Delete and reinstall site

  • sylvansound

    (@sylvansound)


    5 years, 11 months ago

    I have 4 domains, 1 of which has various subdomains, in a multisite installation on a shared server. Several, or maybe all of my sites have been hacked with redirect malware.

    Several of my sites are just empty themes, set up to be developed in the future. Only 2 sites are really up and running. I want to pay for professional cleaning of those 2 sites and delete the rest, then set the other sites back up again.

    After cleanup I want to run 3 domains/sites in the same multisite installation as before with a similar hardened security scheme (no other user accounts except for myself etc.) and the 4th domain + various subdomains in a SEPARATE, NEW multisite installation or several new single sites (with more relaxed security) to avoid cross-infection in the future.

    When clicking ‘delete site’ in wp admin, I am told that I will never again be able to use the same domain name. This is shocking… Why? Does this apply to both my potential scenarios? (1 – deleting from multisite then setting back up in same multisite, 2 – deleting from multisite then setting back up in completely new wp installation, either multisite or single site).

    Or is there another way to do this? (I want to avoid cleaning more than 2 sites because of cost, and also avoid moving sites because of potentially bringing malware and because it’s complicated. I prefer a fresh start.)

    Any help greatly appreciated. I’m pretty new to all this.

    Regards
    Martin

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
  • JNashHawkins

    (@jnashhawkins)

    5 years, 11 months ago

    It would be cool if you could buy a domain and somehow lock that thing so ‘it could never be used again’ but that ain’t gonna happen.

    I’m not sure why it says that really. I’d probably test that just to see… I bet I could do it!

    Well, let’s say you really can’t use that domain on the multisite again. But you probably can use it on a subsite in CPanel or your control panel of choice… CPanel doesn’t care… Apache doesn’t care… The registrar doesn’t care…

    And if you can route the domain through the CPanel then you should be able to point it at your old WordPress again so then it’s just a matter of creating a new site and mapping the domain name that ‘isn’t banished to nowhere land’ into that new site.

    So… I think they are trying to impress upon you how perilous this move may be. All your content will go from the removed site. All your settings. All your theme customizations… All those nice ads! That little ole GDPR checkbox thing… All that wonderful stuff… GONE!!!

    But what if you had a backup? What if you made migration plans before hand…

    ???

    I think they are trying to scare you into advanced caution.

    Anyway, that malware? It’s in your whole WordPress multisite install if you have a multisite network… That’s not good but that’s not all that bad either. Fixing once will fix it across the board.

    This article and the referenced articles within should help you DIY…

    https://wordpress.org/support/article/faq-my-site-was-hacked/

    After you get rid of the problems you’ll want to run something to help prevent that from happening again…

    You might do as I do and install iThemesSecurity and WordFence. They work well together.

    https://wordpress.org/plugins/better-wp-security/

    https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordfence/

    This article will help round out the rest of this info…

    https://wordpress.org/support/article/hardening-wordpress/

    Let us know if you need more info.

    Thread Starter sylvansound

    (@sylvansound)

    5 years, 11 months ago

    Thank you so much for the response!

    Yes, there must be a way to work around it but I’m worried about what might happen if I’m not able to.

    So my question now boils down to this:

    I’m assuming the warning of not being able to reuse the domain after deletion would only take effect if I try to reinstall it in THE SAME MULTISITE INSTALLATION, right?

    If I completely reinstall a new instance of WP (probably single site) and use the same domain name there, surely there will be no such restriction?

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

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