This article provides you with in formation regarding setup and configuration of a WordPress Multisite Network.



WordPress comes with a built-in capability to create multiple websites using the same WordPress installation. A WordPress multisite network is used by blogs, schools, and businesses, who need to run separate websites but want to manage them under one dashboard. In this article, we will show you how to properly install and setup a WordPress multisite network.

 

Pros of Using a WordPress Multisite Network

  • As the network administrator, you can easily manage multiple sites from a single dashboard.
  • Each site on the network can have its own admins. The site admins will have the capabilities to manage only their own website.
  • You can install plugins / themes and activate them for multiple sites with one download.
  • Multisite network also makes it easier for you to manage updates. You only need to update your WordPress, plugins, or themes on one “master” install.


Cons of Using a WordPress Multisite Network

  • All sites on the network share the same resources. This means that when your network is down, all other sites go down as well.
  • It’s not easy to manage traffic and server resources for the beginner level users. In case, one of your websites gets unexpected traffic, then it will affect all other websites on the network.
  • If one website gets hacked, then this means all sites on your network will get hacked.
  • Some WordPress plugins may not work well on a multisite network.
  • WordPress multisite network is not properly supported by all web hosting providers which limits your options.



Requirements for a WordPress Multisite Network

  • All websites on a WordPress multisite network share the same server resources. 
  • This means that the most important thing you will need is a good hosting.
  • If you are planning on having just a couple of websites with low traffic, then you can probably get away with shared hosting.
  • However, due to the nature of multisite network, you’d need VPS hosting or a dedicated server as your sites grow.
  • We recommend taking a look at our dedicated hosting options.


Install and Setup WordPress Multisite


Step 1- Install WordPress

  • Please see our guide here on how to install WordPress via cPanel
  • Once installed your Dashboard will look as per below:


Step 2 - Create at least two sites

  • In example below we've created example.com and example.com/map

Step 3 – Set Up domain Mapping

  • What we want to do here is to have example.com/map to be opened like testaddon.com, so we’ll do the following:
  • Mouseover example.com/map -> Edit -> Change Site Address (URL) from http://example.com/map/ to http://testaddon.com/

WordPress MultiSite Site change old


WordPress MultiSite Site change new

That’s all that we have to do, now our testaddon.com will open the content of the example.com/map subsite.