A VERY brief and introductory talk on how to get started using WordPress Multisite.

1. What is Multisite?
Multisite is a feature of WordPress that has been
available since version 3.0 (2010.) It provides the
ability to create a network of websites and to
administer them from a single login.
• A multisite network is a collection of sites that
all share the same WordPress installation. They
can also share plugins and themes.
• WordPress.com is a gigantic Multisite.
• The individual sites in the network are virtual
sites in the sense that they do not have their
own directories on your server.
• However, they do have separate directories for
media uploads within the shared installation,
and they do have separate tables in the
database.

2. Reasons to use Multisite
Schools – Separate departments, separate sites
Franchises – parent company and separate locations
setup as separate sites
Blog network – a content network of blogs (most
common use case)
Organizational – team or division based information
site or blogs
Build a large content network and manage it all from
one site.

3. Reasons not to use it
If you just want to be able to update plugins, themes
and WordPress versions from one dashboard, there
are other ways to do this.
• Check out Sync from iThemes and
ManageWP, at managewp.com
• These allow you to do this with a single
login and also offer other services, such as
backups.
Other plugins (of 51,096) may work, too.
If you make custom permissions for certain
admins, you have to do it per site. 5 sites, not
bad. 50 sites, terrible.
Not great with shared hosting past a certain point.
Things to keep in mind
- The site administrators of a site on the network
do not have the same powers as those of a
single website. They can be limited by the Super
Admin, who is the person administering the
entire network.
- The Super Admin, a role not seen on single sites,
has all the mysterious and mystical powers.

4. - Use this power only for good, never for e-vil.
What the heck – Let’s do it!
1. Disable any active plugins
2. To enable multisite, you add this to your wp-
config.php file:
/* Allow multisite */
define(‘WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE’, true);
When you upload this to your installation and refresh
your browser, you will see a new option in the Tools
menu item: Network Setup.
3. Click on Network Setup. Choose subdomains or
subdirectories. Here we will choose subdomains
because they look cooler.
Subdomains: site1.mygreatsite.com
Subdirectories: mygreatsite.com/site1
Be aware that if your site is more than one month
old, you will have to use subdomains.
For subdomains, you will need to enable wildcard
subdomains on your server. You can usually do this
via your CPanel or equivalent.
For subdirectories, you need only enable pretty
permalinks, which you should do anyway.

5. 4. Give your network a title and make sure you have
a valid email address.
5. Click the Install button.
6. You will see a screen advising you to back up your
wp-config.php and .htaccess files. This is because
you are going to modify them with the code that is
provided for you:
Add this to your wp-config.php file, above the line
reading /* That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging.
*/:
define('MULTISITE', true);
define('SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL', true);
define('DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE',
'tangorunner.com');
define('PATH_CURRENT_SITE', '/');
define('SITE_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1);
define('BLOG_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1);
Then, add the code below to your .htaccess file. This
replaces all of your existing code in that file.
If you do not have one, just create a plain text file
and name it .htaccess. (But be sure you really don’t
have one – it is a hidden file.)
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index.php$ - [L]

6. # add a trailing slash to /wp-admin
RewriteRule ^wp-admin$ wp-admin/ [R=301,L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^ - [L]
RewriteRule ^(wp-(content|admin|includes).*) $1
[L]
RewriteRule ^(.*.php)$ $1 [L]
RewriteRule . index.php [L]
7. Once you complete these steps, your network is
enabled and configured. You will have to log in
again. Click the login link.
8. You will now see a “My Sites” item in the admin
bar. If you hover over that, you will see Network
Admin, which has its own menu. Go to the Network
Admin Dashboard.
9. First, explore the Settings/Network Settings
options. They are mostly self explanatory. Make sure
to scroll to the bottom and note that the box
allowing the site administrators to have a Plugins
menu IS NOT CHECKED. You probably do not want
them to be able to install who knows what malarkey
so leave it unchecked.
10. Now, click the Dashboard option. You will be able
to see links for Create a new site and Create a new
user. When you create a new site, you will also be
creating a new user.

7. 11. The new user’s name will be the same as the
name of the site.
Note: Keep in mind that any limitations or conditions
you want to put on new sites should be put into
place before you create the new sites. They may not
stick otherwise.
Note that when you install themes, you are installing
them for all sites. When you Network Activate them,
any site can use them. But you can install them, not
Network Activate them, and then enable certain ones
on certain sites.
Plugins are similar but not the same. You can’t
enable them for individual sites. However, you can
install a plugin and not Network Activate it, but allow
an individual site admin to activate it for their site.
Resources:
http://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-
install-and-setup-wordpress-multisite-network/
https://codex.wordpress.org/Create_A_Network
https://premium.wpmudev.org/blog/wordpress-
multisite-masterclass-getting-started