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FeaturesDatabases

One database per site, locked to that site.

Everything you write in WordPress — pages, posts, orders, customers, settings — lives in a database. WPShift creates one for each site, along with a login that only opens that one. Cheaper hosting often shares a single login across every site on the server, which turns one break-in into all of them.

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  1. 01

    Created with the site

    Setting up a site creates its database and its login at the same time. There is no separate step.

  2. 02

    Access stays narrow

    Each login opens one database, so no site's settings file contains credentials that work on another site.

  3. 03

    Add more if you need them

    An extra database, or a read-only login for a reporting tool, from the server's own page.

The shortcut cheap hosting takes

Sharing one database login across every site on a server is convenient right up to the first break-in, at which point whoever got in has every site's content, every customer record and every password. One login per database is not an advanced precaution. It is the baseline, and it is what you get here by default.

One database per site on the server.
One database per site on the server.

You can see who has access

The database users page shows every login that exists and which databases each one can open. Add one for a reporting tool, remove one whose password has leaked, or give an existing login access to a second database.

Database logins, and which databases each one can open.
Database logins, and which databases each one can open.

Emoji will not break your posts

New databases are set up to store the full range of characters, including emoji and every accented alphabet. It sounds like a detail until a customer puts an emoji in a product name and WordPress silently cuts the rest of the text off.

Get the content on its own

Backups keep your files and your content separately, and each downloads on its own. Putting the content back without overwriting your images is a normal thing to want, and awkward when the two are welded together.

Common questions

Does every WordPress site get its own database?

Yes, and its own login. That login only opens that one database, so the credentials sitting in one site's configuration file are useless against any other site on the server.

Can I connect to the database from my own computer?

The database is not reachable from the internet by default, which is the right setting. You can connect through a secure tunnel using your own key, or work on the server itself. Opening it to one specific address is possible through the firewall if you genuinely need it.

Is this MySQL?

It is MariaDB, which WordPress treats as MySQL and which most WordPress sites already run on. Nothing in a plugin or theme needs to change.

How do I get a copy of my content?

Take a backup and download the database half of it using a private link. It is a standard export file that you could load anywhere WordPress runs.

Keep reading

InfrastructureCloud serversYou open an account with a cloud company like Hetzner or DigitalOcean, and give WPShift permission to use it. We build the server, install everything WordPress needs, and look after it from then on. The server sits in your account, on your bill, and stays there if you ever stop using us.ReadProtectionBackupsWPShift copies your content and your files on whatever schedule you set, and keeps those copies somewhere other than the server they came from. Putting one back is a normal thing you can do on a quiet afternoon, not a procedure you read about for the first time while a client is on the phone.ReadInfrastructureSecurity & firewallA new server has everything closed except the two doors websites use. Nobody can log in with a password. Nobody can log in as the all-powerful root account. Each site runs under its own user, so a break-in on one cannot reach the files of another. This is done during setup, not left as homework.ReadWordPressCachingCaching means keeping a copy of work already done so it does not have to be done again. WPShift does it in two places: finished pages are kept by the web server and handed straight to visitors, and the answers to common database questions are kept in memory. Both are set up for you, and both can be switched on or off per site.Read

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