How to: Installing Multiple Blogs

Multiple Blogs Through Multiple Installs

If you want multiple blogs using WordPress, you must actually install each separately (that is, as a separate WordPress installation). You can do this whether you have the ability to create multiple databases or are limited to a single database.

Multiple Databases

You'll need a separate MySQL database for each blog you plan to install. If you have not yet created these, basic instructions are found here.

The wp-config.php file will vary for each installation. The lines to change are:

define('DB_NAME', 'wordpress');     // The name of the database
define('DB_USER', 'username');     // Your MySQL username
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'password'); // ...and password

DB_NAME will be the name of the individual database created for that blog. If you are using different user logins for each database, edit DB_USER and DB_PASSWORD to reflect this, as well.

Upload each wp-config.php file to its specific root/installation directory, and run the installation. See Installing WordPress for more information.

Single Database

As with the multiple databases solution described above, the wp-config.php file will vary for each installation. In this case, however, only a single line will be unique to each blog:

$table_prefix = 'wp_'; // example: 'wp_' or 'b2' or 'mylogin_'

By default, WordPress assigns the table prefix wp_ to its MySQL database tables, but this prefix can be anything you choose. By using more than one, you create unique identifiers for each blog in your database. For example, let's say you have three blogs to set up, with the names Main, Projects and Test. You want to substitute the prefix wp_ for each blog's wp-config.php:

Main blog:

$table_prefix = 'main_';

Projects blog:

$table_prefix = 'projects_';

Test blog:

$table_prefix = 'test_';

As noted, you may use a prefix of your own making. Those provided here are for example purposes only.

Upload each wp-config.php file to its specific root/installation directory, and run the installation. See Installing WordPress for more information.

Multiple Install Automation

WordPress user Stephanie Booth provides instructions on automating the installation of multiple blogs for a weblog farm in her posting, Scripts for a WordPress Weblog Farm. In Musings on a Multiblog WordPress, Stephanie shares her thoughts on the process.

• You should have a peek at http://climbtothestars.org/play/wordpress.sh.txt -- a work in progress.

Alternative WordPress Projects

Alternative projects and plugins which provide some level of multi-blogging facility.

Lyceum

Developed by ibiblio.org, Lyceum is a stand-alone multi-user multi-blogging application designed to handle 2 to 2,000,000 blogs.

Utilizing the WordPress blogging engine at its core, Lyceum enables stand-alone, multi-user multi-blog services for small and high-volume environments. At its core, Lyceum is a minimally-featured enhancement to WordPress.

Lyceum lets WordPress do what it does well; we simply added nice things like smart administrative controls, an easy-to-use installer, enterprise-oriented database architecture, support for load-balancing, all the while focusing on flexibility, security and usability.

Lyceum is GPL-licensed, under active development, and free to use. Lyceum currently powers sites like iblog.co.za, TeachFor.Us (Teach For America teachers' blogs), BodyBlogs and the Hopkins Blogs.

WordPress MU

WordPress MU is an official branch of WordPress that is designed for managing and hosting thousands of blogs instead of just one.

WordPress MU is ideal for applications like blog networks and newspapers looking to manage multiple blogs from a single installation, enterprise users looking for a large scale blogging solution for intranet deployments, schools and universities who want to offer blogs to all their students and teachers, or individuals looking to host multiple blogs for their families or friends.

Like single-user WordPress, WordPress MU is available for free under the GPL open source license.

Example MU installations include:

• WordPress.com (400k blogs and several million page views per day as of Fall 06)


• Harvard University (free blogs for Harvard faculty and students)


• Le Monde Interactive (5,000 blogs for the Le Monde newspaper and its readers)


• EduBlogs (free hosted blogs for schools and teachers).

WP Hive

WP Hive is a plugin that allows multiple Wordpress blogs to use the same core files, plugins, and themes. It is intended to be used in a multi-blog, single administrator environment. Compatible with Wordpress 2.5 and later. Simple plugin architecture and installation, no code-hacking required.

Virtual Multiblog

Stephen Rider's system that uses a modified config file to call different blogs based on directory or domain.

Virtual Multiblog allows for easy upgrades of WordPress, as the only changed file in the entire install is wp-config.php (everything else is within a new folder in wp-content). It also is pretty "future proof", unless WordPress makes radical changes to wp-config.php.

This system is based on Allan Mertner's original symbolic link hack.

MultiSite

Ruben's attempt at a WordPress Multiblog

Multi Blog

The project of a small group of WordPress users.

Multi Blog Hack

Another multiple blog hack for WordPress. One installation, each user has his own theme, blogname, description, links, etc.

WP-Create and WP-Mass-Upgrade

A pair of shell scripts for web hosting administrators who manage a lot of scattered WordPress installations in different directory locations, owned by different users. The goal is to have all WordPress installations checked out and managed via subversion.

WP-Create is a super-fast way to set up a database and db user, check out WP via svn, create the wp-config file, and set permissions on the installations. It also generates an array line for use with WP-Mass-Upgrade.

WP-Mass-Upgrade contains an array of all WP installations on a server - their paths, URLs, owners, and emails. When new WP versions are released, this script will upgrade all installations in the array quickly, and send email to all of the clients letting them know their sites have been upgraded. Designed to be used in conjunction with WP-Create.

These scripts are optimized for WHM/cPanel systems, but with slight modifications should work for Plesk and other systems as well.

vhost plugin

This plugin maps a virtual host to a single WordPress category, supporting fully independent themes. Additionally, users can be restricted by the blog admin to post in only one category (and thus only one vhost):

Multiply

Multiply is a plugin for WordPress 1.5.x which allows multiple blogs -- or, in the pretentious terminology I have adopted, "presses" -- from within the one administration interface.

 via codex wordpress