Go live on Flywheel – Multisite

When you’re ready to take your Multisite live on Flywheel, complete the following steps:

Create a backup

Since the database will be edited as part of this process, it’s a good idea to back up your site in case you need to revert.

Turn Privacy Mode off

Disable Privacy Mode for your site on Flywheel, so that it’s visible to visitors and search engines. You can turn Privacy Mode off from the site’s Overview tab on the right sidebar.

Add domains

Add any domains (and subdomains) you will be pointing at your site to the Domains card.

1. If you haven’t added your domain yet, head over to the Domains card in the Flywheel site’s Overview tab and click the + Add Domain button to add the domain you’d like to point to Flywheel.
   
2. Fill out the domain information:
   1. Domain: Enter the URL (without a prefix). Example: mywebsite.com
   2. Primary domain: Check the box if you want this to be your primary domain (if this will be your site’s main URL).
   3. www: By default, the www version of the domain will be added, but you can uncheck the box to skip this step if needed. Example: www.mywebsite.com.

   Then click Next.

   Note

   In the background, our system will automatically update all appropriate URL references in the database to this new primary domain.
3. If your domain supports Domain Connect, you’ll be prompted to enter your DNS provider credentials so Flywheel can configure your DNS records. If your domain doesn’t support Domain Connect, you’ll need to point DNS manually.
4. Complete these steps for as many domains and subdomains as you’d like, keeping in mind there can only be one domain set to Primary.

Set the primary domain

If you haven’t yet, set the appropriate domain to primary by clicking the 3-dot menu and choosing Make Primary. This will update your site’s database to use the correct domain.

Update Multisite database

Quick Method

The easiest way to update the database is to head to the WordPress Multisite Domain Replacement Tool and enter the proper information about your site (old and new domain, database prefix, number of subsites).

That will give you an SQL statement, which you can copy and then run on your site’s database to make all the necessary replacements automatically.

As with any modifications to the database, it’s strongly recommended to create a backup before proceeding any further.

To perform the database update, copy the SQL statement you received, then head to your site’s Flywheel dashboard.

Click “Manage Database” under the Advanced tab to access the database manager, then click the “SQL” tab, and paste the SQL into the SQL query box.

Finally, click the “Run SQL” button just below it.

You should see several success messages, and possibly some errors. That’s normal. As long as you’re seeing at least some success messages, you’re good. If not, double-check the info you entered just to make sure everything’s correct.

If that worked, you can skip to the next step! If not, or if you’d prefer to make the updates manually, follow the instructions below.

Manual method

Login to your database manager from your Flywheel Dashboard and then edit the following tables from your Flywheel Temporary Domain to your new Primary Domain:

• wp_options: rows named “siteurl” and “home”
• wp_site
• wp_sitemeta: the row named “siteurl”
• wp_blogs: any entries in the “domains” column that have the
  Flywheel Temporary domain name
• wp_#_options: update “siteurl” and “home” corresponding to blog id

Edit your domain’s DNS records to point to Flywheel

Point your domains to the site’s IP address (found under the domain list in Flywheel). For more information on how to point DNS at your site, visit our help article on setting up DNS. We also have registrar-specific articles for setting DNS on GoDaddy, MediaTemple, Hover, Namecheap, Bluehost, and more.

Need help?

If you have any questions our Happiness Engineers are here to help!