800 Tables for 6 sites in a single WP Multisite

What is the table prefix set to in your wp-config.php file?

The prefix is set to “wp_”

SiteA.com and SiteB.com is WP with multidomains, not WP Network with subdomain sites like sitea.domain.tld, siteb.domain.tld. For multidomains you need Multiple domains with multisite. So what is your goal?

I see entries for plugins
redirection from wp.org
wpss a quiz form from wp.org
terms from wp.org
woocomerece from woothemes
I think the rest of the table entries are from WP core

Here is an example of the option names
I created all of the sites shown. I did not do any edits in the tables. All entries were created via WP multisite.

wp_2_options siteURLs of https://www.alevee.com/testplugins111112/
wp_y_2_options siteURLs of https://www.alevee.com/testplugins111112/
wp_Z_y_2_options siteURLs of https://www.alevee.com/testplugins111112/

wp_3_options siteURLs of https://www.alevee.com/umamiis/
wp_y_3_options siteURLs of https://www.alevee.com/umamiis/
wp_z_y_3_options siteURLs of https://www.alevee.com/umamiis/

wp_4_options siteURLs of https://www.alevee.com/thebestdrummers/
wp_y_4_options siteURLs of https://www.alevee.com/thebestdrummers/
wp_z_y_4_options siteURLs of https://www.alevee.com/thebestdrummers/

wp_6_options siteURLs of https://www.alevee.com/miningfor/
wp_y_6_options siteURLs of https://www.alevee.com/miningfor/
wp_z_y_6_options siteURLs of https://www.alevee.com/miningfor/

Have a great day.

What on earth…

No. WordPress makes these:

wp_options == https://www.alevee.com/

wp_2_options == https://www.alevee.com/umamiis/

and so on. Anything with wp_y_ and wp _z_y_ is something ELSE.

Glad you sent the urls. So your goal is WP subfolder Network then? I have only ever seen WP Network ‘core’ create about 7 extra tables per site added, and always wp_#_????. I think the Single site tables are about 11, and the Network tables add about another 7. So with 6 sites you should have around 60 tables.
What are some of the ‘z’ and ‘y’ numbers? Are all the wp_…6 tables deleted when you use Net admin to delete site 6? Back it up first if you need to.
Try disabling all plugins, and create another site. Does ‘WP’ still create about 100 tables for the site?

This is a WP multisite.
After I disable the plugin how long does it take for the tables to be removed.

I also tested removing all the tables that have more than a single number prefix (e.g. wp_2_ group of names or wp_10_ group of names I kept). The sites seem to work fine. I could not find anything that crashed. That is why I am asking what happens when you delete table names like these.

Maybe this example will help.

I figured out the following association.

All the option files that start have a 2 furthest to the right
all have the same siteurl.
For example, these all have the same siteurl name as wp_2_options
wp_2_options
wp_3_2_options
wp_4_2_options
wp_5_2_options
wp_6_2_options
wp_7_2_options
wp_8_2_options
wp_8_3_2_options
wp_8_4_2_options
wp_8_5_2_options
wp_8_6_2_options
wp_8_7_2_options
wp_10_2_options
wp_10_3_2_options
wp_10_4_2_options
wp_10_5_2_options
wp_10_6_2_options

Second example, these all have the same siteurl name as wp_7_options
wp_7_options
wp_8_7_options
wp_10_7_options

Is there a time and date stamp in the database to findout which one is the most recent?

Can duplicate table entries be deleted?

Have a great day.

“This is a WP multisite” only tells us we are in the right forum. Disabling a plugin should NEVER delete tables. I get the ‘correlation.’ Time/Date stamps I’ll leave you to look for. You have a larger problem and I’m focusing on that. I really need answers to the questions I posted.

I think I understand most of your questions. See if this helps.

Glad you sent the urls. So your goal is WP subfolder Network then?
I set this up a few months ago at Godaddy hosting…so I believe it is a multisite with subfolders.

I think the Single site tables are about 11, and the Network tables add about another 7. So with 6 sites you should have around 60 tables. That sounds far more reasonable then the 800 or so I have. The single site number I have are 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, and no number for the primary site.

What are some of the ‘z’ and ‘y’ numbers? I sent an example.

Are all the wp_…6 tables deleted when you use Net admin to delete site 6?
Earlier today I backed up and then deleted all table entries that had a series of numbers, keeping only the ones with wp_x_name. To the best of my limited knowledge everything worked fine. I then restored the old database so this issue could be trouble shooted.

Try disabling all plugins, and create another site. Does ‘WP’ still create about 100 tables for the site? No. Most of the additional sites end with 2. Here is a tally
14 entries that start with wp_2_
14 entries that start with wp_3_2_
29 entries that start with wp_3_
14 entries that start with wp_4_2
29 entries that start with wp_4_
14 entries that start with wp_5_2
20 entries that start with wp_5_
14 with wp_6_2
29 with wp_6_
14 with wp_7_2
29 with wp_7_
23 with wp_8_2_
14 with wp_8_3_2_
29 with wp_8_3_
14 with wp_8_4_2_
29 with wp_8_4_
14 with wp_8_5_2_
20 with wp_8_5_
14 with wp_8_6_2_
29 with wp_8_6_
14 with wp_8_7_2_
29 with wp_8_7_
29 with wp_8_
23 with wp_10_2_
14 with wp_10_3_2_
29 with wp_10_3_
14 with wp_10_4_2_
29 with wp_10_4_

The primary site, single number site 10 (e.g. wp_10_), and single number site 13 (e.g. wp_13_) do not have multiples.

Have a great day.

“I set this up a few months ago at Godaddy hosting…so I believe it is a multisite with subfolders.” It is important to KNOW. If you don’t know, you can’t even begin to read the documentation that applies to your WP Network. You keep referring to multisite. Are you in fact working with WP 3.5.1? Here’s one way to KNOW which of the 2 WP Network options you chose. Assuming this line has not been changed since the Network install, what does the line in your wp-config read?
define('SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL', ????);
You still haven’t stated your goal. Are you cool with the SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL setting in the above line?
“Earlier today I backed up and then deleted all table entries that had … “
Did you mean you deleted tables as opposed to table entries? Did you do that directly on the database or did you use Network Admin like I asked? My goal is to find out if WP, when it deletes a site, can delete the aprox. 100 very same tables that it creates when you add a site.
“No. Most of the additional sites end with 2. Here is a tally” Totally missed my point. Let me try again. Disable all plugins. Count the tables in your database (db). Add a site. Recount the tables in your db. How many tables were added by adding a site, with all plugins disabled.

How many of your sites have content worth saving? You might want to export that content and start over.

Again I want to thank you for your assistance. I am sure you and I both wish I knew more to make this easier.

“I set this up a few months ago at Godaddy hosting…so I believe it is a multisite with subfolders.” If you don’t know, you can’t even begin to read the documentation that applies to your WP Network. It is important to KNOW. The site was set up for subfolders.

You keep referring to multisite. Are you in fact working with WP 3.5.1? yes and I setup the sites as a superadministrator in the network administration portion of the WP 3.5.1.

Here’s one way to KNOW which of the 2 WP Network options you chose. Assuming this line has not been changed since the Network install, what does the line in your wp-config read?
define(‘SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL’, ????);
I found the following section of text I installed when I activated mulitsite.
1) define (WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE’, true);
2) define (‘MULTISITE’, true);
3) define(‘SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL’, false);
4) $base=’/’;
5) define (DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE’; ‘www.alevee.com’);
6) define(‘PATH_CURRENT_SITE’, ;’/’);
7) define (‘SITE_ID_CURRENT_SITE’, 1);
8) define (‘BLOG_ID_CURRENT_SITE’, 1);

You still haven’t stated your goal. While storage is not a problem, I do not think I have a healthy WP installation if I have 800 table names entries. My primary goal is to have a good clean installation. My second objective is to understand what has happenend so it can be fixed and not repreated.

Are you cool with the SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL setting in the above line? I think so. Did I answere your question.

“Earlier today I backed up and then deleted all table entries that had … ” Did you mean you deleted tables as opposed to table entries? Earlier today before I met you, I went into the database (not Network admin) and deleted all the table lines that started with wp_ and had more than 1 number designation (e.g. wp_z_y_x_ or wp_z_y_). I kept all the wp_x_ ones. The primary sites and the network sites all seem to work fine. For troubleshooting purposes I restored the database with all 800 entries.

Did you do that directly on the database or did you use Network Admin like I asked? My goal is to find out if WP, when it deletes a site, can delete the aprox. 100 very same tables that it creates when you add a site. This weekend (again before we I met you) because I observed that all the wp_z_y_2, wp_z_2, and wp_2 options show a siteURL of https://www.alevee.com/testplugins111112/ I deleted this site using Network Admin (not through the database). After Network Admin deleted the site the data base still has table entries with wp_z_y_2, wp_z_2, and wp_2. In the options entry for wp_z_y_2, wp_z_2, and wp_2 the siteURL is https://www.alevee.com/testplugins111112/. This is after I deleated the site testplugins111112 through the Network administrator.

“No. Most of the additional sites end with 2. Here is a tally” Totally missed my point. Let me try again. Disable all plugins. Count the tables in your database (db). Add a site. Recount the tables in your db. How many tables were added by adding a site, with all plugins disabled. I will do this and followup with a response. I thought I would respond to your other questions ASAP.

How many of your sites have content worth saving? You might want to export that content and start over. I have 8 sites.

While WPMUDEV claims that New Blog Templetes plugin would not do what we are observing, I used this plugin to make sites in the network and then deactivated the plugin at the network administration level. I asked them “Question, will New Blog Templates create duplicates like I have? While I may be guilty of operator error, I think New Blog Templates copied the database over, per my instructions, and WP did something to avoid duplicate names. Is this possible?” WPMUDEV responded with No and NO. I thought maybe this was the source of the duplicate entries.

Have a great day. Thank you again for working me through this.

Cool. Waiting for your follow up. It’s starting to smell like a plugin issue. Repose the question to wpmudev asking something like, “Hey, I’m using your plugin, adding a site, and getting about a 100 tables added to my database. What am I doing wrong with your plugin?”

I do not think WPMUDEV agrees with this. Before contacting www.ads-software.com I asked for their assistance because I paid for it. I was not finding answers to help me with the above goals, in part because I did not understand the questions. In a quest to find out what happenend to my tables and to fix the problem, I decided to turn to www.ads-software.com. Thus, we started our indepth trouble shooting discussion. And once again, I thank you. Here is a link to what took place at WPMUDEV. https://premium.wpmudev.org/forums/topic/800-tables-for-6-sites-in-a-wp-multisite-installation. It is still open and I am hoping that they may have a solution. Hopefully, short of starting over, there is a clear reason why there are so many tables.

If you don’t understand questions you have to let the asker know. OK, let’s see what happens with: Disable all plugins. Count the tables in your database (db). Add a site. Recount the tables in your db. How many tables were added by adding a site, with all plugins disabled

Here are the numbers.
1) After deactivating all plugins, I created a site and 9 tables were created starting with wp_14_. I then deleted the site and the 9 tables were erased.
2) After reactivating plugins, I created a site and 9 tables were created starting with wp_15. As I edited the site, additional tables were created. I then deleted the site and the original 9 tables were deleted but many tables with wp_15 remained.
3)Since I have a backup, I then deleted all of my sites, except the primary site. 744 tables remained in the database with 48 starting with wp_. The other remaining tables started with wp_x, wp_y_x, or wp_z_y_x. Where x y and z are numbers.

Have a great day.