moving MU from localhost to VPS

Blank pages mean PHP errors, usually. Check your error logs for more.

If you have the final domain name already, you should use that when installing MultiSite. A temporary URL can be hard to change (you need to do a search/replace in the entire DB to change it).

Thanks for your reply Tim and the advice. I didnt realise it would be problematic to change from temp url to the actual domain.

I have got it up and running, not even sure what the exact problem was but I re-installed everything and 4 hours later I have something working.

I do have the domain and there is a wp site running on there but it was single install not MU also I am setting the new site up on a new domain. I thought it might be easier to leave the old site where it is and install the new one on a temp url and then switch the domain.

Is this a bad way to go about it? I don’t want to set myself up for anymore major disasters.

What would you suggest I do?

Thanks again for your reply.

If you have the domain name that MultiSite will run on in the end, I would use it. It’ll save you headaches in the long run.

Thank you for the advice. I’m a bit stuck as to what I should do now.

I have spent hours getting the site to work on the temp url, I’m worried if I try to do the process again something may go wrong.

Do you think I should point the domain to the new server, place a holding page there whilst I try to get the new multisite working with the correct domain and not the temp url?

Sorry for all the questions, this is my first time doing this.

??

Switching the domain in multisite is not that same as doing it in a single install – which people still have issues with. ??

in multisite, you have to go through the entire database (multiple tables and fields) as well as the confgi file and htaccess.

If you put up a fresh install, you still need to enable the network as it is disabled by default.

Thanks for your reply Andrea.

I have spent most of the day reading up on this and as you say it’s not as straightforward as one may think.

I’m at a loss as to what I should do. I currently have the multisite running on the temp url on the new server. Does it make sense to

• switch the DNS to point to the new server
• add a holding page here
• Do a file/replace on the database to replace all instances of the temp url with the actual domain.
• Make my changes in the htaccess and wpconfig
• Test the links and put the site live

The thought of going through the whole install process again makes me want to pull my hair out ??

Yes, that looks about right.

Just before switching the DNS at the last minute, you can test it where only you can see it by messing with your hosts file.

https://wpmututorials.com/how-to/using-a-hosts-file/

Thank you for the link Andrea, it was very helpful.

Just one question though, as I already have the site setup on a temp url on the new server, if I was to use the method mentioned in the above link, would it be best to set the site up on my localhost test it all there and then transfer to the server and switch the DNS?

(Hope that makes sense!)

If when you set it up locally you use the final domain name and switch your hosts file, yes.

Then *you* are the only one who sees it on the “live” domain, but the actual real live domain is untouched until you move everything over.

And this way avoids you having to find & replace all the addresses in the db.

All of these posts have been helpful but now I am stuck. I managed to import my WP multisite database and FTP’d all files from localhost to a Network Solutions hosted domain: https://www.tinasher.com). I did this to launch one of my sites and work on the others while hidden but it seems like the FTP and the database is not synching yet and I’m having three different problems:

The themes are gone, just the content is there. Is it an FTP problem or a mysql file problem? Could the names of my sites be not matching?

The directories are set now so site# is the root but I want site2 to be the root, the site I am launching. All the links on this page link to site#. How do I fix the sql file or the .htaccess file in phpMyAdmin? I’m on a Mac and have been using TextEdit to edit the config and sql files.

Any help would be great!

The themes are gone, just the content is there. Is it an FTP problem or a mysql file problem?

What do you mean by gone? the page is unstyled?

If so, that’s an htaccess issue.

I am still trying to move my multisite to external host. I’m reading all the codex info but still not getting the overview I need. I made my changes to all three options tables, blog dir and site url using phpMyAdmin replacing localhost with the appropriate domain. I made edits to my config file regarding Mysql database host name. For .htaccess I didn’t know what to change. So that’s the same as it was locally.

Tell me if I understand the big picture….

My multisite with 3 sites was working fine set up locally.
I set up my 3 hosting packages connected to 3 domains to point to one htdocs/wordpress folder. I imported the database to one of the sites but it wasn’t the main site. Could this be the problem? Should I only upload and import to the main site hosting?

If you set up multisite locally with 3 sites, you shoul donly have one database.

You have to go through the *entrie* db and put the main domain in there correctly.

Do I have this right – your subsites are all different domains as well? how did you map them locally?

Right, I have one database.

Yes my subsites are all different domains. Locally the urls were like this:

https://localhost/wordpress/mintdesign/ (main_)
https://localhost/wordpress/tinasher/ (main_2)
https://localhost/wordpress/sherstudios/ (main_3)

Can you show me what you mean by put main domain in there correctly?

Hi Andrea,
I deleted the database that I had uploaded to site 2 and imported it to site 1, my main site. I changed the config file so it represents the new mysql host name. I reset permissions on all three sites from NS’s FTP manager. I am getting an “under construction” message for the main site, an “error establishing a database connection” from the url where I had the database originally and an “access denied” for the other.

Network Solutions gives this tip online for adding a database:
Tips for using your database:
You will get the best performance from your database if you use the server name in your scripts and code that calls it. If you need the IP address for a database, select it, click “Edit”‘

Where do the scripts and code call for a server name?
Where does the IP address get added in the address? Do I replace localhost with IP address or server name? You mentioned putting the “main domain” in my db correctly. Are these all different things?

Any help is apreciated.