How To Setup WordPress Multisite

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• How To Setup WordPress Multisite Quickly?

Blog URL http//www.cloudways.com/blog/how-to-set
up-wordpress-multisite
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Introduction to WordPress Multisite It is a
feature that came after the roll out of the
WordPress version 3.0. In the beginning,
WordPress Multisite didnt get the worth it
deserved. But, later as WP gained popularity, the
Multisite feature became somewhat a specialty for
WordPress hosting providers. It is perhaps the
first WordPress feature that created its own
niche and many WordPress developers have found a
versatile usage of the multisite feature. All
thanks to WordPress developers who have found
versatile uses of this feature. This feature is
mostly used with large websites having multiple
sub-domains, internal blogs, networking sites,
etc. You can create and give sub-accounts to the
external users and they can run their websites
using your domain. This is time-saving and
provides ease in managing your all WordPress
sites.
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How WordPress Multisite Works? With WordPress
Multisite, hundreds of websites are accessible to
you at one place. It works as a network under a
single domain. You can add subdomains or
subdirectories virtually by adding code to
wp-config.php and WordPress .htaccess file. This
means you dont need to create any extra
folders. WordPress Multisite is not new. It is
as old as WordPress itself. In the beginning, it
was developed as a separate entity and was not
open-source. However, with WordPress 3.0, it is
in the hands of users and the core development
team of WordPress continues to enhance the usage
of this feature.
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Who Needs WordPress Multisite? If you have
multiple WordPress installations, you can manage
them using plugins like MainWP, Infinite, etc. It
is not necessary to develop a Multisite network.
As I have defined above, it is good for large
websites with multiple sub-domains, internal
sites, clients sites. Specifically, the examples
for the need of WordPress Multisite are the site
of a local business with the subsites of
different teams managed by one network, site of a
bank with the subsites of its all branches, site
of a school covering the sites of all locations,
site of a large business with subsites of its
country domains
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How to Run WordPress Multisite With
Cloudways? Sign up for 3-days of FREE trial at
Cloudways and select WordPress Multisite from the
drop-down menu. Name your app, server, and
project. Select cloud infrastructure provider,
server size and data-center location nearest to
your targeted audience. And click on the Launch
Server button.
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Within a few minutes, your server will be
launched with WordPress Multisite installed on
Cloudways platform. Go to the Network Setup which
you will find under Tools in the WP Admin Panel.
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Now you have to choose from one of the two i.e.
sub-domains and sub-directories for your
WordPress multisite network. You will also need
to set the network title and network admin email.
You cant change these settings later so make
sure you set them once only.
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You have to use any FTP like FileZilla to backup
your wp-config.php and .htaccess files. You will
get the directions from your WordPress backend
about the placement of code that you will get
after installing the network setup.
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Add Sites to WordPress Multisite Network From
the top menu bar of WordPress admin panel,
navigate to My Sites -gt Network Admin -gt Sites.
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Here you will find the default/main site of the
network that we have launched previously. To add
a new site to WordPress Multisite network, click
on the Add New button.
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Fill all the fields (Site address is the
subdomain of your main domain).
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By using the above add new button, you can add as
many sites you want. Once again, get back to all
sites by navigating from My Sites -gt Network
Admin -gt Sites.
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And our newly site will be listed there like the
image below.
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Unable to Access Site? Even if everything is
configured properly and you are still not able to
access your website, its because the subdomain
of your website is not recognized by the
WordPress application installed on your hosting
platform. To do so, firstly, you need to
associate the domain name with your WordPress
Multisite. Navigate to Domain Management of your
Multisite application. Enter the domain name like
the image below.
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Login to your domain registrar, and add TWO A
records one for the main domain and the other for
all sub-domains. The host should be _at_ and
respectively and the value will be the server IP
address.
Note If you are not sure, how to add a record on
your respective domain registrar, here is how to
point your domain.
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Once the DNS propagation is complete. Visit the
site with newly pointed domain and login to your
WordPress admin dashboard. Navigate to My Sites
-gt Network Admin -gt Sites. All sites will be
listed here with appropriate domain names.
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Add Subdomains in Domain Management Tab As we
have discussed earlier, we need to tell our
WordPress Multisite application about subdomains.
Go back to Cloudways platform and navigate to
Domain Management tab of respective application,
and add subdomain following the image below.
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Final Thoughts And you are done! Now, visit
your newly added WordPress website. Note It
will take few minutes to propagate properly. In
the above guide, we have learned how to easily
setup WordPress Multisite. I Hope you enjoyed
reading it and you are now fully aware on how you
can integrate WordPress Multisite
effectively! Add your websites to Multisite
network and tell us how is it beneficial for you
and your clients. Read here Knowledge Base for
WordPress Multisite