any of us know that WordPress is is an easy-to-use web publishing system that meets a wide range of our website needs. We also understand that supporting many standalone instances of WordPress can be a nightmare -- so we turn to WordPress Multisite. But what happens when your WordPress network explodes to include thousands of users and sites? At UNC-Chapel Hill our two WordPress multisite networks (self-serve/enterprise) power thousands of sites across a wide range of use cases. During this presentation, we’ll explore topics such as scalability, security, user experience, and administration overhead as they pertain to these very large WordPress networks. We’ll share tips, lessons learned, and ongoing challenges. This talk will cover technical areas (i.e - caching, domain mapping, and custom theme development) as well as topics of interest to communicators and content editors.

1. 8,000
Sites and Counting
Running a HUGE WordPress Service
Billy Hylton, Miles Fink, William Earnhardt | UNC Cause 2014

2. Who We Are
Billy Hylton
Manager
Also pretends to be a surfer
and skateboarder.
Will Earnhardt
Web Developer
Can code almost as well as
he can fish.
Miles Fink
Web Developer
Likes his rock classic.
@webdotunc

4. WordPress at Carolina
Web.unc.edu
Self service web publishing for
Carolina faculty, staff, and students.
Sites.unc.edu
Enterprise web platform for divisions,
departments, schools, and more.
@webdotunc

5. WordPress at Carolina
Collaborations
Student Organizations
Greek Community
DH Press
Instructional Resources
Services
Faculty CVs
Portfolios
Much More!
Homepage
Departments
Divisions
Schools
Campus Units
Centers & Institutes
Research Labs
Programs
Student Government
@webdotunc

6. WordPress at Carolina
@webdotunc

7. WordPress at Carolina
@webdotunc

8. WordPress at Carolina
@webdotunc

9. WordPress at Carolina
@webdotunc

10. A Few Numbers

11. Pageviews: 2013-2014
50 Million
@webdotunc

12. Sep 20, 2013 – Oct 20, 2014
sites.unc.edu
@webdotunc

13. Sep 20, 2013 – Oct 20, 2014
web.unc.edu
@webdotunc

14. Pageviews: Sept. – Oct.
6 Million
@webdotunc

15. Pageviews by Day
150,000-200,000
@webdotunc

16. Multisite Makes it Happen

17. Single Site vs Multisite
@webdotunc
Single Site Multisite
One WordPress Install ✓ ✓
One Database ✓ ✓
Supports Themes ✓ ✓
Supports Plugins ✓ ✓

18. Single Site vs Multisite
@webdotunc
Single Site Multisite
Number of Websites 1 Unlimited*
*Only limited by system resources

19. Pros & Cons of Multisite
@webdotunc
Pros:
Updates
Reusability of code
Shared Database
Security
Shared System Resources
Messaging
Single Sign-On
Cons:
Updates
Reusability of code
Shared Database
Security
Shared System Resources
Single Point of Failure

20. Security
@webdotunc

21. Network Administration
@webdotunc

22. Network Administration
@webdotunc

23. Going Forward. Together.

24. Introducing Heelium
@webdotunc

25. Heelium Theme
Built on Roots Theme
Bootstrap-enabled
Flexible sidebars
Fully responsive
UNC-branded
Default web.unc.edu
New UI components
New Shortcode options
@webdotunc

26. Next Steps
“Refresh” web.unc.edu
More solutions w/ WordPress
App development
Mobile
Development workflow
Security
Collaboration
Your Ideas…
@webdotunc

27. Thank You!
E-mail
You can contact us at
webdotunc@groups.unc.edu
On the web
web.unc.edu
twitter.com/webdotunc
facebook.com/webdotunc