SOP: Initial Setup

Fresh

Complete first-time setup of MainWP Dashboard and your first child site.

Prerequisites

• [ ] WordPress 6.2+ installed on Dashboard server
• [ ] PHP 7.4+ with OpenSSL and cURL extensions
• [ ] Admin access to Dashboard WordPress
• [ ] Admin access to at least one child WordPress site
• [ ] Both sites accessible via HTTPS

Step 1: Install MainWP Dashboard

1. Log into Dashboard WordPress admin
2. Navigate to Plugins → Add New
3. Search for "MainWP Dashboard"
4. Click Install Now → Activate
5. The MainWP Setup Wizard launches automatically

Step 2: Run Setup Wizard

The wizard walks through:

1. Welcome — Overview of MainWP
2. Installation — System check (PHP, OpenSSL, memory)
3. Add Site — Connect your first child site
4. Monitoring — Enable uptime monitoring (optional)
5. Optimization — Configure cron, caching
6. Complete — Finish and access Dashboard

Step 3: Install MainWP Child on Child Site

1. Log into the child WordPress admin
2. Navigate to Plugins → Add New
3. Search for "MainWP Child"
4. Click Install Now → Activate
5. Go to Settings → MainWP Child
6. Optionally set a Unique Security ID (record this — you'll need it)

Step 4: Connect Child Site from Dashboard

1. In MainWP Dashboard, go to MainWP → Add New Site
2. Enter:
   • Site URL: https://your-child-site.com
   • Admin Username: The WordPress admin username on the child site
   • Unique Security ID: (if you set one in Step 3)
3. Click Add Site
4. Wait for connection verification (green checkmark)

Step 5: Initial Sync

1. Go to MainWP → Sites → Manage Sites
2. Select your new site
3. Click Sync to pull current site data
4. Verify all data appears (plugins, themes, WordPress version)

Step 6: Configure Dashboard Settings

1. MainWP → Settings → General
   • Set time zone
   • Configure notification email
2. MainWP → Settings → Monitoring
   • Enable uptime checks (recommended)
   • Set check interval (default: 5 minutes)
3. MainWP → Settings → Advanced
   • Set maximum simultaneous requests (default: 4)
   • Configure sync frequency

Verification

• [ ] Dashboard shows connected site with green status
• [ ] Sync data is populated (plugins, themes, version info)
• [ ] Uptime monitoring is active (if enabled)
• [ ] No error messages in Dashboard overview

Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
"Child plugin not detected"	Verify MainWP Child is activated
"Security ID mismatch"	Match IDs on both Dashboard and child
OpenSSL warning	Install php-openssl extension
Memory warning	Increase memory_limit to 256M+
Timeout during connection	Increase max_execution_time to 300

Next Steps

• Add more sites
• Configure update management
• Set up API access