Exploring WordPress Multisite

Exploring WordPress Multisite@LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

About Your Presenter:Lisa Sabin-Wilson✤ Wisconsin (Go Pack!) Lisa Sabin-Wilson Author of books.✤ WordPress user since 2003 Designer of sites. Lover of WordPress.✤ Author since 2006 http://lisasabin-wilson.com @LisaSabinWilson✤ Twitter: @LisaSabinWilson Thanks for coming!

WordPress Books✤ WordPress For Dummies✤ WordPress All In One✤ WordPress Web Design For Dummies@LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

Exploring WordPress MultisiteRun multiple sites with ONE installation of WordPress@LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

Q&A Please hold questions until the end - there will be time!@LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

The Who, What & Why of WordPress Multisite@LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

What Is WordPress Multisite?? ✤ Multi Site is what allows multiple WordPress web sites to be powered off a single install. ✤ Your WordPress site is already Multisite capable out of the box, it just needs to be activated with a single line of code added to the wp- config.php ﬁle. ✤ WordPress.com is the largest and most prominent example of Multisite at work. WordPress.com hosts over 400K blogs in their network@LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

Why Use Multisite?✤ Run multiple sites with one installation of WordPress.✤ Saves time by upgrading multiple sites with one action.✤ Install plugins and themes only once for multiple sites.✤ Allow people to run a blog in your network.@LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

Who UsesMultisite??Developers / Programmers(a.k.a.: Geeks & Nerds)Generally speaking - they don’t really *use*Multisite - mostly they dive into Multisite inorder to tear it apart, break it and put it backtogether again so they know how it works.

Who UsesMultisite??Small Business OwnersSome business models require multiple sitesunder one roof. One such model is theWordPress Theme Shop - many theme shopowners use Multisite to provide demos oftheir themes.

Who UsesMultisite??The Owner of Multiple SitesPeople who own and operate more than oneor two web sites powered by WordPress willsometimes utilize the Multisite feature tomake their life easier (more about that later!)

Who UsesMultisite??Community ManagersPeople who host and manage onlinecommunities. In the past, this was limited todiscussion forums and maybe one blog. Nowthey host multiple blogs from multiple users,forums, member proﬁles and more.

MultisiteShowcaseWordPress.comhttp://wordpress.comThe largest example of Multisite at work.WordPress.com hosts over 400K blogs in theirnetwork

MultisiteShowcaseTeach For Ushttp://teachforus.orgTeach For Us is a successful example of usingWordPress in native multi-site mode. Thewell-designed site supports more than 800blogs.

MultisiteShowcaseNYTimes Blogshttp://nytimes.com/interactive/blogsThe more than 60 blogs at The New YorkTimes cover everything imaginable, rangingfrom arts to economics.

MultisiteShowcaseCUNY Graduate School of Journalismhttp://journalism.cuny.eduCUNY utilizes Multisite to spotlight studentwork from such areas as news, video, tech,television and more.

Exploring WordPress Multisite:Multisite Preparation@LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

Before You Dive Into MultisiteConsider what you’re getting yourself into

Running a BlogNetwork✤ Respect user privacy.✤ Increased responsibilities for the support needs of your community.✤ Manage spam and splogs.✤ Keep the server running smoothly.✤ Provide your users with the features they want....and features that keep them coming back!

ManagingMultiple Sites✤ It’s not impossible to go back to single user WordPress installations to manage your web sites - - but it ain’t easy either!✤ Learning curve ahead - prepare yourself to re-learn a few of the standard WordPress tasks that you have become used to.✤ Once a choice has been made on the URL structure (subdomain or subdirectory) - it is not easy to switch it. Thing this one through.

MultisiteHostingEnvironment How are you planning to use Multisite? A full blog network? A business venture? Managing just a few small sites?

MultisiteHostingEnvironment Web Hosting is an investment. If it is FAST and GOOD - it is not CHEAP.If it is FAST and CHEAP - it is not GOOD.If it is GOOD and CHEAP - it is not FAST.

MultisiteHostingEnvironment Shared Server: Multiple web sites hosted on a single server - sharing resources like CPU, Bandwidth, Memory and Space. Dedicated Server: One single web site hosted on one server. Does not share resources with other sites.

MultisiteHostingEnvironment Shared Server: Most economical. Dedicated Server: Most expensive.

MultisiteHostingEnvironment WordPress Multisite can be run on either a shared or dedicated hosting environment. Give strong consideration to the type of network you are running and if you can afford to share server resources.

MultisiteHostingEnvironment Community networks, inparticular, are resource intensive. When you invite users to utilize features on your site such aspublishing, uploading media andparticipating in community - you are doubling/tripling your resource use.As your community grows, so do your bandwidth, space and resource needs on your server.

MultisiteHostingEnvironment Control spam and splogs. Have a plan in place to combatspam and splog signups on yourcommunity. Spiders and bots can - and WILL - hit your site hard ifyou do not have controls in place. Spam and Splog problems can really eat up CPU’s on a server.

WordPress Multisite Requirements✤ Requires the basic WordPress installation on your hosting server: ✤ PHP version 5.2.5 or greater ✤ MySQL version 5.0 or greater ✤ Apache mod_rewrite (for pretty permalinks)@LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

WordPress Multisite Requirements✤ Make sure your hosting provider supports: ✤ Apache mod_rewrite (for pretty permalinks) ✤ Wildcard DNS This allows you to use the subdomain feature for Multisite. Wildcard domains allow you to use any word for the subdomain (that’s why its called “Wildcard”).@LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

WordPress Multisite PreparationSubdomain or Subdirectory??✤ The WordPress Multisite feature gives you two different ways to run a network of sites on your domain. You can use the subdomain option or the subdirectory option. The most popular option (and recommended structure) sets up subdomains for the sites created in your network.✤ SUBDOMAIN SUBDIRECTORY Main Site: Main Site: http://domain.com http://domain.comhttp://site1.domain.com http://domain.com/site1@LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

WordPress Multisite PreparationSubdomain or Subdirectory?? The decision to conﬁgure your Multisite environment with a subdomain orsubdirectory URL structure is up to you - but here are a few things to consider:✤ Subdomains require the Wildcard DNS.✤ Subdomains are seen as separate URLS in search engines, thus are given separate results.✤ Subdirectories are seen as ‘belonging’ to the main domain, they give more authority to the main domain.✤ Domain mapping? It doesn’t matter which URL conﬁguration you use.@LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

WordPress Multisite PreparationWildcard DNS WILDCARD DNS CONFIGURATIONEasy way out Ask your web host to do it for you. Less easy Add a subdomain to your account:(but still easy) *.yourdomain.com Edit the httpd.conf ﬁle on your Apache Not easy server@LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

WordPress Multisite PreparationWildcard DNS :: Ask Your HostAsking your web host to conﬁgure a Wildcard DNS for your hosting account Dear web host: I am installing WordPress Multisite on my hosting account and need to have a Wildcard DNS added for the following domain: mydomain.com. Please let me know if you can do this for me - or provide me with the steps I need to take. Thank you - Me.

WordPress Multisite PreparationWildcard DNS :: CPanel Add a subdomain to your hosting account: *.yourdomain.com

WordPress Multisite PreparationWildcard DNS :: WHM (Web Host Manager) Login to WHM Click icon for DNS Functions Click icon for Edit DNS Zone Select the domain you’d like to editUnder Add New Entries Below this Line, ﬁll in the ﬁelds so that they look like: * 14400 IN A 1.2.3.4 where 1.2.3.4 is the IP of the account@LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

WordPress Multisite PreparationWildcard DNS :: WHM (Web Host Manager) Edit the DNS Zone for your domain via WHM:

WordPress Multisite Preparation Wildcard DNS :: httpd.conf Edit the httpd.conf file on your Apache Web Server (if you have access and know what you are doing!)Log in as root and open the httpd.conf file (usually this file is located in /etc/ httpd/conf) with a text editor such as vim or nano. Then find the VirtualHost entry for the website. ..... @LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

WordPress Multisite PreparationWildcard DNS :: httpd.conf A VirtualHost entry will look something like this: <VirtualHost 67.15.245.5> ServerAlias www.yourdomain.com ServerAdmin webmaster@yourdomain.com DocumentRoot /home/yourdoma/public_html/you ServerName yourdomain.com User yourdoma Group yourdoma BytesLog /usr/local/apache/domlogs/yourdomain.com-bytes_log CustomLog /usr/local/apache/domlogs/yourdomain.com combined ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /home/yourdoma/public_html/you/cgi-bin/ </VirtualHost> .....@LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

WordPress Multisite PreparationWildcard DNS :: httpd.conf Change this line: ServerAlias www.yourdomain.com to this: ServerAlias *.yourdomain.com Save your changes. Restart Apache.@LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

Exploring WordPress Multisite:Enabling & Configuring Multisite@LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

Activating MultisiteGather the right tools✤ What you will need: ✤ A text based editor like Notepad (PC) or Textmate (Mac) ✤ Access to your web server via FTP@LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

Activating Multisitewp-config.php✤ Connect to your web server via FTP✤ Locate and download: wp-config.php (located in the root directory of your WordPress install)✤ Open wp-config.php in your text editor of choice✤ Find this line: define(‘DB_COLLATE’);✤ Add this line on the next line: define (WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE, true ) ;@LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

Activating Multisitewp-config.php

Activating Multisitewp-config.php✤ Save your edited version of wp-config.php✤ Upload it to your server via FTP, replacing the original one.@LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

Activating MultisiteNetwork Setup✤ Note the new menu item in your WordPress Dashboard: Tools --> Network Setup✤ Click the Network Setup link to load the Create a Network of WordPress Sites page in your Dashboard✤ Screenshot.@LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

Activating MultisiteNetwork Setup The ﬁnal steps for Network Setup completion requires you to edit ﬁles on your web server - so have that Text Editor handy!@LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

Activating Multisiteblogs.dir✤ Create a directory on your Web server called blogs.dir Your WordPress installation directory contains a folder labeled /wp- content/. In that folder, you create a new directory called blogs.dir. The entire path should look something like this: /public_html/wp- content/blogs.dir. This is the directory that stores all uploaded media (photos, videos, audio, and other media) within the network sites on your domain.@LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

Activating Multisitewp-config.php✤ Add the Network related configuration lines to the wp-config.php WordPress gives you up to seven lines of configuration rules that need to be added to the wp-config.php file: define(multisite, true); define( SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL, false ); $base = / ; define( DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE, localhost ); define( PATH_CURRENT_SITE, / ); define( SITE_ID_CURRENT_SITE, 1 ); define( BLOG_ID_CURRENT_SITE, 1 );@LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

Activating Multisite.htaccess ✤ Add the Network related lines to the .htaccess: RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteRule ^index.php$ - [L] # uploaded files RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?files/(.+) wp-includes/ms-files.php?file=$2 [L] # add a trailing slash to /wp-admin RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?wp-admin$ $1wp-admin/ [R=301,L] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d RewriteRule ^ - [L] RewriteRule ^[_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/(wp-(content|admin|includes).*) $1 [L] RewriteRule ^[_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/(.*.php)$ $1 [L] RewriteRule . index.php [L]@LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

Multisite ActivationLive demo@LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

Exploring the Multisite Database@LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

Single User WordPress Database11 tables

Multisite Database 6 new core tables added*" wp_blogs: contains one record per site and is used for site lookup.*" wp_blog_versions: used internally for upgrades.*" wp_registration_log: information on sites created when a user signs up*" wp_signups: contains information on users who signed up for the network.*" wp_site: This database table contains one record per WordPress network.*" wp_sitemeta: This database table contains network settings. @LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

Multisite Database Site tablesEach site in the network has it’s own grouping of tables in the database by site ID.wp_2_optionswp_2_postswp_2_postmetaThe main site populates the original database tables and is not designated by IDin the database schema. @LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

Exploring the Multisite Fileserver@LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

/wp-content/blogs.dirUploaded ﬁles (media, images, etc) are saved in a folder that corresponds to the SITE ID: /wp-content/blogs.dir/2/files/@LisaSabinWilson | WordCamp Milwaukee 2012

WordPress MultisiteWorkshop Q&A Lisa Sabin-Wilson Author of books. Designer of sites. Lover of WordPress. http://lisasabin-wilson.com @LisaSabinWilson

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Exploring WordPress Multisite

by Lisa Sabin-Wilson on Jun 03, 2012

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Exploring WordPress Multisite Presentation Transcript