Multisite on subdomain

  • I’m working on a subdomain install (as a staging site — for reference, let’s call it: staging.organization.org ) and I’ve installed multisite on it via the wp-config and htaccess files, and then ftp.

    In terms of the admin area – it looks like multisite setup was a success. I set up the network as per the instructions. my main site and dashboard still work, no issue, and I can “add sites” just fine, and I get confirmation emails telling me the subsite was set up.

    However, when I go to the dashboard for the site I just added (let’s call it “chapter1” in this url: chapter1.staging.organization.org) it goes to a page from verizon (my cable provider) telling me “It may be unavailable or may not exist. ” I cannot get a wp-admin login screen for the subsite.

    I’ve talked with my hosting provider multiple times, each with a different approach… I posted an “advanced ticket” and they said it was out of their scope, and I should talk to a senior developer… another person said I needed to register “chapter1” as a subdomain in cPanel. That seems easy enough, but how can I make sure it’s part of the multisite?

    I saw on this thread (https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/installing-wordpress-multisite-on-subdomain-with-sub-subdomains/ ) that I might need to set up wildcard. So I brought it up to the host but they said I needed SSL Lets Encrypt and they wouldn’t really offer any information (or effort) beyond simple answers. I’m not well enough versed (yet) to know all the right questions to ask… I just don’t know exactly how to approach this and solve it.

    Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated!

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  • Hi @raelwa. Sorry to hear that you’re having trouble. Multisite is a different kind of beast that a lot of hosting providers aren’t equipped to understand or handle, so unfortunately your experience is not completely unusual.

    When you first turn on multisite, it supplies recommended “rewrite rules” in a textarea, so as long as you were able to get those set up, you’re good there. Subdomain multisite installations do have specific rewrite rule requirements, so make sure you were able to do this.

    Next, you may have to “park” your subdomains, so that your hosting provider can setup their back-ends to route those incoming requests to your WordPress installation. Usually, this happens through cPanel (like you mentioned) and the “parking” of it is (I think) a pretty annoying relic of the way those hosting companies setup their networks. Honestly, this shouldn’t really be necessary anymore.

    Lastly, and speaking completely anecdotally, the WordPress multisite support can be pretty lacking from hosting providers, which eventually forces most people that need to use it onto more specialized hosting (from companies like Linode, DigitalOcean, or the like.) As you can imagine, this requires a whole other level of technical proficiency, which can be pretty intimidating just to run a few WordPress sites together from one installation.

    TL;DR: try parking your subdomains in cPanel, and pray for rain. If that works, you’ll probably be OK for a while, as long as you remember to do that for every new site you create.

    Thread Starter raelwa

    (@raelwa)

    Hey thank you for this response! I appreciate your explanation. Out of all the responses I’ve received as a whole on this issue, this one is the most straightforward, honest, and the only one with “on the same team” vibes. Thank you.

    However, to make my life easier, I’m going to buy a domain to do my staging on. I think multisite install on a subdomain is just too much for WP (or my host, or a combo, plus myself) to handle right now. And it’ll be easier when it comes time to launch the site on the real domain.

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