How to Configure a Development URL (*.seravo.com) for Your Site

This guide walks you through setting up Seravo's technical development URL when your site’s primary domain is pointed elsewhere or is temporarily unavailable.

Intended for developers and site administrators, these steps restore full access to your WordPress dashboard and frontend—whether running a standard single-site or a WordPress Multisite network.

Before You Begin

Ensure you have the following ready:

SSH and SFTP credentials for your Seravo environment.
Your site’s development address (provided in your initial welcome email and server activation details).

Step 1: Locate Your Development Address & Connect via SSH

Every Seravo environment includes a unique technical URL based on the site container's identifier, structured as https://[site-id].*.seravo.com (for example, example.fi-t.seravo.com).

Open your terminal (Terminal, PuTTY, or PowerShell) and connect to the site via SSH using your assigned port:
```
ssh -p 12345 [email protected]
```
Navigate to your WordPress document root:
```
cd /data/wordpress/htdocs
```

Step 2: Update the Site URLs

Choose Option A for standard single-site installations or Option B for Multisite networks.

Option A: Standard WordPress Site (Single Site)

Test with a Dry Run:
Run WP-CLI's search-replace command with the --dry-run flag to preview database replacements before applying changes (replace the example URLs with your actual domains):
```
wp search-replace '//example.com' '//example.fi-t.seravo.com' --all-tables --dry-run
```
Execute the Database Update:
Once the preview confirms the intended matches, run the command without --dry-run:
```
wp search-replace '//example.com' '//example.fi-t.seravo.com' --all-tables
```
Flush Cache: wp-purge-cache

Option B: WordPress Multisite Network

In a Multisite setup, URLs must be updated across all database tables network-wide and adjusted within wp-config.php.

Run Network-Wide Search and Replace:
Update wp_site, wp_blogs, and all subsite options by appending the --network flag:
```
wp search-replace 'example.com' 'example.fi-t.seravo.com' --all-tables --network
```
Update wp-config.php Constants:
Open wp-config.php using a command-line editor (e.g. nano wp-config.php) or SFTP. Locate DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE and update it to match the technical address (without protocol):
```
define( 'DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE', 'example.fi-t.seravo.com' );
```
Define the Cookie Domain:
To prevent login loop errors—especially with subdomain-based networks—ensure this line is present in wp-config.php:
```
define( 'COOKIE_DOMAIN', $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] ?? '' );
```
Flush Cache: wp-purge-cache

Tip: If your production site used a www prefix (e.g. www.esimerkki.fi), run a separate search-and-replace for the www variant to ensure no residual redirects remain.

Example Output

When wp search-replace completes successfully, terminal output will resemble the following:

+------------------+-----------------------+--------------+------+
| Table            | Column                | Replacements | Type |
+------------------+-----------------------+--------------+------+
| wp_options       | option_value          | 2            | PHP  |
| wp_posts         | post_content          | 142          | SQL  |
| wp_sitemeta      | meta_value            | 4            | PHP  |
+------------------+-----------------------+--------------+------+
Success: Made 148 replacements.

Expected Result: Both the frontend and WP Admin dashboard will load directly at https://example.fi-t.seravo.com without redirecting elsewhere.

Troubleshooting & FAQ

The site is stuck in a redirect loop (ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS)

Cause: Hardcoded constants or redirect rules conflict with database values.
Resolution: Check wp-config.php for lingering hardcoded WP_HOME or WP_SITEURL declarations referencing the old domain. For Multisite setups, verify DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE contains the hostname only (omit https://).

"Cookies are blocked or not supported by your browser" error on login

Cause: WordPress auth cookies remain bound to the legacy domain.
Resolution: Ensure define( 'COOKIE_DOMAIN', $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] ?? '' ); is active in wp-config.php, clear your browser cookies for the domain, and retry.

Subsite login fails in a Multisite network

Cause: Individual subsite records may still carry previous domain paths.
Resolution: If Network Admin is accessible (My Sites > Network Admin > Sites), open the affected subsite's settings and verify both Siteurl and Home values match the new development hostname format.

Related Resources

Next Steps

Your site is now configured to use the development *.seravo.com address. You can log into WP Admin, verify content, export backups, or inspect database entries independently of live DNS routing.

If you encounter unexpected routing issues or prefer our technical support to handle the reconfiguration for you, reach out to [email protected].