Optimal solutions for plugin management?
 

WordPress version: with WordPress 3.2.1.
Theme version: Theme Genesis
Site http://ecubation.com


What alternatives exist (or would be recommended) in relation to "Plugin Central" which is a dashboard plugin update notification, allows people to update all plugins at once and to move my plugins from one blog to another with plugin install?
Alternatively, is it better to have all the plugins stored in a folder ready to FTP rather than having to install each individually on a new blog?

Thanks.

The built in upgrades within WordPress already allow you to update all plugins at once. Check the box next to them under "Updates".

In cpanel, you can zip a folder - in this case your plugins folder - download it, then upload it to the new server & unzip it where you want it.

Thanks, I wasn't aware of that feature in cpanel so I appreciate that helpful information.

If you have a little more advanced knowledge of WordPress, you may want to look into the multisite feature. One install, multiple blogs, one plugin & theme directory. ;)

Thanks Andrea. I'm still only a basic WordPress user but I was aware of that multisite feature although I'm not totally clear on whether it would be what I need. Essentially, I have a large number of domains, which I will be building individual sites on each domain. These are all WordPress based sites. There will be 260 hosted on my server. However, each site will be uniquely customised and have it's own business model for generating income. Also, some of these sites may be sold and/or leased to other users so they will need access to their own WordPress admin panel. So is the multisite feature capable of catering to all of those needs?

Everything but the splitting it off to be sold.

Ye they all have their own admin area, but you;re still working off one install in one web account. Maybe not for now, but it;s something to investigate for the future.

(for multiple domains, you'll need a plugin and some DNS work)

Well that's a definite advantage if each has their own respective admin area but since I would be working off one install in one web account, would I be able to customize each site to individual requirements?

For my 260 sites, what plugin would I need and what type of DNS work would be required (redirection, forwarding.. etc?).

I would assume if I need to split a site off to be sold that I could just use wp twin to copy that specific site to independent hosting and link to associated domain name?

Yes, you can. There's some quirks, but generally yes.

A plugin called "domain mapping". :wink:

Free: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/...omain-mapping/
paid: http://wpebooks.com/professional-domain-mapping/ (with an ebook full of instructions. Disclaimer: it's mine.)

Also have a look at my free ebook on setting up multisite.
http://wpebooks.com/2010/09/how-to-e...-in-wordpress/

If you look in my sig, I'm a co-author of WordPress All-In-One for dummies and I did the section on multisite.

Probably not. Things like wp twin usually do not work with multisite.

You'd use the internal Export to grab the posts. It would be the same process as moving a site off wordpress.COM.

I will note that there is a learning curve involved, as it;s more advanced, but if you're willing to learn you may find it's quite handy. :): (and I think really cool)

Thanks for all that information and resources. I wasn't aware of that "domain mapping plugin" so it could be quite handy.

I did note your signature so I know you're an expert in this area. However, am I wrong to foresee problems as regards trusting my outsourcer(s) to have access to this multisite feature as it will basically give anyone I hand over admin access to, control over a large amount of assets worth a lot of money.
I know this is a trust issue mainly but it takes time to build up trust online when employing contractors. |I guess I'm just looking to avoid single points of failure for my business and I would be proactively trying to minimise that by using services such as lastpass etc. Any other recommendations you would have would be much appreciated?

That would be true even of a single site worth a lot of money. ;)

Make sure the people you hire are familiar with multisite. That would be the single biggest tip.

That's obvious but doesn't help answer my question. With multisite, whether the developer is familiar or not, there's a lot more at risk.

When it;s one install then yes, you have one point of access to everything. Generally speaking, anyone who works on a multisite install would be given both super admin access as well as access to the file system. When we do multisite upgrades for people, we frequently ask for root access to the server itself.

One of the easier ways to bring an entire network down is an error in the files - that's fun. :)

If you're more comfortable with using separate installs, then use those.

Thanks. Yes, it's a little "all my eggs in one basket" type of a problem for me. I have had my sites stolen previously and been blackmailed for money in order to return them. Thankfully, I didn't have to pay the blackmailer and rebuilt them but it was a valuable experience. So if I was a wordpress expert, I would use multisite for such a project but eventually split them up if other's have to have admin access to them. As I mentioned previously, Lastpass may help in this scenario as it provides encrypted passwords and stores them.