happy blogging. */ line.
/* Multisite */
define( ‘WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE’, true );
Save the file and upload back to your server now you have enable the multisite feature in your WordPress site you can look it this option under dashboard by going to Tools » Network Setup.
How to Set Up the Multisite Network
After Enabling the multisite network for your WordPress site it’s time to set up your network but before you set up you need to deactivate all your plugins after that go to tools > Network Setup after that you will see a screen like below image
You will see a notice about installation of Apache’s mod_rewrite module in your server to setup multisite network although it is already installed most of the hostings so go ahead and choose your domain structure from give list you can choose sub-domain or sub-directories structure.After that you have to enter title for your network and email address make sure about your email now click on install button to proceed.
Now on the next screen you will see some rules you need to copy and paste them into your wp-config.php file and .htaccess file.
How to Configure Network Settings
After setting up the multisite network it’s time to configure network settings like add new site, menu settings, upload settings and lots of other task.Go to your main network site click on Network Admin > Dashboard under My Sites menu.
After that you will see a dashboard widget which allow you to add new user and new site as like below screen.
To configure network setting go to settings section in your admin panel on that screen enter your network title and email address you already filled these fields during network setup.
Now we will look at some common required settings to configure multisite network
How to Open Multisite Network for Registrations
Registrations settings is very important in your network setup by default the user and site registration will disabled on the network.You can select which type of registration you want for your network site among different option like you choose to open your site for user registration,or existing users can add new site option or allow both user and site registration see the below image.
There are lots of other thing you can do with this setting like receive email notification every time when a new user or site is registered.
There is one other option for Limited Email Registration it will allow you to limit site or user registration to email address from specific domain then you have to add those domains in this filed it is useful when you only want to allow people from your organization to create sites or users.You can also block some domain from this section.
Similarly you can configure more setting like new site setting upload setting and menu setting
For example for new site settings you can modify the welcome emails and the content of post,page and comment.
In a similar way you can set up the upload setting like site upload space you can set it up according to your need ,upload file types which you want to allow in your network site and max upload limit size for a particular file.
On the other hand if you want to show plugins menu to site admins so that they can activate or deactivate a plugin on their individual site (but they can’t install new plugins) then enable administration menus under menu settings.
How to Add New Sites to Your WordPress Multisite Network
To add a new site in your multisite network go to site under Network Admin in the admin toolbar.
After that it will show you list of sites on your multisite network if there is no list available this means you have not add any new site till now to add a new site click on the Add New button .
After that you will see a screen like below image you have to enter site address (not full address only that part enter you want to use as sub-domain or sub-directories) now enter site title and admin email address (you will use this email address other than you are using at your multisite network website if this email address is not used by other users in your site then WordPress will create a new user and send the username and password details to the email address you enter).
Now click on Add Site button to complete the process.
How to Add Themes and Plugins to Your WordPress Mulltisite Network Website
Individual site admin can’t install themes and plugins on network website but as network admin you have to install themes on your multisite website to do that go to your main site and go to My Sites > Network Admin > Themes
now you will see a currently installed themes on your WordPress multisite you can make them available to other site owner then you have to enable network under theme in a similar way you can also deactivate them.
In a similar way you can install plugins for other site admin to do that go to My Sites > Network Admin > Plugins.
Note if you have checked the Plugins menus available to site admins as we told about this topic earlier in Network Settings then individual site admins can also activate or deactivate the plugins.
What issue May occur in WordPress Multisite Setup and How to Troubleshoot Them
Mostly two issue may occur when you install and setup WordPress multisite network ,the most common issue is related to incorrect configuration of wildcard subdomains for solving this issue make sure your webhost supports wildcard subdomains.
Another issue is related to sub-directories structure (as users will unable to login into the admin area of their website after they add multisite enabling code in wp-config.php file) to solve this issue follow below steps.
Replace
define(‘SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL’, false);
with following code
define(‘SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL’, ‘false’);
Follow this lesson if you want to try a multisite business for your next project we hope it will help you to understand little bit about WordPress multisite network. Please share your thoughts on this post by comment section.
