Multisite / WordPress Network errors, details, screenshots

Domain Mapping means you turn subdomain.site.com into otherdomain.com – You’re not doing this, ditch it and walk away from it for now.

There is no Tools >> NetWork Admin when I log in as myself (screenshot). All I see is this (screenshot).

That’s not wrong. You see a link to Network Admin, that’s all you’re supposed to see. If you mean Tools -> Network STEUP, that’s here: https://codex.www.ads-software.com/images/7/75/network-create.png

see nothing saying I’m a Super Admin. The only way I can tell I’m a Super Admin is by going to My Sites >> Network Admin >> Users, and there, I can see I’m a Super Admin. (Screenshot)

This is normal. NOTHING says you’re a super admin, except the fact that you can actually go to MySite >> Network Admin. Only the super-admins can see that menu. You’re fine.

I do see my subdomain sites — but still, not Tools >> NetWork Admin. (screenshot)

There’s no such thing as Tools >> Network Admin. Don’t know where you got that idea to start with, and I can only guess you meant Tools >> Network Setup, see my first comment/

When I click on Dashboard in any of my subdomains, I receive a 404 Page Not Found error. Perhaps this is because I don’t have SSL installed on the others (yet). But I do have SSL installed on cases.natonalcdp.org, and I still receive a 404: (Screenshot)

The front side of the domain, cases.nationalcdp.org doesn’t work anymore.

NOW we have a problem! Yay! The source code shows it’s looking for this.

https://cases.nationalcdp.org/wp-content/plugins/ultimate-coming-soon-page/inc/template/dd_belatedpng.js

That page DOES exist, but I’m not sure if that’s right or wrong.

What I DO know is this: https://www.whatsmydns.net/#A/cases.nationalcdp.org

Two IPs? Not normal.

When I click on Dashboard in any of my subdomains, I receive a 404 Page Not Found error.

It’s not this: https://nationalcdp.org/wp-signup.php?new=sdsdsvcases

That’s expected for fake subdomains, and is good ?? what’s less good is it’s http, when you should be https all around.

My FTP utility looks like this: (Screenshot), with the subdomains creating folders in the /nationalcdp/ folder. When opening a folder, nothing is in there other than an empty /cgi-bin/ folder (Screenshot).

That’s not right at ALL. ALL of your subdomains need to point to where nationalcdp.org is – NOT their own subfolders.

Thank you for taking the time to reply, Ipstenu! We’re an anti death-penalty 501(c)(3) coporation and we supply services to indigent prisoners in need of such (as an FYI), but I did read all of your ideas.

I’ll make the changes you’ve hinted at and report back ASAP. I also e-mailed you from your about.com/ page, and on FB, with a different message, although I didn’t see the caveat on your personal page until just now, so perhaps that e-mail/msg should be disregarded.

Yes, https://nationalcdp.org/wp-signup.php?new=sdsdsvcases gives me a 404 not found. I think I need to SSL discuss, directory, and forums … if you’re referring to them as fake subdomains.

I would like the URL to look like directory.nationalcdp.org, discuss.nationalcdp.org, etc. …

Again, thanks, and I’ll report back when I figure out why I’m having two separate IP addresses, and make all the other changes.

I should note that with CloudFlare, you always have 2 separate IP addresses; it’s just the way they operate.

I just got off live chat with a BlueHost VPS technician … he basically said as follows:

1. Having 2 IP addresses is appropriate when you’re using CloudFlare; the A-records should still point to 192.163.194.201, which is my Server IP.
2. He told me to ditch all of the subdomains I created (directory, forums, discuss, etc.) and told me to just create the * (wildcard) subdomain in the directory where my WordPress installation is located (/public_html/nationalcdp/). I’m not sure if this is good information, however.
3. He then told me to scrap the separate SSLs, and just purchase a wildcard SSL instead; he said this was his recommendation, although it would require a few extra compexities.

So I’m doing all of those things right now, on the horn with namecheap.com and getting that wildcard SSL.

• I deleted the domain mapping plugin — which included the files sunrise.php and domain-mapping.php, since I don’t think I’m “mapping” any domains, but rather just creating a few subdomains.

Just one question — is there a reason I still don’t have Tools >> Network Setup on my dashboard? Did I do something wrong in setting this up?

I purchased a Wildcard SSL certificate for $100, installed it, and deleted the subdomains, per the BlueHost tech’s suggestion, and added this to my .htacess, per his suggestion:

# .htaccess WildCard SSL + wordpress + subdomain
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^forums.nationalcdp.org$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /$1
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^forums.nationalcdp.org$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(/)?$ forums/index.php [L]

# .htaccess WildCard SSL + wordpress + subdomain
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^dicuss.nationalcdp.org$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /$1
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^discuss.nationalcdp.org$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(/)?$ discuss/index.php [L]

# .htaccess WildCard SSL + wordpress + subdomain
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^directory.nationalcdp.org$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /$1
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^directory.nationalcdp.org$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(/)?$ directory/index.php [L]

# .htaccess WildCard SSL + wordpress + subdomain
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^cases.nationalcdp.org$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /$1
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^cases.nationalcdp.org$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(/)?$ cases/index.php [L]

# BEGIN WordPress
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]

# add a trailing slash to /wp-admin
RewriteRule ^wp-admin$ wp-admin/ [R=301,L]	

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^ - [L]
RewriteRule ^(wp-(content|admin|includes).*) $1 [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*\.php)$ $1 [L]
RewriteRule . index.php [L]

# END WordPress

Yes I’m at the same crossroads. No Tools >> Network Setup, and when I try to go to the dashboard of any subdomain (“fake subdomain”?), it returns a 404 page not found error.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

I guess I’ll delete the A-records and start adding CNAMEs and see if that works better.

After switching to CNAMEs instead of A-records, and deactivating https (and the WordPress HTTPS: plugin altogether), I’m finally able to see how Multisite is supposed to work, and I’m able to access all of my subdomain dashboards.

I should note that my objective is to have several subdomains — forums.nationalcdp.org, discuss.nationalcdp.org, cases.nationalcdp.org, etc., etc. …. but I’m thinking down the road, and I’d like for defense attorneys to want to list themselves in our directory. But I’d also like for visitors to be able to create their own blog, such as johndoe-lawfirm.nationalcdp.org. Based on this, is it (recommended) to use CNAMEs instead of A-records?

I did purchase a Wildcard SSL certificate, however, and there will be payments, contact forms, etc., so I’d like really the entire site to be SSL’d.

So I’m sure it has something to do with htaccess or the way things are set up in the WordPress HTTPS plugin. So now it’s all about trying to figure out how to get this SSL working properly.

Still working on it!

Appears to be fixed. I’ll post a fix in here once I figure out what I did to fix things.

But I can say for sure here are some of the things I needed to do:

1. Change all my A records to CNAMEs — in CloudFlare as well as BlueHost’s DNS records.
2. Deactivate WordPress HTTPS plugin (rename it in your host’s file manager of via your FTP client)
3. Change your site URL from https to http (go into your database via phpmyadmin and search in your _options table for it)
4. Go into my WHM (ask your host if you’re not on a VPS), and find the SSL certificate that was creating clashes with another SSL cert. Click Make Primary, so the multisite SSL is the primary SSL
5. Change the name of your WordPress HTTPS plugin back to normal
6. Log into your Multisite and go to your network plugins. Activate WordPress HTTPS.
7. Make sure your WordPress HTTPS is properly configured; for me, personally, I wanted everything SSL’d site-wide, so I just put a / in the textbox where it says Secure Filters >> URL Filters. See the screenshot for the rest of my WordPress HTTPS settings that worked.
8. Change your site name and all that back to https (I had to do it via phpmyadmin, since it doesn’t show up in my General Settings.
9. Forget about all that “mapping” stuff — at least in my case; none of it really applied to what I’m doing.
10. You might need to use the Search and Replace plugin after everything is done to tie up any loose ends. I just did a https://nationalcdp.org and replaced with https://nationalcdp.org and that fixed all the broken images within my WordPress admin.
11. My admin images are still broken for the subdomains, but it’s still easy enough to navigate for now. It’s nothing in my database, so I suppose I’ll just need a reboot or something to figure it out … might be an .htaccess thing; not sure.

That’s about what worked for me. The main thing was that the SSL certificate was clashing with another certificate on a completely separate domain; making the multisite domain the primary SSL domain in my Web Hosting Manager (WHM) was the main thing.

Then it’s just about configuring that WordPress HTTPS issue.

If anyone runs into a similar issue, hit me up and I’ll see if I can share things I learned.
Anyway, that’s what worked for me.