I am running 21 WP sites =|> a main site at www.example.com and the rest in subdomains e.g. www.example.com/site1 and so on.

 

This is a school set up and we have themed sites in the sub domains; photo gallery site, Science & Maths website etc.

 

I'm the person who sets up and sorts all the sites. Other teachers contribute to various sites and the pupils also act as authors or admins on some sites.

 

The problem I'm experiencing is that I can't keep up with the spring cleaning side of updating plugins etc.

 

Can I move everything to a multi site set up?

 

If possible, how easy is it to do?

 

Are individual site databases in danger of losing info if moved to a multi-site set up?

 

Would I need to take everything down to do a fresh install?

 

Can I still use individual plugins on specific sites?

 

Thanks.

Edited September 23, 201610 yr by Tetrapak

might it be better to delegate an admin for each site and it would be their responsibility to update plguins and themes? or are updates done to all sites at the same time? and can't be done like this?

Unfortunately, I'm the only teacher in the school with any interest/knowledge of WordPress. The pupils in my class (ages 10 to 12) get to be authors on the various sites and those who become admins reset passwords, proof read posts or attempt to add pages/categories.

 

I still, as the teacher, have to look at all they do and I have to run the school's main site also. The pupils love doing themed stand alone sites but maintenance is starting to get out of hand for me to a point where I'm neglecting it. And I still have to prepare for and teach my class in all the other subject areas.

 

IT is not a subject here, it's an added on extra => just another way of presenting work. My class have their own dedicated site where they each post their stories, poetry etc. I have set up a site dedicated to displaying their art work and the pupils scan/photograph art work for display but the maintenance of the site is still mine.

 

Even a piece of software that I could install on my laptop that would allow me access the site via a local dashboard would be great.

 

I'm just overwhelmed at the moment with info. Our five years old Science & maths website is overflowing with material and removing that to put it back would daunt me.

 

I'm at a loss as to how to approach this and it's only getting worse. I have two pupils in my class who want to do a site based on a well known children's author and it's hard saying no to them.

Switching your main website to multisite is easy enough, essentially it's a one line edit to wp-config.php.

 

Once it's set up you will need to export/import all content from the department sites. It's not difficult to do, just time consuming.

 

This is one of the many guides on how to do it: https://premium.wpmudev.org/blog/ultimate-guide-multisite/?nct=b&utm_expid=3606929-85.mSQ3nlVLSHShaT4smJ6ikw.1&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co.uk%2F

 

Note: you will need a dedicated IP address - multisite can get a bit flakey if you are on shared hosting.

Note: you will need a dedicated IP address - multisite can get a bit flakey if you are on shared hosting.

 

That could put paid to my idea of having a multi-site set up as we are on shared hosting.

 

It's hard enough to get the school to pay for shared hosting; asking the school to pay for a dedicated IP address wouldn't be entertained.

 

Is there any way of setting up a vitual dashboard on my laptop or is there any plugin that I can install on the main website to allow me maintain the sites from the one location?

It's possible your host will support multi-site if you are only going to have sub domains so you might be lucky.

 

There aren't any easy ways to manage multiple sites from you laptop. Wordpress likes you be logged in to each site to do the admin.

 

Anyway, ask the hosting company if they support Wordpress multisite.

is this not something that can be done through the hosting control panel? i can see and update both my wordpress sites in my c-panel, though both are in *subfolders* of the root (*not* subdomains) ...

I'll contact hosting to see if they allow multi-site hosting on a shared IP.

 

Re. cpanel - I can see all the sites listed and one click will allow WP to update but I often find that a site I haven't looked at in awhile has themes to updates, plugins to update etc.

 

I guess I need to be able to control all from one overview location.

 

I'm afraid to start messing with the sites in the hope of getting multi-site to work. If I was more sure of what to do I'd chance it. I know there would be work involved but if I could get things to work more efficiently I'd chance it. The pupils could suggest many more ideas and I'd be happy to run with them.

 

Another site they want to do if a book review site which would be great for them but again another site brings more work. I'd have to activate a star rating plugin which is another plugin to add to the mix that's already there - more means more ability to control the sites slipping away.

 

Anyways, I'll contact hosting re. multi-site to see what they say and I'll report back.

 

Thanks for all help/suggestions thus far. It's much appreciated.

Hosting says no problem with multi-ste on their shared IP.

 

Support says that multi-site can be implemeted on my existing set up (if I know how - which I don't) without having to start afresh.

Edited September 24, 201610 yr by Tetrapak

Follow the instructions in the link I sent you.

 

You will have to import everything from the existing sites. The whole point about multi-site is that it's a single database. Your department sites are separate databases so you can't just jam everything together.

 

Convert the main site to multisite and then just experiment with one sub domain. You may have to choose a different sub domain name or export everything and kill off the old site before you create the new.

 

If you want help with this send a PM.

I'll do that fisicx. I'm going to do some backups now and I'll work on one site at a time.

 

Thanks for the offer of PM ... it's much appreciated.

I've heard of ways of managing several WP websites from a central location, but I haven't used them myself so you'd have to do some research. I don't know whether it would help in your case or if multi site is the way to go.

 

https://managewp.com/

Edited September 26, 201610 yr by Jane B

I am currently unable to install plugins nor activate one thats already in Wordpress no matter how i go about it in Wordpress. I have the free chocolate plan, while browsing through Wordpress help sites someone a few years ago said that with Freehostias free plan you could not access their plugins because of not being able to access outside servers.

 

Is this true?

 

Can you use plugins with Wordpress when you have the Chocolate plan?

 

Thanks

Jessica

What is the Chocolate plan?