This question is similar to Multisite with entirely different domains? which was not answered. I am re-asking.
I want to host multiple domains using WP multisite, which is installed and working normally in “multiple subdomains” mode. This creates multiple WP sites like
site1.domain.com
site2.domain.com
I want to use
www.domain1.com
www.domain2.com
I’ve tried the WordPress MU domain mapping plugin but I’m not satisfied with its behavior. This plugin seems to simply redirect the user, ie. the user enters
www.domain1.com
and the browser is sent to
site1.domain.com
I don’t want the user to know they aren’t on domain1.com.
I also tried setting up VirtualHosts in Apache:
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName site1.domain.com
ServerAlias domain1.com
ServerAlias www.domain1.com
</VirtualHost>
But this also seems to produce a redirect to
site1.domain.com
in the users’s browser.
Domain mapping is the correct answer to your question, because that isn’t how the domain mapping plugin works at all.
Take a look at http://ottopress.com. It really lives at http://ottodestruct.com/op/, but you wouldn’t know it, would you? It’s a domain mapped site on a multisite installation.
If you’re getting a redirect to the wrong URL, check to be sure that you set up the new domain as the “primary” in the domain mapping. The primary one is the one that the others will redirect to.
Are you sure that your domains DNS changes propagated long enough? It can take up to 48hours sometimes.
Reason I’m asking is because I am using the same plugin on one of my Multisite installs and although the setup of it all is a bit more complicated than a single WordPress install, eventually you can get it to work without too much trouble.