Maintaining multiple sites

[John Visser]

Hi everyone.

In addition to development, I've been maintaining WP sites for about 5 years. I currently have about 25 of them. In the beginning, I was logging into each one separately, setting up individual backup solutions, etc. Obviously, as the number grew, that became too much of a chore, so I searched for a service that would make it more convenient.

Enter MangeWP. It had already been sold to GoDaddy by the time I found it, but since it was one of the only games in town, I went with it.

Honestly, I like it... even though it's a little clunky and dated. But the idea that it's a GoDaddy service and they collect private info has been weighing on me, so I've been looking at other options.

I've looked at MainWP, WP Umbrella, and WPMU DEV. I'm wondering what your experiences have been and if you have any opinions or other recommendations. Thanks!

~john

John Visser  |  johnvisser.net
Tenacious, solution-driven WordPress development, optimization, and maintenance in Minnesota.

[Jodi Stammer]

Hi John:

 

I’ve been using iThemes Sync for years. I’ve purchased a lifetime membership for MainWP, but haven’t gotten around to setting it up yet. I’ve heard it’s a bit daunting at first, but totally worth it. Let me know what direction you end up going!

 

Jodi Stammer
Graphic & Web Designer
Uncorked Design LLC

jodi.s...@comcast.net
763-954-0820
 

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[Toby C]

Hi John. I used WPMUDEV extensively about a year ago, and they were great with one exception: their backups failed often (many different sites, different servers, different setups).  I worked with their team to try and resolve the backup issues without success.  

I've had good luck using Jetpack backups, but the Jetpack plugin has regular/random connection issues.  Ugh!

In my experience, Manage WP (which I use on many sites today) has provided the most reliable service of the 3.

Toby

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[John Visser]

Thanks, Jodi. I have MainWP set up on my server now and have toyed around with it... but I don't like having to rely on 3rd parties for various services from multiple plugins. WP Umbrella is looking very promising, and they're actively working on adding new features and improving others, but in my opinion it's just not quite where I want it to be. So I think I'll wait on that one.

~john

John Visser  |  johnvisser.net
Tenacious, solution-driven WordPress development, optimization, and maintenance in Minnesota.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mpls-stpaul-wordpress/019101d95d02%2404c16040%240e4420c0%24%40gmail.com.

[John Visser]

Thanks, Toby. I kinda hate that ManageWP works as well as it does. ;)

Like I said to Jodi, I think WP Umbrella may be the next breakthrough in this area, but it's not quite there yet (for me).

~john

John Visser  |  johnvisser.net
Tenacious, solution-driven WordPress development, optimization, and maintenance in Minnesota.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mpls-stpaul-wordpress/CAFV3fmksOxph2vkFNLnJZsNwDZxwOOGC-84cy8WP7sMgopbbfQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[c...@cypresscreative.com]

We use IWP for managing plugins on about 100 WordPress sites.

For backups we rely on the hosts we use (WP Engine or SiteGround) and have a few other solutions for that depending on the site and host - BackupWP or shell scripts to push to AWS or other external location.

[Michael Helmke]

I'm currently managing 32 sites and have long used MainWP for management. When I started out I wanted simple and self-hosted. Simple being show me a list of my sites and which ones have outstanding updates and give me the option to update them remotely.

For backups I've been extremely happy with the paid version of UpdraftPlus running daily backups on all sited to AWS S3. I have never felt comfortable with hosting provided backup services.

Never had issues with either. Backups work well. Restores, including to new domain names, are easy.

I've not trusted a single source will solve all of my problems and have settled on a small set of tools that have now worked consistently and without tears for about 7 years. For the amount of time I spend managing websites I host, I'm very happy with the results.

-- Michael Helmke

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-helmke/

[John Visser]

Thank you all for your replies and insight!

~john

John Visser  |  johnvisser.net
Tenacious, solution-driven WordPress development, optimization, and maintenance in Minnesota.

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[David Skarjune]

John,

I've used ManageWP so long, was worried about GoDaddy acquisition, but haven't ruined it yet, despite their lame WordPress platform and pathetic security as recently reported.

Price is right for me with just a handful of sites as needed at any time, < $10 monthly total. 

-Skarjune

On Wednesday, March 22, 2023 at 9:15:55 PM UTC-5 jo...@johnvisser.net wrote:

[John Visser]

My biggest issue with GoDaddy owning it is privacy and what they do with the data they collect.

~john

John Visser  |  johnvisser.net
Tenacious, solution-driven WordPress development, optimization, and maintenance in Minnesota.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mpls-stpaul-wordpress/7062ca59-bcaf-4ff8-98e9-bad0f6d01659n%40googlegroups.com.

[Toby C]

Christian, Just curious: How reliable have you found IWP's backup solution to be?  

Toby

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[Christian Kuffner]

Hi Toby - I don't use it for backups, just for centralized management.  For backups we used to use command line directly to AWS, but we rely on our hosting companies to keep their act together right now.

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[David Skarjune]

Good point about GoDaddy data collection & privacy, and I don't use JetPack for similar reason. 

-Skarjune

[Eric Celeste]

Michael, I want to thank you for pointing out MainWP. I had never heard of it and in the past week we have found it to be a really helpful tool. We especially like that it is a WordPress plugin that we can host ourselves. It is written flexibly enough (lots of hooks to take advantage of) that we are also finding ways to accommodate unique aspects of the sites we manage. This will make a big difference in how we handle our sites, we appreciate your calling it to our attention on the MSPWP list!

...Eric

Eric Celeste / e...@tenseg.net / 651-323-2009

[Michael Helmke]

Excellent, glad it looks helpful to you. Self-hosting was key for me at the beginning to keep things simpler. I run it on a very bare bones WP install just for administering my other sites. And the free version has been sufficient for my needs so far.

Glad to help!

Michael