Question about WordPress MultiSite scalability

Hello
I have a question regarding WordPress Multisite and how to scale them up.

So if I set a WordPress multisite on a VPS, once the network grows, I can just upgrade the VPS or move to a dedicated server. But there comes a time when the network is so big that one server is just not enough.

How can multisite networks be scaled up on multiple servers?

If I separate the database and move it to a different server (if this is doable), will I be able to use a load balancer and host the database on one server, and the rest of the network on multiple servers?

Some advice regarding this would be appreciated.

Thank you

  • Patrick Freitas
    • FLS

    Hi Alex

    I hope you are doing well.

    You should be able to upgrade the server or move to a dedicated server without any issue.

    Using only well coded plugins, good themes and keeping the network big but clean you will need to worry much about the server only and keep it under the same database.

    You can also take a look at this plugin created by Automatic guys.
    https://wordpress.org/plugins/hyperdb/

    From our CTO on a previous discussion, he suggested this to the member, I believe it also fits on this ticket.

    This is pretty dated, but gives a good overview still: https://wpmudev.com/blog/scaling-wordpress-wpmu-buddypress-like-edublogs/

    These are general steps you end up following bit by bit as you scale a large WP site, DB scaling comes pretty far down the line. Most sites don’t need to go past step 4:
    1. Improving code performance
    2. Proper full page and object caching
    3. Vertical scaling your shared app/db server
    4. Moving your db to it’s own server
    5. Scale app servers horizontally with a load balancer. Solve the filesystem problem. Possibly add autoscaling and or high availability for app server.
    6. Scale your db load by creating needed read replicas. Use LudicrousDB for this.
    7. Scale db masters via sharding using LudicrousDB.

    https://wpmudev.com/blog/hosting-wordpress-multisite-behind-the-scenes/

    Let us know if you have any additional question on this.
    Best Regards
    Patrick Freitas