elowe1207

Just as an FYI, I found this: https://core.trac.www.ads-software.com/ticket/21573 which led me to the fix suggested here: https://frumph.net/2010/06/05/wordpress-3-0-multisite-subdomain-installation-noblogredirect-behavior-fix/

The fix in the last link is obviously dated… for example, I do not have a “mu-plugins” folder. But adding the line: remove_action( ‘template_redirect’, ‘maybe_redirect_404’ ); to my child theme functions page on my local site seems to work.

I know this is a month+ out, but I’m curious about the noblogredirect/404 issue.

I too have a multisite (subdomains) and originally defined noblogredirect as instructed on the network settings page when registration is disabled.

The good news is that I’m not having any of the 404s on the subdomains redirected; but the main domain is another matter… all 404s on the main redirect to the front page vs. the 404 page. This is an issue with Google, apparently, which is interpreting these as “soft 404s” – a no-no.

Deleting the noblogredirect definition fixes the problem on the local version of my multisite install – I get the expected 404 page on the main domain as well.

Thus, this seems like an obvious and easy fix… but before I make it live, I thought I’d better double check to see if there are any issues with this that I’m not seeing. I want to keep user registration disabled AND get a normal 404 response. And since this particular multisite is a reproduction of what used to be a static HTML site, there shouldn’t be any issues with users visiting a non-existent site – there are zero plans to alter the existing site structure.

Thoughts?

Yes, I know that content blocks can’t be shared across subdomains… I’m attempting to replicate the set up on the main domain on the subdomains – which is what’s not currently happening, lol.

I do have a web server with a multisite installation, however, it’s set up for subfolders, not subdomains – so if it worked there, I’m not sure that it would be much help at the moment. I’m building this install to replace an existing (and fairly large) static site, so I want to be able to add the ad codes as I incorporate the pages, so they’re in place when we go live.

Ah well, push comes to shove, I can write my own ad shortcodes and place them manually on the subdomains for now; then sort the issue out later. If the GCB works on the web server for the subdomains on the web server, I can replace my shortcodes, or simply use GBC going forward as new material is added. And if it doesn’t; I can still use GCB on the main domain (which is the largest – 500 posts/pages) – no harm, no foul.

I do have XAMPP installed on another machine, but haven’t used it for this (so far), since my colleague and I are separated by 2000 miles or so (he’s in Ontario, while I’m in SE WA state). Most of the work so far has been with rethinking site navigation, theme development, testing plugins etc., so his input has been vital. But it’s a thought… once we get all the visual and structural details nailed down, I could take it off the dev site, and do much of the “dirty work” of transferring and reviewing the site content behind the scenes.

Once again, many thanks for your insight.

LOL – no, I knew it was going to be ugly, it was just a matter of how ugly. But with site-by-site, “ugly” just equates to “time-consuming” – I can deal with that. It feels like a safer, saner approach than building it all locally and then trying to move it.

But thanks Mika: I appreciate the guidance. In particular, getting drunk looks like sound advice for “Stage 3.”

Totally OT, but I recently bought your two Kindle books on Multisite. Good stuff.