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How to Replicate a mu installation like "EduBlogs" to multiple Domains

Extra – The new multiple domain mapping plugin should allow you to do this no worries at all.

I have several wpmu projects lined up for different domain names.

90% of the functionality / plugins / themes would be identical.

I am trying to reduce my workload and wondering if I can setup 1 of them perfectly, then copy / install the Code/Db it to other domains.

If this works flawlessly, then I’ll just need to tweak them a little, individually, saving me a ton of time

All Domain Names are hosted with the same host.

Questions:

1. What is involved in it, besides moving the wpmu directory and mysql?

2. Where do I change the domain names in the Db and any other places, such as Config, etc?

3. Any gotchas I should be concerned about?

Thanks.

Sun, 6 Sep 2009 6:44:54
  • drmike
    • DEV MAN’s Mascot

    You could do what we do on the software we support: We have one master copy somewhere for the software, (For me, it’s on the external hard drive so I have it handy) export updates out to an SVN server somewhere (We use codespaces.com. There’s no restriction on projects although there is on user accounts depending on how many users you need. If it’s just you, it’s free. We pay them for their services though and if you;re making money off of your install, you should probably as well.) and then update locally via a ‘svn up’ command.

    Works fairly well. You’ll have to mark the wp-config.php file (and the multi db files as well if you;re using them.) on your local install as not exportable or it’ll go to the svn server and then out to your installs. Databases don’t get affected as we’re not accessing them via the svn process.

    I would recommend moving the blogs.dir and cache directories structures out from underneath wp-content though so not to interfere with svn or pick up any stray files in the process. That’s from experience although with Gallery. :whistle:

    Hope this helps.

    -drmike

    edit: Scratch that. They were free. $3 a month now: http://www.codespaces.com/blog/articles/2009/07/25/free-accounts

  • amirbq
    • WPMU DEV Initiate

    Thanks, drmike. That definitely helps. I’ll look into other svn sites.

    I believe that since the Db will be mostly empty at the original install time, I can simply backup and restore at the new location. (which means that I need to keep copy of the original blank Db.

    Now, does wpmu read the domain name from a config file or from inside the Db, or both?

    How many places inside the Db do I need to change the domain name of the original installation?

    Other than domain name, the only think I can think of is the storage file Path – is that stored in the config file, or Db, or is it not stored anywhere – just relative to the root of the /domainname.com under cpanel file manager.

    Thanks.

  • drmike
    • DEV MAN’s Mascot

    WPMu reads the domain name from the wp_site table (or is it wp_sitemeta? Don;t have a copy handy) and then from each blog’s own database tables. Nothing is file coded. Should all be coming from the database.

    How many places inside the Db do I need to change the domain name of the original installation?

    Off the top of my head, I can’t remember. I want to say 4 but I believe that number of for the individual blogs and their own databases.

    For an install, we push out the core files from Automattic’s svn, run the install, then overlay with our own files from out svn and then add in the additional tables needed to the main site database table. All of the additional plugins and whatnot create their own database records and tables when first accessed. That’s pretty much standard for wordpress so we take advantage of it. The only real major issue that comes up is with database charset. We default our databases to utf8 but not everybody does that.

    Everything I believe is installed within the db.

  • Barry
    • DEV MAN’s Mascot

    The site domain and path is in wp_site

    Blog domain and path is in wp_blogs and also in wp_x_options (for each blog where x is the number) where the option keys are siteurl, home and fileupload_url

    You’ll also need to look out for (and comment out) the defines in wp-config.php for:

    DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE

    PATH_CURRENT_SITE

    And that "should" be the lot I think.