Multistie, subdomains, domain mapping… arghhhh, help!

  • Right, ive followed many different threads and info on installing multisite and getting domain mapping working, and have having mixed success.. sometimes it seems to work, sometimes it wont!!

    Ive read that when setting up multisite, it must be installed at the root of the domain, Im not sure if this means whether or not it can be installed in the root of a subdomain?

    What I would like to achieve is this:

    Ok, I have my primary domain, but owuld like to run WordPress multisite from a subdomain blogs.mydomain.com and my additional blogs from subfolders;

    blogs.mydomain.com/blog1
    blogs.mydomain.com/blog2

    I then want to use domain mapping to point other domains to these blogs, such as

    https://www.mysite1.com > blogs.mydomain.com/blog1
    https://www.mysite2.com > blogs.mydomain.com/blog2

    However, when I try to go to https://www.mystie1.com it it ends up at blogs.mydomain.com and not to the subfolder blog.. Ive tried this using an addon domain redirectint to blogs.mydomain.com/blog1.

    Without parked, as expected, trying to go to https://www.mysite1.com takes me to the primary domain mydomain.com.

    Is what I am trying to achieve, actually achievable, or can I not set multisite up this way, must it be installed at the domain root, and not in a subdomain?

    Thanks

    EDIT:

    At the moment, I actually have no addons/parked etc for th edomain I want to use, but if I go to it, it goes to my blog1.mydomain.con site, which is where wordpress is installed… Im not actually quite sure how it is getting to this path, I would have expected it to simply go to my primary domain mydomain.com as dns sends it to the domains ip.

    Set up an parked domain for mysite2.com with no redirect, and it reaches to primary domain.

    Added a redirect to blogs.mydomain.com/blog1 but it just goes to the primary domain again! Im not sure how long such changes I make in cPanel should take, but I would assume they should be instant…?

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 17 total)

  • I just solved a similar problem of installing multisite capabilities this morning, and I agree that information is hard to find sometimes.

    Ive read that when setting up multisite, it must be installed at the root of the domain, Im not sure if this means whether or not it can be installed in the root of a subdomain?

    What I would like to achieve is this:

    Ok, I have my primary domain, but owuld like to run WordPress multisite from a subdomain blogs.mydomain.com and my additional blogs from subfolders;

    blogs.mydomain.com/blog1
    blogs.mydomain.com/blog2

    From what I understand, you cannot run multisite from a subdomain IF you wish to use subdomains for new sites. However, since you are planning to use subdirectories, I believe that will work fine. This distinction is made pretty clear here: https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Create_A_Network#Server_Requirements.

    I then want to use domain mapping to point other domains to these blogs, such as

    https://www.mysite1.com > blogs.mydomain.com/blog1
    https://www.mysite2.com > blogs.mydomain.com/blog2

    As for your second problem, I think you’re going about it the wrong way by using domain mapping to redirect traffic. If you’re using permalinks, which I think are required for multisite capabilities anyway, then you’d have a much easier time of it just using domain redirects (set these up through your webhost; if you’re running your own server, then you should probably already know how to do this) to link to the permalink for each blog’s home page.

    So, outside of WordPress entirely, you’d just set up a permanent redirect on each domain:

    https://www.mysite1.com > Permanent Redirect > blogs.mydomain.com/blog1
    https://www.mysite2.com > Permanent Redirect > blogs.mydomain.com/blog2

    Just make sure you’re using permalinks to blogs.mydomain.com/blog1, /blog2, etc.–they might be different than the obvious https://blogs.mydomain.com/blog1. I would set those blogs up first and find the permalink to each one, and (using a different web browser, like Firefox if you normally use IE; this prevents the site from recognizing you as still logged in as the super-admin) punch that permalink in to the browser to see if it takes you straight to the blog you want to link to. Make sense?

    Thread Starter drblogger

    (@drblogger)

    Thanks for your advice.. Ill go through it shortly…

    It was my understanding thet domain mapping (via the wp plugin) ensures that the URL visitors see is for example, https://www.mysite1.com and not the actual destinaiton url.. I assume simply using a redirect would show this?

    Ive just had a thought that Im actually trying to redirect to a subfolder which does really exist.. isnt it essentially a virutal subfolder created by WP?

    What gets me though, is Ive actually had this working, on and off, but its not consistant!

    Im actually thinking also that maybe I cant run multisite from a subdomain… would be good to have confirmaiton of this..

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    ?????? Advisor and Activist

    You SHOULD be able to map them using a plugin

    https://www.ads-software.com/extend/plugins/wordpress-mu-domain-mapping/

    I’m not sure how it’ll work off a subdomain install with subfolders, though…. SHOULD work.

    Thread Starter drblogger

    (@drblogger)

    Yep..thats the one Ive been playing around with…

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    ?????? Advisor and Activist

    You map domain2 via DNS whatver to blog.domain.com

    Then IN the blog.domain.com site, you point domain2.com to site /site2 ?

    Thread Starter drblogger

    (@drblogger)

    Cant even seem to get a simple redirect to work!!!

    added mysite.com as a parked domain and redirected to blog.mydomain.com and it simply goes to mydomain.com

    Driving me nuts!!

    Removed the parked domain, go to mysite.com and it goes to blog.domain.com.. wtf!!.. how??? Seems to be working when it shouldnt, and not when it should!!

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    ?????? Advisor and Activist

    added mysite.com as a parked domain and redirected to blog.mydomain.com and it simply goes to mydomain.com

    Don’t park it, then. Parking it adds it to mydomain.com. Instead, try setting via CNAME or ANAME.

    Ive tried this using an addon domain redirectint to blogs.mydomain.com/blog1.

    THAT is the problem. You do not point the mapped domains to the subfolders themselves.

    Point it at the main install.

    Thread Starter drblogger

    (@drblogger)

    Will have a look at the CNAME/ANAME suggestion.. I do have this working fine on another seperate domain I have, but this has the WP Multistie installed in the root of the primary domain, not a sub domain.. could this be the issue? Checking the config of this, this has no domain redirects, simply a parked domain which Im using for the primary domain map…

    I decided to start again, and go through each step more thoroghly – after solving some redirection problems (due to htaccess file in wrong directory!).. the site works fine without domain mapping enabled.

    blogs.mydomain.com (Primary domain with WP Multisite enabled)
    blogs.mydomain.com\blog1 (You guessed it, blog1!)

    mystie1.com (domain reditected to blogs.mydomain.com\blog1)

    If I set mysite1.com as the primary domain map for blogs.mydomain.com\blog1, I get a redirection error… presumerably due to the manual redirect I have been using while setting up the site and testing things.

    If I remove the manual redirect, going to mystie1.com simply takes me to my primary toot domain mydomain.com. So I tried a redirect to the blogs.mydomain.com which is the WP Multisite install dir, and yes, it directs me to this site when visiting mysite1.com but the address shows the actual destination url.

    Its like the manual domain redirect I have used is taking priority over the domain mapping. But having none at all takes me to my primary domain (not the WP Multisite sub).

    Thread Starter drblogger

    (@drblogger)

    Ok, removed all manual domain redirects.. at this point, using domian mapping, mysite1.com takes you to mydomain.com (root domain, not where WP is installed).

    Added cname for mysite1.com to point to blogs.mydomain.com, and like the redirect, it takes you to that site, but show the destination address not the mapped domain addresss mysite1.com

    Think I can only conlcude that the domain mapping plugin will not work if WP Multisite is installed in a subdomain!…

    Think I can only conlcude that the domain mapping plugin will not work if WP Multisite is installed in a subdomain!…

    yes it will. Like I said above, you;re not directing the domain properly to the right folder.

    If you cannot do that on your server, then that’s the issue. THe plugin can only handle the domain once they get to WordPRess. If they are going to the wrong folder – they aren’t even getting to the plugin.

    Thread Starter drblogger

    (@drblogger)

    Ive redirected mysite1.com to blogs.mydomain.com which is the root dir for the WP Multisite install, enabled domain mapping and set mysite1.com as primary domain, but when I go there, it still says original url (blogs.mydomain.com) in the address bar and not the mapped.. so the redirect is working to the root directoyr, but the drive map isnt…

    Ive also tried the redirect to blogs.mydomain.com/blog1 which is the actual desitnation url Im trying to map to, and again this gets there, but url is showing as destination address.

    If I remove redirects altogether, I get the root domain itself.

    So it looks like the redirect is wokring ok, but domain mapping is not doing its job…

    Thread Starter drblogger

    (@drblogger)

    Just gone through the working domain I have, where WP is installe in the root domain, not a sub.. there are no redirects setup, other than then dns entries you would expect to see pointing the names to the server IP…

    So I would assume by adding a redirect for the parked domain to the blogs.mydomain.com where WP in installed, this should work… the redirect works, if I go to mysite1.com it redirects to blogs.mydomain.com but the domain mapping isnt working… so the url doesnt say mysite1.com

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    ?????? Advisor and Activist

    If you want mysite1.com to run the content in mysite1.mydomain.com you DO NOT park the domain to the SUBSITE.

    You park it to the MAIN site.

    The plugin is what tells things to use which subsite.

    what kind of redirects are you putting in?

    If your main site is blogs.whatever.com, park or point the mapped domain on top of that.
    Map the domain inside wordpress and make it the PRIMARY.

    No redirecting anything.

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 17 total)
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