Changing the URL for a WordPress multisite network

July 27, 2021

changing the URL for multisite network

Update database
Update wp-config.php
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

code

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

wp option <command>

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 name	Desc.	Notes
`wp_options`	Select the options table and look for the entries named `siteurl`, `home` (and `fileupload_url`)	required to have the http:// at the beginning
`wp_site`		can NOT have http:// or a trailing slash at the end of the domain name
`wp_sitemeta`	Select the option named `siteurl` name.	required to have http:// at the beginning and a trailing slash at the end
`wp_blogs`	Select any entries in the `domains` column that have the old domain	can NOT have http:// or a trailing slash at the end of the domain name
`wp_#options`	Each 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_posts`	URL is mentioned in the `guid` and sometimes in `post_content`

code

-- find the places where the URL is used

-- Main domain site
SELECT * FROM `wp_blogs` WHERE `domain` LIKE CONCAT('%', 'old.siteurl.com', '%'); -- has the main site for the entire network and paths for individual sites
SELECT * FROM `wp_site` WHERE `domain` LIKE CONCAT('%', 'old.siteurl.com', '%');
SELECT * FROM `wp_sitemeta` WHERE `meta_value` LIKE CONCAT('%', 'old.siteurl.com', '%');
SELECT * FROM `wp_options` WHERE `option_value` LIKE CONCAT('%', 'old.siteurl.com', '%');
SELECT * FROM `wp_posts` WHERE `guid` LIKE CONCAT('%', 'old.siteurl.com', '%'); -- this guid is kind of like permalink, mentions the entire site URL
SELECT * FROM `wp_posts` WHERE `post_content` LIKE CONCAT('%', 'old.siteurl.com', '%'); -- media file links
SELECT * FROM `wp_postmeta` WHERE `meta_value` LIKE CONCAT('%', 'old.siteurl.com', '%');

-- Additional sites
SELECT * FROM `wp_2_options` WHERE `option_value` LIKE CONCAT('%', 'old.siteurl.com', '%');
SELECT * FROM `wp_2_posts` WHERE `guid` LIKE CONCAT('%', 'old.siteurl.com', '%');
SELECT * FROM `wp_2_posts` WHERE `post_content` LIKE CONCAT('%', 'old.siteurl.com', '%');
SELECT * FROM `wp_2_postmeta` WHERE `meta_value` LIKE CONCAT('%', 'old.siteurl.com', '%');

code

-- replace old URL with new URL
UPDATE `wp_blogs` SET `domain` = REPLACE(domain, 'www.oldurl.com', 'www.newurl.com');-- must NOT have http:// or a trailing slash
UPDATE `wp_site` SET `domain` = REPLACE(domain, 'www.oldurl.com', 'www.newurl.com'); -- must NOT have http:// or a trailing slash
UPDATE `wp_options` SET `option_value` = REPLACE(option_value, 'http://www.oldurl', 'http://www.newurl') WHERE option_name = 'home' OR option_name = 'siteurl';
UPDATE `wp_posts` SET `guid` = REPLACE(guid, 'http://www.oldurl','http://www.newurl');
UPDATE `wp_posts` SET `post_content` = REPLACE(post_content, 'http://www.oldurl', 'http://www.newurl');
UPDATE `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/

code

-- Main domain site
UPDATE wp_options SET option_value = REPLACE(option_value, '/var/www/html/wp-content/', '/var/www/mysite.com/public_html/wp-content/');

-- Additional sites
UPDATE 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

code

// wp-config.php

define( 'WP_HOME', 'http://example.com' ); // <-- change this
define( 'WP_SITEURL', 'http://example.com' ); // <-- change this

define('WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE', true);
define( 'MULTISITE', true );
define( 'SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL', true );
$base = '/';
define( 'DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE', 'old.siteurl.com' ); // <-- change this
define( 'PATH_CURRENT_SITE', '/' );
define( 'SITE_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1 );
define( 'BLOG_ID_CURRENT_SITE', 1 );

Changing the URL for a WordPress multisite network

Update database table

Change URL from Admin

Use search and replace tool

Manually editing database

Update wp-config.php

Links

Update `wp-config.php`