Best practice for designing sites on xampp local host for multiple sites

  • Hi there.

    I’m relatively new to all of this so please bear with me.

    I recently set up xampp multisite on windows desktop so I could test out new themes and also build or redesign new sites for clients. I wanted the ability to do this for more than one website I am working on at a time. So I could work on more than one at once.

    I used the multisite set up so I could have all of the sites I want to work on, within one WordPress install however I am thinking that might not be the ideal set up for my needs. Should I even be using a multisite WordPress setup on xampp?

    I am planning on using the local host to work on the websites and then migrate them to a live site. (I would do this manually most likely.)

    What I really need to know is this: What is the best setup for me to download a single live website, update and tweak it locally in the testing environment and then migrate just that one individual site back up to the live sute.

    Ideally, I would like to keep copies of the sites on my local xampp WordPress install so I can continue to upgrade and add to them and then just upload them to the live sites when I want to update them again.

    Can I do that within a multisite testing environment?

    One article suggested that I would need multiple but separate WordPress installs locally to prevent issues with the import/export of the database.

    Can I even do that? Wasn’t aware it was an option. How can I set it up so I would have separate local WordPress installs for each separate site I am working on? Is it as simple as creating a new database for each WordPress install on xampp in phpmyadmin?

    It is my understanding from what I have been reading, that if I try to upload a single site from my current multisite testing xampp setup to a live host it would copy the whole multisite database (meaning all the sites I am working on) and not just the data for the individual site.

    Am I understanding that correctly?

    Hope this isn’t too confusing.
    Any help is certainly appreciated.
    Hope you are all well.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

  • A Network (multisite) is not what you want. The settings, and set up is differnt enough to make it a huge pain to import and export individual sites.

    If you’re going to use XAMMP, one of the best things to do is set up DNS hosts in your computers hosts file and point those towards individual folders that will hold individual websites. There’s other options like Local By Flywheel, so I’d also recommend exploring those as well.

    Thread Starter aquariusrising68

    (@aquariusrising68)

    Hi catacaustic,
    So you mean I should set up virtual hosts and then the separate websites will each be in a different database, correct? (Which will make it easier to migrate to live?)

    I did look into the Local by Flywheel program but have read about the virtual hosts and if I can just do it with separate virtual hosts that would be great.

    I have another question, is it easier for me to just uninstall the current WordPress multisite install and start over? I know I can also just go into the files and change it back to not support multisite but I just want the easiest way to start over with a single site WP install. Would use that one for my own main site and then would set up the virtual hosts and install separately on those for any other sites I am working on.
    Is that correct?
    (P.S. I haven’t really worked on any of the sites I set up in the multisite WP install, So no worries about loss of data.)

    Thanks for your help.
    Much appreciated.

    So you mean I should set up virtual hosts and then the separate websites will each be in a different database, correct? (Which will make it easier to migrate to live?)

    YES.
    Details on configuring virtual host here:
    https://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/vhosts/
    And putting the domain name into your “hosts” file, details here:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_%28file%29

    is it easier for me to just uninstall the current WordPress multisite install and start over?

    No real need, I would not bother, just keep the multisite around till you need it.

    Truly when you get experience with the virtualhost technique, you will be able to do things like download a client site (files and database), experiment upon it, fix it, then either do the same fix on the live site or upload it. Switch between local and live by commenting out the name in the hosts file.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
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