WordPress Multisite Network Do’s & Don’ts

@taylor4484 #multisite #WCSEA
Multisite Network
Do’s & Don’ts
Experiences From Some
Enterprise Solutions
presented by Taylor McCaslin
at WordCamp Seattle March 28, 2015

Product Manager
UX Designer
Interaction Designer
BA Theatre & Dance
Certificates in Business, Computer Science,
Digital Art & Media
Taylor McCaslin

Disclaimer
● My advice is based on my experience with what has worked
for me in the past
● Every project is unique
● There is an exception to every rule I makeup
● Plugins will do everything I say multisite won’t or shouldn’t

What people are saying
● “I tried to use multisite to manage multiple sites and just
got myself confused”
● “Multisite is amazing, why would anyone not use it?”
● “Multisite is hard”
● “We had a project that was running multisite and we
converted it to a standard wordpress install”
● “I don’t use anything but multisite”

How it’s being used
“multisite is now a utility for managing multiple sites using
one installation, where as the original vision was to enable
blogging networks“
@jjj on make.wordpress.org/core

WordPress Multisite Network Do’s & Don’ts

What is Multisite?
● A multisite network is a collection of sub-sites that all
share the same single WordPress installation
● Terminology
○ Install: an instance or installation of WordPress
○ Network: a set of websites that operate within the single WordPress
install configured for multisite
○ Site: one of the subsites on the multisite network

What ISN’T Multisite?
● A network of sites that can be moved to separate hosts
○ 1 host. 1 install of WordPress. Many sites.
● A set of sites that can easily be separated into their own
WordPress installs
○ just trust me here. modifying serialized data is not fun
● A set of sites that can have different IP addresses
○ see the first point

The Network Admin

Open or Closed Site?
● Terminology is hard…. and confusing.
Public Network / Untrusted
● Anyone can signup and create a site
(sometimes paid)
o WordPress.com
o Happytables.com
o University Student Blogs
● Concerts:
o file types / uploads
o scripts/embeds
o copyright
o DMCA
Private Network / Trusted
● Limited site and user creation
o Wordcamp.org
o Company intranets
o University network
 colleges ,department, etc
● Concerns:
o too many cooks (wanting super admin)
o or none at all (no one to manage network)
o code changes affect all sites!

Subfolders, Subdomains and Domain Mapping
● 1 primary network domain
o sub-domain (I prefer this one)
 mysite.com
 site2.mysite.com
 site3.mysite.com
o sub-folder
 mysite.com/site1
● Domain Mapping
o wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-mu-domain-mapping/
 sunrise.php
o Pro-tip: Always use CNAMES!
o Premium plugins exist for selling domains to users
(wpmudev.org)

Unified Site Management
● Super Admin Role
● manage_network
● manage_sites
● manage_network_users
● manage_network_plugins
● manage_network_themes
● manage_network_options
● unfiltered_html
codex.wordpress.org/Roles_and_Capabilities

Shared Users
● All blogs have central user management
● Users login once to access all sites on the network
o Doesn’t play well with alternative login plugins (Duo2, 2FA, Google
Auth) - you’ll login for every site
● Caution: User profiles are the same for all sites

Shared Themes
● Add a theme
o Network Enable (all sites)
o Restrict themes available to
use per site
 Done through the Site -> Edit Site
menu
● Remember to add Child
Themes!

Shared Plugins
● Install plugin on the network
o Activate per site
o Network Activate
● Must Use Plugins
o Can’t be deactivated through the admin
● Caution: Some plugins have their own network settings!

File Structure Differences
❏ / root of
WordPress Install
❏ wp-config.php has extra lines
❏ .htaccess has extra lines
❏ wp-content has extra subfolders

❏ /wp-content/uploads
❏ /2015/
❏ /2014/
❏ /sites/
your primary (first site) site’s media directories
File Structure Differences
❏ 2 ← site ids (second site you made)
❏ /2015/
❏ /2014/
❏ 3
/2015/
/2014/
❏ ...
Pro tip: rely on host to
allow you to grant your
site admins access to
only specific site
directories

DB Structure Differences
● 17 tables instead of 11
● 6 extra tables:
○ wp_blogs
○ wp_blogs_versions
○ wp_sitemeta
o wp_site
o wp_signups
o wp_registration_log
● 9 prefixed tables per every new site!!!
○ wp_6_posts ← prefixed with site id
○ wp_posts ← first site isn’t prefixed

Tables in ONE multisite DB
8 + (9 * n) where n is number of sites
1 site = 17 tables
10 sites = 98 tables
100 sites = 908 tables
1,000 sites = 9,008 tables
10,000 sites = 90,008 tables

Hosting
● Use a managed host
● Pro-Tips:
o automatic backups with 1 click restore (ability to download backup)
o built in staging sites (that magically with the networked sites)
o granular deploy to production controls (deploy only specific tables)
o look for extra security features (automatic ip blacklisting)
o know limitations (some hosts don’t allow subdomains or subfolders)
o use version control
● MMSN (massive multisite network)
o plan to spend $$$$ or hire a sysadmin

Pro Dev Tips
● define( 'DISALLOW_FILE_MODS', true );
o disable the Admin File Editor
● define( 'DO_NOT_UPGRADE_GLOBAL_TABLES', true );
o Prevents upgrade functions from doing expensive database queries on
global tables
● add_action( ‘network_admin_menu’, ‘my-settings’ );
o add extra submenus and menu options to the network admin panel'

Pro Dev Don'ts
● current_user_can(‘unfiltered_html’)
o Just don’t. You will regret this.
● loop through your network sites
o Unless you know what you’re doing, you’ll cripple your site performance,
if not crashing your site altogether.

Use Cases
Experiences From Some
Enterprise Solutions

To multisite or not?
“I want to allow users to create their own sites within some
constraints”

“I want to allow users to create their own sites within some
constraints”
● Use Multisite!
o This is what multisite was made to do, and it does it well!
● Pro-Tip: customize the admin!
o WordPress.com
o Happytables.com

“I want to centrally manage all my client’s sites”

“I want to centrally manage all my client’s sites”
● Don’t use Multisite
● Alternatives:
o Jetpack Site Management (update plugins across your site)
o Manage WP (premium)
o Infinite WP (free with paid addons)
o WP-CLI (script your way to site nirvana)

“I want to have a multisite network where each site is in a
different language”

“I want to have a multisite network where each site is in a
different language”
● Maybe Multisite, Maybe Not
● SEO optimization can be difficult when similar content is
across a network of sites
o Pro-tip: hreflang tags and canonical links are your friend
● Plugins like WPML are built specifically to do this

“I have a lot of content that is very different, and I want all my
sites to look different, but it’s still all my stuff”

“I have a lot of content that is very different, and I want all my
sites to look different, but it’s still all my stuff”
● Maybe Multisite, Maybe Not
● Why not map domains to categories and tags and create
custom templates for theme archives and categories

WordPress Multisite Network Do’s & Don’ts

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