New to Multi-sites – Permalink Question

There isn’t really any easy way to do this. What you need to realize is that with multisite, your main blog is the only normal blog, just like a single install. After you have that, you can make some changes to your htaccess and the database to allow for virtual sites to be created using the same set of plugins and themes as your primary. The way that they are differentiated are by the new database tables that are created. So if your database files are prefixed with wp_, the set of each subsites tables will be prefixed with wp_2_, wp_3_, etc.

So, for example, a permalink would look like: “https://sub-domain.com/post-1”

I set up the Network and the dashboard is really cool, but, it’s setting up my sub-domains as empty wordpress blogs with URLs like: “https://sub-domain.main_site.com”

If you want a subdomain to be it’s own domain (which is what https://sub-domain.com would be) then you need to use Domain Mapping.

Hey Mike Epstein… I have installed WordPress MU Domain Mapping.

I have it in the controls of the main site. I thought that was the point of a multi-site. If I put the MU Domain Mapper in the root site, it should be able to Map my sub-folders, right? …Unless I’m missing the point and there’s something I have to “DO” other than install it.

A little more information would be appreciated ??

And Paul, thank you, but I think you are talking about a different issue than I am concerned with. To be honest, I don’t think it matters what the databases are called as long as what the public sees are the web addresses I have chosen for them.

I’m guessing you’re talking about databases because of my question about migrating my sub-domains into the root multi-site?

Are you trying to say that to achieve what I want I Necessarily have to migrate my current sub-domains’ wp-content from their sub-folders into the root site?

Is that why you’re bringing up the databases? Please advise.

They each had a domain name pointing to their subfolder, so permalinks would look like: “https://main_site.com/sub-domain/post-1”

Let’s take this a step back and realize that even though we are using the same words, we’re not having the same understanding of them. In WordPress technical jargon subdomains and subdirectories are specific concepts corresponding to the alternate methods of configuring multisite. When you say “sub-domain” in the above quote, I think you are referring to a configuration of your cPanel, where the URL structure might look like: https://main_site.com/folder/post-1. What I am guessing is that you think of it as a subdomain because it’s in the folder and the folder’s name is the name of the domain. Other than your conception and the cPanel configuration, there is nothing subordinate about the domain.

For multisite, you have two choices:

• https://subdomain.main_site.com/post-1
• https://main_site.com/subdirectory/post-1

Both of these represent subsites of the main domain, but neither have physical folders in your cPanel. They are all virtual, created by the smoke and mirrors of htaccess and your database.

I installed “WordPress MU Domain Mapping” because I thought it should have detected the WordPress installs in my subdomains, but it has not.

Since the other domains that you are talking about are in separate single installations of WordPress, the Domain Mapping plugin isn’t going to see those installations. It can only see what’s in the database and files associated with its domain. That’s the reason why it doesn’t show you any data, nothing was added to the database when you created the site, even if you mapped it to the other domain.

But this was probably the most I’ve written on a subject that no one will care about since my dissertation! As Mika will tell you, if all you want to have each domain only show you its domain in the URL structure, then you should just change the Site URL and Home for each and forget about multisite. As long as you have your DNS setup to point to the correct folder and your WP settings to have the domain name, you should be fine.

Ha! Thanks Paul. Well, never worry about giving me Too Much information! The more the merrier… It also helps me think about possible organization for the future. I have several projects coming up that I might want to run a multi-site for given this info. Maybe this current project isn’t the one to use it for, though.

And you’re right, I was thinking about the folder structure from my cPanel. When I used to work on HTML sites, we always referred to them as “subdirectory”, and anything that happened after the slash in a URL as a “subdomain.”

And you know, it’s been a while since I messed with my DNS settings, so just to confirm, it’ll still give me the permalink name, i.e. “https://domain-name2.com/post-1” so long as I set my DNS and WordPress settings correctly?

And you know, it’s been a while since I messed with my DNS settings, so just to confirm, it’ll still give me the permalink name, i.e. “https://domain-name2.com/post-1” so long as I set my DNS and WordPress settings correctly?

Depends on what you mean by ‘it’ ??

Will WordPress be able to use https://domain-name2.com/post-1 ? Sure!

ipstenu.org is where WP is installed

tech.ipstenu.org is mapped to halfelf.org and everything runs off halfelf ?? Works fine.

Cool… Gonna set a different site to run as a multi-site, then map the two new projects to their domain names.

Thanks for the insight, guys!