Announcing MWP2.0 with PHP7 & FreeSSL
-Awesome! I’ve been waiting to write this one for quite some time. Today we are releasing the biggest update and changes to our standard Managed WordPress Hosting & Support plans, since we first launched as WP NET in 2014! We’re calling it MWP2.0!
Starting today, all new sign ups for Managed WordPress will be deployed to MWP2.0 accounts and include all the MWP2.0 features outlined in this blog post.
Existing customers will be progressively migrated over to MWP2.0-based servers, beginning in around 6 weeks time. If you urgently need some features included in MWP2.0 (like SSL), then please contact us and we’ll do our best to bump you up the line.
All new features and storage space come at no additional cost — Starter 1GB remains $29 per month. To use FreeSSL, you will need a Starter 1GB + SSL plan, which is $39 per month. If you sign up for any hosting service and pay annually you get one month free, every year of the service.
MWP2.0 – New features
- Site Clone & Sync — create staging sites in a few clicks
- Improved Backups — we now store 7 days of backups (up from 2)
- PHP7 – FPM powered versions 5.6, 7 and 7.1
- FreeSSL via Let’s Encrypt — never worry about certificate installation or renewals again
- HTTP/2 – all HTTPs pages will automatically use HTTP/2
- More disk space — databases no longer contribute to usage
You can read more about the changes on the MWP2.0 page, or read on for more … … continues
WP-CLI Now Available on Managed Cloud Servers
-We are thrilled to announce that WP-CLI is now available on all WP NET Managed Cloud Servers!
WP-CLI is a fantastic utility that allows you to manage your WordPress sites directly from the command line. Working with WP-CLI is fast, flexible and … kinda fun!
We’ve been working on this for a while, so we’re really pleased to finally get it out of the gate — it’s installed on all Managed Cloud Servers right now! Just connect to your server via SSH and start managing your WordPress sites like a pro.
WP NET’s Managed Cloud Servers allow you to host managed and un-managed WordPress sites, so for customers that manage sites themselves, WP-CLI will provide an excellent new tool to help you efficiently manage your WordPress installations.
Getting Started
The following WP NET KnowledgeBase articles cover everything you need to know about connecting to your server via SSH and getting started with WP-CLI. Note that these articles are accessible by existing customers only, so you’ll need to login to My WP NET.
- my.wpnet.nz/cloud-server-ssh-guide
- my.wpnet.nz/cloud-server-wp-cli-guide
- my.wpnet.nz/cloud-server-control-panel-guide
WP-CLI Tutorials
The following links provide some in-depth tutorials on using WP-CLI. You can ignore the instructions regarding installation and set up — that’s already done for you!
- Advanced WordPress Management With WP-CLI
- Toolbox of the Smart WordPress Developer: WP-CLI
- Advanced WordPress Development: WordPress Automation With WP-CLI
Also, for a comprehensive list of all the commands available in WP-CLI, see: WP-CLI Commands.
If you have any questions regarding WP-CLI support on Managed Cloud Servers, please open a support ticket, or contact us.
PHP7 Coming Soon for Managed WordPress Hosting
-We are busy working on some major updates to our shared-hosting Managed WordPress Hosting & Support platform, which we’re calling MWP 2.0! (Managed WordPress 2.0)
We can’t provide all the details just yet, as we are still testing and finalising some features. However, we realise that many customers are getting desperate for PHP7 — well, I can confirm that PHP7 will be available in MWP 2.0!
There will also be many other exciting new features, but you’ll need to wait just a little longer to hear about those, but just to give you an idea, MWP 2.0 will be focussing on speed and security. PHP7 is a big part of the performance improvements we’ll be rolling out, as PHP7 alone will give your WordPress sites a serious speed boost.
Expect an official announcement in the next 4 – 6 weeks!
Now Accepting Payments via Stripe
-We are pleased to announce that we can now accept credit card payments via Stripe!
Stripe has recently launched in New Zealand and so we can now take advantage of their excellent service and features. Credit card payments to WP NET are now simple to set up and manage.
New customers can opt to pay by credit card at checkout and the payment will be processed by Stripe and the card details securely sent and stored with Stripe for re-billing as required.
With Stripe credit card payments, WP NET is able to bill customers on-demand and on a recurring basis, and we can bill varying amounts too, so there will be no more issues with recurring payments when you upgrade your account and your monthly amount due changes. This should be a huge relief to our customers who have experienced this issue with our previous payment processor.
Please note that credit card details are not stored within WP NET’s systems — all details are encrypted and securely transmitted to Stripe for processing and storage.
Over the next few weeks we will be migrating away from using 2CheckOut for existing recurring billing subscriptions, but we will be in contact with affected customers via email with instructions on how to transition over to using Stripe.
If any of our customers have questions or concerns regarding credit card payments, please open a support ticket and we’ll be happy to help.
FreeSSL now available in Cloud Server Control Panel
-We’ve recently deployed an update to our Managed Cloud Server Control Panel that adds support for managing FreeSSL (Let’s Encrypt) Certificates from directly within the Control Panel.
This means that all our Managed Cloud Server customers can now instantly apply SSL Certificates to their sites with the click of button. With this new addition — and considering the performance and SEO benefits of running sites with SSL — we recommend that all Cloud Server sites run under SSL.
More information, and complete instructions for using the Cloud Server Control Panel are available in our WP NET KnowledgeBase.
Managed Cloud Server Control Panel Released
-We have exciting news today … our Cloud Server Control Panel is officially released and available now!
Our Managed Cloud Servers are built for speed and security. We have gone to considerable lengths to ensure that these servers are as lean as possible — and that includes the control panel. The software installed on the server is very light-weight and uses practically zero resources. As you would expect, all communication between the control panel and the server uses SSL / HTTPS.
We have intentionally made the interface as simple and uncluttered as possible. Most actions require only a few clicks.
In short: it’s fast, secure and easy to use. … continues
WooCommerce 2.6
-WooCommerce 2.6 was recently released and includes many changes, improvements and fixes. Most notably, WooCommerce now includes “native” support for Shipping Classes — a long requested and very welcome feature.
Other changes include some UI improvements, with AJAX refreshes for the Cart pages and a nice tabbed interface for the My Account pages. You can read more about the changes on the WooCommerce Dev blog.
Thinking of updating to WooCommerce 2.6?
While this is an exciting update for WooCommerce users, there are a few important things to be aware of before you upgrade. This is a major update and should ideally be performed by a web designer or developer who can ensure that everything goes smoothly and recoverable backups are taken before any changes are made.
Introducing Improved Server Monitoring
-All-new systems monitoring service is now operational!
This is an internal monitoring service used by our support team to provide them with important systems status information and historical performance data for all of our servers and customers domains. This is a remote monitoring service that runs in conjunction with existing systems to provide us with detailed multi-node monitoring.
WordPress 4.5
-The latest version of the world’s most popular CMS, WordPress v4.5 is available now!
Features and changes in WordPress 4.5 include:
- Inline link editing
- Further improvements to Markdown support in the Editor
- Live responsive previews in the Customiser
- Native support for custom logos
- Improved image resizing and optimisation
More details are available on the WordPress Blog post and there’s also a Codex page with all the details for developers and those who enjoy the fine-print.
FreeSSL Now Available for Managed Cloud VPS
-We’ve got a lot of exciting new features and updates to announce over the next few months, and first up is…
FreeSSL from Let’s Encrypt
now available to all Managed Cloud VPS customers!That’s right, all customers with WP NET Managed Cloud VPS servers can now use SSL on their websites at no cost! You never need to bother with generating CSR’s, processing renewals or installing certificates … ever! It’s all completely automated.
New and existing Managed Cloud VPS customers can start using FreeSSL right now. For details on how to activate FreeSSL on your Cloud VPS websites, please see our KnowledgeBase article. (Note: you must login to the My WP NET customer portal to view the article)
What is Let’s Encrypt?
Let’s Encrypt is a new SSL Certificate Authority on a mission to make encryption standard across the web. Let’s Encrypt is sponsored by industry, including: Mozilla, Google, Facebook, Sucuri, CISCO and more. You can read more about Let’s Encypt on their website.
In a nutshell, Let’s Encrypt provides browser-trusted SSL certificates completely free. Provisioning and renewal is automated via the Let’s Encrypt agent software installed on the host server.
You may be asking yourself …
