Background

If you create complete Prime Mover export package that you want to migrate to another multisite – this package includes the following resources:

  • Database
  • Plugins
  • Themes
  • Uploads media files

What happens if you migrate this package to another multisite subsite- how does this affect the main site? Will it work?

Yes it will work, but take note that by WordPress multisite design – plugins are shared and used among all the sites (including main site and subsites). If your newly migrated subsite uses plugins that are also used by the target main site – the main site continues to work as long as the migrated plugin is compatible.

For example: Plugin X version 3.0 (latest version) is used by source multisite main site. This is to be migrated as a new subsite to another target multisite. Let’s assume Plugin X version 2.0 (older version) is used by this another target multisite main site.

Now what will happen is that if you migrate the site to the new subsite (by creating Prime Mover package that includes plugins/themes – complete package) – plugins are migrated as well. So, this means that Plugin X version 2.0 is deleted and replaced it with Plugin X version 3.0 (latest version from the source site).

If Plugin X version 3.0 is compatible with the target multisite main site – the main site continues to work normally. Otherwise, if Plugin X version 3.0 is not compatible with the main site – you might have errors.

Other aspects of the migration such as uploads media files and database are specific to the subsite – so this won’t affect the main site at all during the migration. It’s only the plugins that you need to check to. If you are sure the migrated plugins are compatible to the target site – you don’t need to worry about anything.

Recommendations

The main site is affected by the migration ONLY if the subsite (that is migrated) uses plugins that are also used by the main site (since plugins are shared among sites in multisite). Prime Mover handles this gracefully during the migration and should not return any errors.

However after the migration – if the target site plugins are not compatible with the main site – you might have errors. The first recommendation is to check whether plugin versions of the migrated plugins are fully compatible with the main site. If you have a dev copy of your multisite in your test server – try doing a test plugin update (using the plugin versions of the source site) in your main site to see if it works.

Otherwise – another recommendation would be to exclude affected plugins in the backup package by using Prime Mover PRO if this is possible. This works by excluding plugins that are used by the main site so that none of the main site plugins are touched during the migration. In this case, you might need to manually install and activate some plugins in your subsite after migration one by one to make sure this own’t affect your main site.

The last but the safest recommendation is to use Prime Mover PRO to backup your main site first to a single site format and then migrate it to WordPress single site in your localhost server. The purpose is to have a dev copy of your main site but now in single site format – you can then test plugins update (update to the versions that will be used during the migration) to see if those plugin versions are compatible. Once compatible – you can then safely proceed to the standard migration and you are confident this won’t break.

Finally as a safely measure – it would be good to backup your main site first using Prime Mover PRO so you can safely restore to it when needed.

Questions?

Please get in touch with us here.

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