Notes

Changing the URL for a WordPress multisite network

Edit on GitHub

WordPress
4 minutes

changing the URL for multisite network

  1. Update database
  2. Update wp-config.php
  3. Update .htaccess (if needed, in case custom modifications were made to the file)

Update database table

There are various ways of doing this:

  • Change the URL from the site admin (will not update post content)
  • Do it manually by running SQL queries on the database (effective, but may cause issues with serialized data)
  • Use wp-cli to update the site URL (not sure how effective on multisite networks, also redundant as it will not update post content)
  • Use a search and replace tool to do a dry run and run SQL queries

Change URL from Admin

Change URL from the Dashboard > Settings first and see how/where it updates the values in the database. Another option is changing it via wp-cli

1wp option update home 'http://newsiteurl.com'
2wp option update siteurl 'http://newsiteurl.com'

wp option

Use search and replace tool

Use this recommended search and replace tool by Interconnect IT to run your queries (you can also do a safe dry run). You should be wary of updating database fields, something to do with WordPress storing data in serialized arrays and PHP relying on the string length of each piece of data to be able to read it properly.. ref

Manually editing database

Do this for all sites in the network

Table nameDesc.Notes
wp_optionsSelect the options table and look for the entries named siteurl, home (and fileupload_url)required to have the http:// at the beginning
wp_sitecan NOT have http:// or a trailing slash at the end of the domain name
wp_sitemetaSelect the option named siteurl name.required to have http:// at the beginning and a trailing slash at the end
wp_blogsSelect any entries in the domains column that have the old domaincan NOT have http:// or a trailing slash at the end of the domain name
wp_#optionsEach sub-site will have sets of tables that correspond to the blog_id in the wp_blogs table. You need to go to the wp#_options table, where # corresponds to the blog_id, and update the siteurl and home settings in that table.
wp_postsURL is mentioned in the guid and sometimes in post_content
 1-- find the places where the URL is used
 2
 3-- Main domain site
 4SELECT * FROM `wp_blogs` WHERE `domain` LIKE CONCAT('%', 'old.siteurl.com', '%'); -- has the main site for the entire network and paths for individual sites
 5SELECT * FROM `wp_site` WHERE `domain` LIKE CONCAT('%', 'old.siteurl.com', '%');
 6SELECT * FROM `wp_sitemeta` WHERE `meta_value` LIKE CONCAT('%', 'old.siteurl.com', '%');
 7SELECT * FROM `wp_options` WHERE `option_value` LIKE CONCAT('%', 'old.siteurl.com', '%');
 8SELECT * FROM `wp_posts` WHERE `guid` LIKE CONCAT('%', 'old.siteurl.com', '%'); -- this guid is kind of like permalink, mentions the entire site URL
 9SELECT * FROM `wp_posts` WHERE `post_content` LIKE CONCAT('%', 'old.siteurl.com', '%'); -- media file links
10SELECT * FROM `wp_postmeta` WHERE `meta_value` LIKE CONCAT('%', 'old.siteurl.com', '%');
11
12-- Additional sites
13SELECT * FROM `wp_2_options` WHERE `option_value` LIKE CONCAT('%', 'old.siteurl.com', '%');
14SELECT * FROM `wp_2_posts` WHERE `guid` LIKE CONCAT('%', 'old.siteurl.com', '%');
15SELECT * FROM `wp_2_posts` WHERE `post_content` LIKE CONCAT('%', 'old.siteurl.com', '%');
16SELECT * FROM `wp_2_postmeta` WHERE `meta_value` LIKE CONCAT('%', 'old.siteurl.com', '%');

1-- replace old URL with new URL
2UPDATE `wp_blogs` SET `domain` = REPLACE(domain, 'www.oldurl.com', 'www.newurl.com');-- must NOT have http:// or a trailing slash
3UPDATE `wp_site` SET `domain` = REPLACE(domain, 'www.oldurl.com', 'www.newurl.com'); -- must NOT have http:// or a trailing slash
4UPDATE `wp_options` SET `option_value` = REPLACE(option_value, 'http://www.oldurl', 'http://www.newurl') WHERE option_name = 'home' OR option_name = 'siteurl';
5UPDATE `wp_posts` SET `guid` = REPLACE(guid, 'http://www.oldurl','http://www.newurl');
6UPDATE `wp_posts` SET `post_content` = REPLACE(post_content, 'http://www.oldurl', 'http://www.newurl');
7UPDATE `wp_postmeta` SET `meta_value` = REPLACE(meta_value,'http://www.oldurl','http://www.newurl');
  • the guid in wp_posts is kind of like permalink, mentions the entire site URL. Consequently, the results for guid will be a lot more than post_content which is checking for links inside the post content itself. (7457 vs. 253)
  • changing the guid is NOT advised because doing so will mess up feed readers and show read items as new content again.

You also need to check for directory paths if you have changed them during the migration. For example /var/www/html/wp-content/ vs. /var/www/mysite.com/public_html/wp-content/

1-- Main domain site
2UPDATE wp_options SET option_value = REPLACE(option_value, '/var/www/html/wp-content/', '/var/www/mysite.com/public_html/wp-content/');
3
4-- Additional sites
5UPDATE wp_2_options SET option_value = REPLACE(option_value, '/var/www/html/wp-content/', '/var/www/mysite.com/public_html/wp-content/');

Update wp-config.php

Update the values for WP_HOME, WP_SITEURL and DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE

 1// wp-config.php
 2
 3define( 'WP_HOME', 'http://example.com' ); // <-- change this
 4define( 'WP_SITEURL', 'http://example.com' ); // <-- change this
 5
 6define('WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE', true);
 7define( 'MULTISITE', true );
 8define( 'SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL', true );
 9$base = '/';
10define( 'DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE', 'old.siteurl.com' ); // <-- change this
11define( 'PATH_CURRENT_SITE', '/' );
12define( 'SITE_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1 );
13define( 'BLOG_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1 );
Browse all topics