I have done this exact thing so that I can test plugin updates. I wrote a shell script (bash) to create the sub directory and copy the files. Then, I leveraged WP-CLI commands to create wp-config file, export/import the database and search and replace the site name in DB. Here is my script with specifics … Read more
It is not recommended to make a simple search&replace in the dump file when moving to another host, because of the presence of serialized data in some database fields (usually options fields of core and plugins). I would recommend to use one of the following migration plugins/scripts to handle the data conversion when moving WordPress: … Read more
You can build a clone of just about any website using WordPress. The question, though, is how much work are you willing to put into it? Since you’re already asking for tips/tricks and plug-ins, I’m guessing you want to make a quick clone that requires little to no additional development time. That said, here are … Read more
Main WordPress site with several flexible clones
Yes, you can do this easily. Just install multisite and import on main site. Process: You have running mydomain.com. Now keep backup this website. Now, 1. install website on multi-site 2. Import complete webiste on main domain mydomain.com 3. Set permalink as per your requirement on main site. 4. Add another site from network. Export … Read more
Multisite: cloning, but also updating too
I’ve done something pretty simmilar once where I had 2 websites that shared most of their content and had differing color schemes. Here’s how I would approach this challenge Use Multisite and child themes in the following way: Website 1: This holds the content and acts as the main theme (e.g. Red). This is just … Read more
In general test enviroments better use the same domain name as the live site. Since it doesn’t seem like you follow such pattern (and yes, it is harder to follow), you need to make sure you convert all the URLs in the DB properly, and the way you do it will fail with any data … Read more
Finally I’ll use Multisite Cloner. This is not supported but it works fine.
I noticed that the staging environment had different content in its wp-config.php and .htaccess files. I changed them to be closer to the ones on the live environment. While I was there, I noticed that some of the differing content was related to various caching plugins that we previously had installed on the staging environment. … Read more