Managing multiple blogs is like juggling. Sort of.
I was asked by Daniel Decker this question recently about how one should go about managing multiple blogs in terms of server and blog hosting.
For starters there are a number of different ways to manage more than one blog (and I’m talking about self-hosted WordPress installs here) on any given hosting provider and it truly depends on your end goal and how you specifically want to manage your systems – I’m all for whatever works the best for you!
Here are just a few of the many handful of the options scaling from complete independence to some shared scenarios:
- Complete Autonomy – Install each WordPress blog on it’s own server and hosting with it’s own system installation and with it’s own FTP username and password credentials and with it’s own unique mySQL database (uID/pass).
- Semi-Autonomous - Some people separate the web layer and the database layer and split resources between multiple server environments. This is a complicated system but could be beneficial depending on your needs.
- One Host, Separate Credentials - Many people choose to use one hosting provider and have all of their installations on that one hosting provider sharing resources but having independent installations, especially regarding FTP access.
- One Host, Shared Credentials - Many more choose one blog hosting provider with all of their installations independent but with one master FTP user ID controlling all of the systems.
- Specific Shared Resources – Some people choose to do separate installations and share the same mySQL database (which they optimized heavily) or share one or more consistent credentials for access.
- Root with Sub Folders, Sub Domains - Some create one master FTP with blogs installed on sub folders or sub domains with .htaccess redirects or DNS Zone File manipulation. This is essentially a more manual (but controllable) version of #7, MU installation.
- Multi-User Installation - Some choose to do one hosting provider with one installation but activating the multi-user feature in WordPress 3.0+ that allows a user to have multiple blogs with simple management. This is also called “Network” installation.
- Crazy Config - I call this the “crazy” config and it’s the bucket of installation types that you have created yourself, either through advanced wizardry or a frankenstein-ish touch. Good luck homeboy.
As I mentioned previously you may have one of the above configurations or you may have customized your own – the choice is really up to you and is largely dependent on your particular needs.
It’s also good to note that the most secure and safe installation scenario scales from the first option to the last option – it’s far better to have one host and one blog installation compromised with one set of credentials than to have one set of credentials give an intruder access to your entire collection of blogs (and more!).
What I Do For My WordPress Blogs
What I’ve chosen to do is a combination of #2 and #3 which gives me the flexibility of sharing specific resources (like a single optimized database for some installations, Content Delivery Network, and security software) and the cost savings and security measures in place.
I’ve already shared my WordPress Hosting Setup as well with the details on what I run.
What this looks like though is the following:
- One Web Hosting provider
- Separate and completely independent WordPress installations
- Separate mySQL databases with unique uIDs and passwords
- Unique SFTP credentials for each blog
As I’ve mentioned previously I use Coda as one of the FTP apps (and do all my testing locally) and this is what it looks like:
As you can see I have a lot of different connections to different installations and even though this blog and a few others listed in the un-blurred section are on the same web host I access them independently with different credentials.
Yay.
Although I’ve listed out the above reasons of why I do this I feel there are a few other reasons I feel this is one of the better approaches to managing multiple self-hosted WordPress installations:
- Minimizes Failure – Having a single point of failure (security or software) is dangerous and by having multiple independent installs is helpful. If you “break” a WordPress Theme or WordPress Plugin on one install it doesn’t completely kill the rest of your blogs.
- Debugging and Resource Management – Having independent installations can help you analyze resource management and debug issues.
- Web Analytics – Managing analytics and web traffic patterns is a bit easier as it can be difficult to segment out if you have too simple of an installation.
- Separate Business, Brand – One of the nice things about having separate installs is you can treat them more appropriate (and easily) as separate entities, businesses, and brands, especially if you want to sell one off to someone else. For example, trying to extract the information via a multi-user install can be a pain when it will impact the other blogs!
- Migration - This goes with the above point as well but having separate installs will ease the pain and challenge of migration if you ever have to do it.
- Compatibility - Some WordPress Plugins and Themes are simply not equipped or created to handle certain scenarios, like the multi-user installation.
Those are some of the chief reasons that I choose a relatively autonomous and independent environment.
What about you? What do you use and why? Love to hear your thoughts!
And, of course, if you have any other questions feel free to ask me here and I’ll try to answer them directly or through a blog post like this!
[Image via Creative Commons, helico.]
I use WordPress multsite for the small clients and regular setup for the larger ones.
I never heard of Multsite..how long have you been using it because I have many clients also I might like to use this with.
“Black Seo Guy “Signing Off”
ever since it first came out as a plugin/theme… now it’s built in native to 3.0+
seems counter intuitive here?
Interesting. I’ve been wondering the best way to manage a site that has multiple subdomains, each with its own WordPress instance… so for example you’d have chicago.myblog.com and newyork.myblog.com, with mostly unique content for each.
Guess I’d be looking at #6 or #7?
most likely. what’s your hosting environ? how many blogs do you have?
Only one now, but I’m interested in adding subdomains later (possibly) for different areas. So now I have
thelarkblog.com
so later I can maybe add
houston.thelarkblog.com
austin.thelarkblog.com
etc etc. Just thinking about the future!
that’s definitely possible! you can do that with multisite.
I do what you do, John. Good, I’m finally doing something right.
haha! i’m sure there’s more!
I’ve been using #6 for all my personal blogs as well as most of my church’s blogs. It’s easy to manage and we don’t get that much traffic yet. I’ve been thinking of moving to a more secure setup but just haven’t had the time or the funds to do it yet.
all in good time. no rush!
Don’t know if you’ve read “Quitter” yet by Acuff… but I’m enjoying learning from my mistakes and having the ability to change things around without too many people getting mad yet.
i haven’t read it but i’ve heard it’s good!
I do #3 (and use Coda!). A friend of mine does #6. Sadly he got hacked/exploited on one install which allowed nasty people to install install malware onto *all* his installs! Thankfully I found the offending file (functions.php on an old ‘classic’ theme was the culprit) and sort it out – not fun though…
doh! they continue to update the default theme now.. which is wonderful!
Thanks for this!
sure thing bro! thank you!
I wish I had some of your tips back when I first started, John; would’ve saved me a lot of trouble down the road.
Oh, well, next time I’ll know better.
Ana
but you’re doing great now!
Currently I’m using Amazon AWS for my sites sitting on an Ubuntu Install. I use separate linux users for each site/database/etc ensuring that a compromise at any one account will have absolutely no affect on any other account.
On top of that I use Apache with FastCGI and suexec to ensure that all the PHP scripts run as the appropriate user rather than the standard Apache user. So far I’ve been pretty darn happy with the solution. We’ll see if that continues over time.
that’s sweet! do you have a background in server config?
Yes. For my day job I’m a one-man web dev house. I have the servers, the sites, marketing, all of it so I admit I’m definitely at an advantage in that area.
what does bit51 mean?
It’s a play off a couple of things. Area 51 and the idea of state-of-the-art, futuristic, etc and I live right off US51…
haha. old skool arcade shooters.
Something like that…. although having you ask makes me wonder about the effectiveness of the name….
well, i’m familiar with area 51… but there’s nothing that would bring me to that conclusion naturally since area51 isn’t an “8bit” game which is most commonly associated with the keyword “bit”.
unless it was 16 bit generation a’la genesis or super nintendo.
#3 and #4 have worked best for me. Just went to a Dreamhost VPS two weeks ago. Kinda made me feel like I had made another step towards non-newbie status. Is there some sort of certification for that?
nope. not that i know of…! btw, dreamhost VPS might be a tad more expensive than is worth. have you looked into atlernatives?
I know as much about servers as I do design. I just ran out of space and don’t like the idea of being able to set up separate logins for clients. Any suggestions outside of hostgator?
dreamhost didn’t give you like infinite space? i’m surprised…..
I ran through that space very quickly. I think they saw me adding all these test sites (sub domains) and new top level domains and limited what I was able to tap into.
Now I’m looking at a $50 a month bill for the VPS with dreamhost. What other options do I have as a developer and selling hosting to some of my clients?
BTW – I do like setting up separate login for clients. Had a situation last week that made that option a necessity. Relationships with clients don’t always end so well.
uh. yes. this happens all the time.
one thing to look at is for dedicated reseller options… dreamhost isn’t setup this way (i believe)… you can resell but you have to do all the billing i think. correct me if i’m wrong…….
No, you’re right. I was told I could just set up clients as “users” and then they have all their own information and I can just up my VPS according to how much space I need. Problem is the VPS is requiring more $ than I am getting in due to the fact I’m currently developing 5 sites on it and running another 10. No site has more than a 1000 unique visitors a month so the traffic isn’t huge. I think developing on it is causing the usage to go to high…
You know what? This is turning into a “support” conversation. I’m gonna figure this out through Dreamhost. I want to keep working with them and I know they probably have a setup that is better for me. I’ll let you know how it goes.
how’d it go?
I’m curious how this went, too! I’m dipping into this conversation after a while because I’m thinking of doing something similar (offering hosting for several clients – possibly in the 50′s or 100′s with all very small amounts of traffic), and wondering where to go for hosting.
I figured Dreamhost would limit you at some time or another (which is who I use now).
Any insight would be greatly appreciated!
Do you know of a step-by-step guide on how to set up the multi site from start to finish on Media Temple? I’m talking about going from the single install to having a finished product on subdomains in one guide.
Thank you in advance!
no, but you could just use wordpress MU and network: http://codex.wordpress.org/Create_A_Network
pretty easy enough.