Duplicating / Cloning a Multisite Network

  • Hi, I would like to ask what is the best and most reliable method to clone/duplicate/backup an entire multisite network and easily import it to another server.

    If possible, it would be good to select a single sub-website within the network to clone and import.

    The main reason why I am asking is to avoid manually configuring the same websites, themes and plugins over and over, but instead, create a pre-configured site network and clone it on as many locations as I need.

    I found this plugin that should be able to do what I ask, but not totally sure it is a good solution or not: Duplicator Pro ( https://snapcreek.com/ ).

    Updraft seems not able to do it instead. Am I right?

    Any better option? Maybe free (avoiding manual involvement).

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • Moderator bcworkz

    (@bcworkz)

    The more automatic with little effort an export or clone app is, the less reliable it is. IMO ?? Especially if multisite is involved. I’ve not found any such solutions to be 100% reliable. I rely upon copying files via FTP and phpMyAdmin export/import to move/copy sites and it has never failed me. There is of course some manual involvement, but it’s not much. All the site settings are retained.

    It’s feasible to export only a sub-site’s tables and import them into another multisite installation. You may need to fiddle with the table name prefixes to match the new site’s table scheme. SQL export files are plain text, the adjustments can be done there or after import through phpMyAdmin.

    Thread Starter fab1987a

    (@fab1987a)

    It makes sense. Do you have a guide you think it fully cover this aspect you would like to share?

    I am not confident doing manual changes yet…

    Moderator bcworkz

    (@bcworkz)

    It’s essentially the same as making a backup, then restoring from backup, except you “restore” to a different server. That link only pertains to the DB. You also need to FTP the files. You need an FTP client to do so, the hosting account file managers are typically not suitable for bulk file operations.

    That exactly clones a site, but unless you’re moving sites to a different host and keeping the domain name, all the domain references in the DB need to be updated. See Moving WordPress. There are a few options for finding and replacing domain names, I like the Better Search Replace plugin, which is based on the Databases Script also mentioned in the previous link

    All that documentation makes this sound really complicated, but it really isn’t. Doing it the first time through does take some care and attention to detail. Once you’ve carefully gone through this once, I think you’ll agree that it’s not that complicated.

    @fab1987a Are you using cPanel with your current hosting company? If so, you can do a complete backup and use cPanel on the new server to replicate your backup with all your settings intact.

    Is it possible to “convert” a multi-site installation to a single site? I didn’t know what that I was setting up a new site as a multi, and now, really regret it. There’s only ONE site involved.
    If I made a backup, as @bcworkz mentioned, would it work to restore it into a single site?
    I’m on GoDaddy, using cPanel.

    Thanks

    Greg

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
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