rcwatsonFor a long time, my multi-site WP 3.2.1 setup was humming along nicely with the following $table_prefix setting:
$table_prefix = 'wp_';
Last night I had a plugin's log table get too large and it brought down the MySQL server because of too many connections when I tried to use the plugin's management pages to empty the log. Once MySQL was running again, I deleted that log table. I still found that I had to regenerate the wp_config.php file to get things working again.
Upon doing so, I was prompted to repair the database. At first, the repair failed saying that almost all of the multi-site tables didn't exist. But I could see them plainly at the mysql prompt. Then I noticed that because this was a multisite setup, WP should have been looking for wp_1_posts rather than plain old wp_posts as the repair screen was telling me.
So, I changed $table_prefix to be 'wp_1_' and finished the repair. It saw all the wp_1_ tables. That got my site back up.
BUT, now I can't log in. It seems that this workaround caused wp_users to be inaccessible to WordPress. That's because, obviously, with a $table_prefix setting of 'wp_1_' it's looking for wp_1_users, which it's never going to find in a multisite setup. It's supposed to be looking for wp_users as it used to before the site blew up.
Looking more closely at the settings between my old config file and my new one, I noticed I was missing the allow multisite setting in wp-config.php. Ah! That must be it. So I added define('WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE', true); and changed $table_prefix back to 'wp_' like it was before this whole mess began.
No joy. It went back to "Error establishing database connection". Rinse, repeat.
What happened? How do I get back to where it was working as a multi-site again and I could log into the dashboard?
Here's my original (obfuscated) wp_config.php file before the log table issue blew everthing up.
<?php
/**
* The base configurations of the WordPress.
*
* This file has the following configurations: MySQL settings, Table Prefix,
* Secret Keys, WordPress Language, and ABSPATH. You can find more information
* by visiting {@link http://codex.wordpress.org/Editing_wp-config.php Editing
* wp-config.php} Codex page. You can get the MySQL settings from your web host.
*
* This file is used by the wp-config.php creation script during the
* installation. You don't have to use the web site, you can just copy this file
* to "wp-config.php" and fill in the values.
*
* @package WordPress
*/
// ** MySQL settings - You can get this info from your web host ** //
/** The name of the database for WordPress */
define('DB_NAME', 'XXXXXXX');
/** MySQL database username */
define('DB_USER', 'XXXXXXX');
/** MySQL database password */
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'XXXXXXX');
/** MySQL hostname */
define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');
/** Database Charset to use in creating database tables. */
define('DB_CHARSET', 'utf8');
/** The Database Collate type. Don't change this if in doubt. */
define('DB_COLLATE', '');
/**#@+
* Authentication Unique Keys and Salts.
*
* Change these to different unique phrases!
* You can generate these using the {@link https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/salt/ WordPress.org secret-key service}
* You can change these at any point in time to invalidate all existing cookies. This will force all users to have to log in again.
*
* @since 2.6.0
*/
define('AUTH_KEY', 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX');
define('SECURE_AUTH_KEY', 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX');
define('LOGGED_IN_KEY', 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX');
define('NONCE_KEY', 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX');
define('AUTH_SALT', 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX');
define('SECURE_AUTH_SALT', 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX');
define('LOGGED_IN_SALT', 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX');
define('NONCE_SALT', 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX');
/**#@-*/
/*define('WP_ALLOW_REPAIR', true);*/
/**
* WordPress Database Table prefix.
*
* You can have multiple installations in one database if you give each a unique
* prefix. Only numbers, letters, and underscores please!
*/
$table_prefix = 'wp_';
/**
* WordPress Localized Language, defaults to English.
*
* Change this to localize WordPress. A corresponding MO file for the chosen
* language must be installed to wp-content/languages. For example, install
* de_DE.mo to wp-content/languages and set WPLANG to 'de_DE' to enable German
* language support.
*/
define('WPLANG', '');
/**
* For developers: WordPress debugging mode.
*
* Change this to true to enable the display of notices during development.
* It is strongly recommended that plugin and theme developers use WP_DEBUG
* in their development environments.
*/
define('WP_DEBUG', false);
/* That's all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */
/** Absolute path to the WordPress directory. */
if ( !defined('ABSPATH') )
define('ABSPATH', dirname(__FILE__) . '/');
/** Sets up WordPress vars and included files. */
require_once(ABSPATH . 'wp-settings.php');
//set this to a URL to redirect if a blog does not exist or is a 404 on the main blog. (Useful if signup is disabled)
// For example, the browser will redirect to http://examples.com/ for the following: define( 'NOBLOGREDIRECT', 'http://example.com/' );
// define( 'NOBLOGREDIRECT', '' );
// On a directory based install you can use the 404 handler.
// Location of mu-plugins
// define( 'WPMU_PLUGIN_DIR', '' );
// define( 'WPMU_PLUGIN_URL', '' );
// define( 'MUPLUGINDIR', 'wp-content/mu-plugins' );
// Uncomment to disable the site admin bar
//define( 'NOADMINBAR', 1 );
define( "WP_USE_MULTIPLE_DB", false );
define( 'NONCE_SALT', 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX' );
/* That's all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */
/** WordPress absolute path to the WordPress directory. */
if ( !defined('ABSPATH') )
define('ABSPATH', dirname(__FILE__) . '/');
/** Sets up WordPress vars and included files. */
require_once(ABSPATH . 'wp-settings.php');
?>and here's the new wp-config.php file as re-generated and then made to look exactly like my old one, except for the $table_prefix setting, and the updated KEYs and SALTs (obfuscated):
<?php
/**
* The base configurations of the WordPress.
*
* This file has the following configurations: MySQL settings, Table Prefix,
* Secret Keys, WordPress Language, and ABSPATH. You can find more information
* by visiting {@link http://codex.wordpress.org/Editing_wp-config.php Editing
* wp-config.php} Codex page. You can get the MySQL settings from your web host.
*
* This file is used by the wp-config.php creation script during the
* installation. You don't have to use the web site, you can just copy this file
* to "wp-config.php" and fill in the values.
*
* @package WordPress
*/
// ** MySQL settings - You can get this info from your web host ** //
/** The name of the database for WordPress */
define('DB_NAME', 'XXXXXXX');
/** MySQL database username */
define('DB_USER', 'XXXXXXXX');
/** MySQL database password */
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'XXXXXXXX');
/** MySQL hostname */
define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');
/** Database Charset to use in creating database tables. */
define('DB_CHARSET', 'utf8');
/** The Database Collate type. Don't change this if in doubt. */
define('DB_COLLATE', '');
/**#@+
* Authentication Unique Keys and Salts.
*
* Change these to different unique phrases!
* You can generate these using the {@link https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/salt/ WordPress.org secret-key service}
* You can change these at any point in time to invalidate all existing cookies. This will force all users to have to log in again.
*
* @since 2.6.0
*/
define('AUTH_KEY', 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX');
define('SECURE_AUTH_KEY', 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX');
define('LOGGED_IN_KEY', 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX');
define('NONCE_KEY', 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX');
define('AUTH_SALT', 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX');
define('SECURE_AUTH_SALT', 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX');
define('LOGGED_IN_SALT', 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX');
define('NONCE_SALT', 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX');
/**#@-*/
/**
* WordPress Database Table prefix.
*
* You can have multiple installations in one database if you give each a unique
* prefix. Only numbers, letters, and underscores please!
*/
$table_prefix = 'wp_1_';
/**
* WordPress Localized Language, defaults to English.
*
* Change this to localize WordPress. A corresponding MO file for the chosen
* language must be installed to wp-content/languages. For example, install
* de_DE.mo to wp-content/languages and set WPLANG to 'de_DE' to enable German
* language support.
*/
define('WPLANG', '');
/**
* For developers: WordPress debugging mode.
*
* Change this to true to enable the display of notices during development.
* It is strongly recommended that plugin and theme developers use WP_DEBUG
* in their development environments.
*/
define('WP_DEBUG', false);
/* That's all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */
/** Absolute path to the WordPress directory. */
if ( !defined('ABSPATH') )
define('ABSPATH', dirname(__FILE__) . '/');
/** Sets up WordPress vars and included files. */
require_once(ABSPATH . 'wp-settings.php');
//set this to a URL to redirect if a blog does not exist or is a 404 on the main blog. (Useful if signup is disabled)
// For example, the browser will redirect to http://examples.com/ for the following: define( 'NOBLOGREDIRECT', 'http://example.com/' );
// define( 'NOBLOGREDIRECT', '' );
// On a directory based install you can use the 404 handler.
// Location of mu-plugins
// define( 'WPMU_PLUGIN_DIR', '' );
// define( 'WPMU_PLUGIN_URL', '' );
// define( 'MUPLUGINDIR', 'wp-content/mu-plugins' );
// Uncomment to disable the site admin bar
//define( 'NOADMINBAR', 1 );
define( "WP_USE_MULTIPLE_DB", false );
define( 'NONCE_SALT', 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX' );
/* That's all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */
/** WordPress absolute path to the WordPress directory. */
if ( !defined('ABSPATH') )
define('ABSPATH', dirname(__FILE__) . '/');
/** Sets up WordPress vars and included files. */
require_once(ABSPATH . 'wp-settings.php');
?>
