Multisite – Setup development site for an existing site hosted elsewhere

  • Hi,

    I’m faced with the following situation & can’t figure out how to proceed.
    I’ve a site x.com in wp hosted on HostA which allow unlimited domains.
    I’ve another site y.com (not in wp) hosted on HostB.
    Now I want to create from scratch content for y.com using wp on HostA.
    My wp on HostA has been setup for multisite based on subdomain.
    Now the question is how I should go about setting up a ‘development’ site on HostA for y.com which I can easily switch to from HostB when the content is ready later.
    I’m thinking probably I can just add a ydev.x.com site via wp super admin page & a folder called ‘ydev’ will get created in \www folder which I can map y.com to later using domain mapping (via cpanel). But it seems there is no folder called ‘ydev’ get created.
    I appreciate if you can advice me on the proper way of doing this.

    (I’m aware of the additional plugin required for multisite to cater for multi-domains scenario. I presume its use come into picture at a later stage during switch over)

    TQ.

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    ?????? Advisor and Activist

    You mean you want to build ydev.x.com and then point y.com to ydev.x.com ? Cause that’s really easy ?? Just install the plugin, point the DNS for y.com to x.com, and off you go.

    Do you need to keep any y.com email addresses?

    Thread Starter slong5107

    (@slong5107)

    I mean I want to eventually host x.com & y.com on HostA.
    But before I switch y.com dns from HostB to HostA, I need to get ready the new content for y.com on HostA using wp. I’m not sure what is the proper way to this i.e where do I create the new content for y.com on HostA. If I create a ydev.x.com site in wp & added new content there & later map y.com to ydev.x.com, will my y.com visitors see ydev.x.com in their browser url instead of y.com? I want the visitor still see the site url as y.com.

    There is no need to keep any y.com email.

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    ?????? Advisor and Activist

    Your visitors will see y.com once you map the domain ??

    Go look at halfelf.org ?? That’s actually tech.ipstenu.org!

    Thread Starter slong5107

    (@slong5107)

    Thx for clearing that.
    I’ve another question.
    Once y.com is switched over to HostA,is it possible to make it as primary domain and make x.com as subsite (i.e x.y.com) under y.com?

    To illustrate the situation, consider the following example:
    Say I had created a site called fruits.com (y.com) at HostB some time ago. Now I’ve created another site called apple.com (x.com) at HostA. Based on previously mentioned steps, I’ll end up creating a subsite fruits.apple.com (y.x.com) in wp network at HostA & then point apple.com to the subsite.

    However if everything were to start from scratch, I would rather to have created fruits.com first on HostA as primary domain. Then add a subsite apple.fruits.com & point apple.com to it. So that I can have a more intuitive site network structure i.e

    fruits.com
    – apple.fruits.com (corresponds to apple.com)
    – blackberry.fruits.com to (corresponds to blackberry.com)
    :

    I suppose to do this, during migration, I’ll need to do the following on HostA:
    1. Export WP DB for apple.com (x.com) & do a find & replace to change site url to apple.fruits.com (x.y.com).
    2. Export WP DB for dev site fruits.apple.com (y.x.com) & do a find & replace to change site url to fruits.com (y.com).
    3. Import both DBs back to WP.
    4. Go to DB to change WP site url to fruits.com (y.com).
    5. In the multi-domain plugin, set the primary domain to y.com

    Could it be as straight fwd as that?
    Is there any domain related settings I need to configure via HostA cpanel?

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    ?????? Advisor and Activist

    Ouch.

    I would ask this: Why does it matter?

    fruits.com
    – apple.fruits.com (corresponds to apple.com)
    – blackberry.fruits.com to (corresponds to blackberry.com)

    If they’re all redirecting, then the only person who knows that they’re really fruits.com is you.

    Thread Starter slong5107

    (@slong5107)

    It’ll be easier for another person who will take over the site management in future.
    He\She will see:
    fruits.com (primary domain)
    -apple.fruits.com (subsite)
    -blackberry.fruits.com (subsite)
    :
    instead of
    apple.com (primary domain)
    -fruits.apple.com
    -blackberry.apple.com

    He\She can continue to add new subsites base on *.fruits.com structure i.e add orange.fruits.com etc. instead of following *.apple.com structure.

    I’m thinking in order to simplify the situation, will it be less hassle if I develop the new content for y.com on x.com itself (since x.com has just been created & not much content have been added yet). Once the new content are ready, I’ll just rename the wp url & site url to y.com from x.com, change the primary domain to y.com using host cpanel & the related wp-config setting?

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    ?????? Advisor and Activist

    Moving Multisite to a new domain is an exercise in skill, patience and alcohol abuse.

    I would honestly build it out on fruits.com, import apple.com, and go from there.

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
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