creating a multisite installation – 1st time…

i think there is something i am not understanding about domain mapping…

Is it not possible to do when a site already exists? Does it only work with a “parked” domain which points to one’s main multisite installation?

In which case, will my site need to be “down” while i first point it to my new multisite installation and then once it is all set up correctly i import my old site into the new installation?

Is there no way of doing this without down time?

thanks…

If you use Multisite, you can do this without downtime.

1) You have WP at mysite.gr, great! Turn on Multisite (use subdomains)

2) Create a subsite (en.mysite.gr) and get it working, make it look right.

3) Use a domain mapping plugin – https://www.ads-software.com/extend/plugins/wordpress-mu-domain-mapping/ – and map mysite.com to your EN site.

4) Park the domain mysite.com on top of mysite.gr (NOT the en site, the main site). This means you have to edit the DNS and tell your server. Your host can help with this, but be specific and tell them “I want anyone who goes to mysite.com to end of up mysite.gr” – You DO NOT have to explain Multisite at this point ??

5) Toast your success.

thank you so much Mika!
I will do as you say and let you know!
one last question for now, if i use domain mapping, does this affect SEO in any way?
also, i currently have mysite.gr set up so that i am using only one version, the https://www.mysite.gr version and NOT the mysite.gr version ( because i had to do some redirects and from my reading i understood that one had to choose which one to use and since i was used to using www. in links etc i chose that version…

Was this the wrong thing to do? i see from other posts at times things about not having the www in front of domain name…

Is any of this relevant here for multisite or is there anything i should be aware of with this before i go any further with building my sites etc , any explanation or help you can offer about this is APPRECIATED…. thank you so much!

Hey Mika, i began the process and then i got what i said above.. specifically, it said:

We recommend you change your siteurl to mysite.gr before enabling the network feature. It will still be possible to visit your site using the www prefix with an address like https://www.mysite.gr but any links will not have the www prefix

How do i do this?

Also, it then says that :

Because your install is not new, the sites in your WordPress network must use sub-domains. The main site in a sub-directory install will need to use a modified permalink structure, potentially breaking existing links.

and this worries me, i am not sure what the implications are so i have not done it yet… does this mean that my existing site that i am changing into a multisite site will have changed/broken links – is this something i can then fix and why/how will the permalinks be modified ?

thank you so much for your help, i am completely new to this part and there is so much to learn and so much confusion it seems!

Go BACK to mysite.gr and go to WP Admin -> Settings -> General

Make your HOME and SITE urls to https://mysite.gr (yes, both)

Then you’re good ??

Because your install is not new, the sites in your WordPress network must use sub-domains. The main site in a sub-directory install will need to use a modified permalink structure, potentially breaking existing links.

Remember how I said ‘Use Subdomains’? This is why. Use Subdomains ?? There is NO change to your URLs if you use subdomains.

Mika, you are awesome, thank you so much for taking the time to explain and all your invaluable help! reminds me what an awesome place the internet and communities are…

Hey Mika, because i had already moved too far forward to go back and change https://www.mysite.gr to mysite.gr in the admin panel as you said, i basically re-uploaded my whole site from my backup files so that i could start again from scratch… ok so far but when i go to set up multisite is says that there is already a network installed and that

“Please complete the configuration steps. To create a new network, you will need to empty or remove the network database tables.”

So what do i do now?? Do i just go ahead and do the steps it tells me to do ( add the code to my wp-config.php and .htaccess files OR do i first have to remove the already existing network database tables – either because they will obstruct something or because they include the www. when i don’t want them to… ??? If i do need to remove them or do something with them, where do i find them???

thank you!

I hope you understand my question… thank you again!

I had this ‘remove the network database tables’ even with a fresh install. Check the permissions of your file in the WordPress directory.

I fixed this issue by making all the files owned by the user (and group) Apache runs under (www-data).

thanks sontru, i am not sure what file exactly to check the permissions for – and what should the permissions be and which file?

and i don’t understand your second paragraph at all, sorry, I am beginner…

I mean all the WordPress files and directories.

What system is your install running on? Unix, Linux or something else… Do you have command line access? If so perform an ‘ls -la’ on the WordPress root directory and see who owns the files.

“Please complete the configuration steps. To create a new network, you will need to empty or remove the network database tables.”

https://wpmututorials.com/how-to/how-to-disable-multisite/ ??

Mika, you are a shining *star*, thank you…

i don’t understand these couple of things:

Restore the .htaccess file to the default.

how do i do this? from wordpress admin area?

Once the multisite lines are gone from the config file, you can usually restore these by resaving the permalinks.

why would i want to restore them if i want them gone?

Drop these global tables in the database:
wp_blogs
wp_blog_versions
wp_registration_log
wp_signups
wp_site
wp_sitemeta

where do i find these, via ftp? are they in wp-content?

thanks you so much!

Restore the .htaccess to what it was originally. We keep a copy here: https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Using_Permalinks#Creating_and_editing_.28.htaccess.29

Once the multisite lines are gone from the config file, you can usually restore these by resaving the permalinks.

You read that wrong. It means “Once you remove the multisite lines, you can restore the .htaccess to the PRE MULTISITE version by saving permalinks…”

The DB tables are in your database, just like it says.

thanks Mika, i got it sorted, even though i didn’t know what and where databases are/were… i know where they are and how to “drop” them now.. so multisite is now working for me! thanks!

Yay! ??