WordPress Multisite on Google Cloud A to Z Installation Guide
Want to install WordPress Multisite on Google Cloud Platform ? This blog is all about on that topic.
I am going show you step by step installation of “Google Click deploy” WordPress multisite on Google Cloud.
Their is another option of WordPress multisite installation on google cloud, It is “How to install Bitnami WordPress Multisite on Google Cloud”.
Though Click to deploy is Manage by Google But Bitnami WordPress Multisite is better, because it come with pre-configure security settings.
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WordPress multisite hosting on Google Cloud: Steps
What is WordPress Multisite
WordPress Multisite allow you run multiple websites like site.com blog.site.com , new.com etc from a single WordPress. It is the same software that powers WordPress.com.
WordPress Multisite have the power of sharing Plugin, themes acores all the website, available by server admin.
You can create numerous websites using unique domain names.
What is cost of WordPress Multisite on google cloud.
It is the same as hosting a normal WordPress on Google Cloud. I already wrote a blog about it. Here the blog “WordPress on Google Cloud: The Definitive Guide“.
In short, If you using always free F1-micro VM instances then the cost will be around $3-4.
Without always free program, For f1-micro the cost will be around $7-9.
For G1-small the cost is around $16-19.
For S1-stander the cost is around $24-32.
**All the prices I mention above are examples or demos. It can vary widely upon you uses.
Is WordPress Multisite right for You?
A WordPress multisite will manage all your websites through a single user interface. Those Website Can have subdomain or Full domain.
You can Create user with limited authority power.
Like user Bob can access only site.com.
User John can access only new.com.
Pros,
- Manage and control multiple web sites through a single dashboard.
- Manage the subsites and grant controls to other users from a single interface.
- Updates to all plugins and themes can be pushed at once.
Cons,
- The biggest con is WordPress Multisite doesn’t support all plugins. About 80 -90% plugins work on multisite.
- All the subsites are depend on main site. That why if If the main site goes offline, all connected subsites will also become inaccessible.
Install WordPress Multisite on Google Cloud
Here I am going to show how deploy and Configure WordPress Multisite on google cloud platform.
Step 1# Deploy WordPress Multisite:
On your Google Cloud dashboard and click the hamburger menu in the upper left-hand corner of the screen.
Click on the Marketplace Button.
Now type WordPress Multisite and click on enter.
Select the first one from the search result. “WordPress Multisite” Google click to Deploy.
After that Click on ” LAUNCH ON COMPUTE ENGINE”.
Step 2# Configure WordPress Multisite:
Give a Deployment name. After select zone.
Zone is the location of your server.
For example, the us-central1 region denotes a region in the Central United States that has zones us-central1-a, us-central1-b, us-central1-c, and us-central1-f.
Now select machine type as per your requirement.
Here is a price chart :
Type your email address. It will be your WordPress Multisite user name.
Select SSD persistent disk or Stander persistent disk.
SSD Persistent Disk: It is SSD type disk. Recommended
Standard Persistent Disk: HDD type disk. It is slower than ssd.
Enable both HTTP and HTTPS traffic.
After that,Click on Deploy. It will take some time.
WordPress MultiSite Login
You can visit your WordPress Multisite by clicking on “Site URL”.
As of now you WordPress Multisite does not have a proper domain name.
IP address you are seeing it is your server ip.
Now click on “ADMIN URL” and login to your wordpress multisite using temporary passwords.
Assign a Static IP Address on Google Cloud Platform
You have to assign a static Ip to your virtual instances (vm), or it might change after some time.
The majority of technical problems experienced by Google Cloud Platform users occur because the user failed to reserve a static IP address for their website.
Hover on VPC network, then Click on External IP addresses.
Click on Static.
Give a name.Then click on RESERVE.
WordPress Multisite: Configure your domains and subdomains.
There are three type of domain setup Scenarios.
1st Scenario: You want multiple websites/blogs at subdomains of your primary domain example if your primary domain is 99stockbrokers.com then subdomain websites are blog.99stockbrokers.com, Cool.99stockbrokers.com, google.99stockbrokers.com.
2nd Scenario: You want multiple websites/blogs at different domains example you primary domain at example.com and another domain at mysite.com.
3rd Scenario is Combination of both first and second scenarios.
Let get started.
The frist thing you need to do is to point Your domains and subdomains to Google Cloud.
HERE the steps.
1. Point Your Domains subdomains to Google Cloud .
As of now you you can access your wordpress multisite only through IP address.lets Change it.
Your present situation. Only can access you site through Ip.
After this guide. You can access your site through Your Domain name.
What You need to do?
You have to add or update “A” record to your domain register website or Cloudflare or Setup a dns provider like google cloud Dns.
The first step is to copy your google VM instances IP address.
Go to Vm instances and copy your External ip address.
Modify “A” record on domain register website:
here I am showing you two example for godaddy and namecheap.
If your domain register is other than those two then you have search it on google. Also You can ask me on comment section.
Godaddy.
Go to DNS Management.
For Scenario 1#.
To create a subdomain eg. blog.99stockbrokers.com, You have type your subdomain name on the host section and your server IP to “Points to” section.
Or, You also can type “*” on the host section.
* means any thing before .99stockbrokers.com will resolve through you server IP.
For Scenario 2#.
For Scenario 2 Configuration , just point to domain to your server IP.
@ means you domain name, eg. 99stockbrokers.com .
Go to dns management. Click on edit A record and past the server IP.
After yout edit . It should be look like this. The “value” should be your server IP.
If your domain registrar is namecheap then follow the steps bellow.
Go to manage section of your namecheap”s settings.
After this go to Advance DNS section and modify or add a “A” address.
If you already setup cloudflare for your domain, then follow the steps.
Goto Dns section and update or add “A” record.Paste your server IP.
Remember
Some time, Change in A record can take some time. About 1-6 hours.
2. Setup your WordPress Multisite
I hope you already pointed you all domains and subdomains to your server ip.
Now login to your WordPress and go to Tools >> Network Setup.
Click on Install.
Here is the tough part, You need to modify your wp-config.php and .htaccess file through SSH terminal.
Go to VM instances on google cloud platform.
sudo nano /var/www/html/wp-config.php
Paste the code line after “define (WP_allow_MULTISITE’, true);
Here the code line:
define('MULTISITE', true);
define('SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL', false);
define('DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE', 'Your server IP"');
define('PATH_CURRENT_SITE', '/');
define('SITE_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1);
define('BLOG_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1);
To save the file, press ctrl+x >> Y >> enter.
Paste the command on SSH terminal.
sudo nano /var/www/html/.htaccess
Paste the Code below after “# BEGIN WordPress
” .
RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L] # add a trailing slash to /wp-admin RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?wp-admin$ $1wp-admin/ [R=301,L] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d RewriteRule ^ - [L] RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?(wp-(content|admin|includes).*) $2 [L] RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?(.*\.php)$ $2 [L] RewriteRule . index.php [L]
To save the file, press ctrl+x >> Y >> enter.
Reload and Login to Your WordPress. After that goto My site >> Network Admin >> Sites >> Add new.
For Scenario 1#.
Site Address Url: Give an appropriate folder name for your subdomain and add a Site Title .Then click on Add Site.
Eg. this is my setup for subdomain blog.99stockrocket.com.
Now go to My site >> Network Admin >> Sites >> All sites.
Click on edit.
Change the Site Address to http://your-subdomain-name . Click on “Save Changes.
As you can see I change my site address to my subdomain.
Now You can access your website through your subdomain.
For Scenario 2#.
Site Address Url: Give an appropriate folder name for your domain and add a Site Title .Then click on Add Site.
Eg. this is my setup for domain stockrocket.com.
Now go to My site >> Network Admin >> Sites >> All sites.
Click on edit.
Change the Site Address to your domain name.
Here I change my site address to my domain name stockrocket.in.
After this step You can access your website through your domain name.
For Scenario 3#.
Follow the 1st and 2nd scenarios.
Configure SSL certificate on WordPress Multisite:
Google recently announced that having an SSL certificate can boost your google page ranking.Therefore you should install SSL cert for your WordPress Multisite.
As you can see the installation of WordPress multisite on google cloud is quite a hectic task.If I create another step you might get mad at me,(lol).
That’s why I wrote a new blog on this topic.
In that blog, You can learn about two type of SSL configuretion process.
- FREE ,Auto renewal letsencrypt SSL Certificate installation process.
- Different SSL certificates for different domains ,installation process.
IF you purchased SSL certificate the second step might help you.
Configure FTP or Sftp on Google Cloud using Filezilla:
If you want access to your web files, Then you have to set up SFTP client such as Filezilla, Winscp, Cyberduck etc.
Google does have a lame file transfer system but does not have GUI base file manager application on their cloud platform. Therefore, you will need those applications which I mention before.
I already wrote a blog about FTP and SFTP on Google Cloud, You can check it out.
Now it is you time!
It is you time to install WordPress Multisite on Google Cloud.
If you need help just drop a comment.
If you benefited from this tutorial, and would like to support my work, please like my Facebook page.
Thanks,
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