I have a local development server with WordPress installed (my desktop Linux Mint 12 box). I’d like to use multi-site WordPress to manage my different client projects through one install, but I have a couple of important questions before I commit to this set-up.
1) Is it possible to import a database backup (created from the Admin Panel’s backup tool) from a single WP site into a multi-site child site?
2) Vice versa — Is it possible to export a multi-site child site’s database and import it in to a single site? (for migrating from my dev box to the live server!)
3) Are there any other ‘obvious’ problems that I should worry about when using this kind of set-up for localhost development?
Community question: What method(s) do any other developers out there use for managing multiple WordPress projects?
All advice / help / guidance greatly appreciated!
I imported/exported between a single wordpress blog and a multisite wordpress without problems, many times.
Personally on a multi-site wordpress I have a parent generic theme and each website has it’s own child theme with as few files as possible, mostly only html/css for custom post types. Security issues or big complicated options are most of the time in the parent theme anyway, which means I keep improving all my websites at the same time.
It’s how I like doing, doesn’t mean I would advice to do the same because a working website has something wonderful: it’s working…
Anyway if you make a mistake with an update (plugins, themes or other) all the websites using the same help noticing earlier.
While I’m sure there are other tools for this, one specifically that lists importing in/out of Multisite setups is Backup Buddy. It’s a great plugin – I’d suggest giving it a look!