WP Toolkit - General Discussion

[Tomek]

Hi @Igor Borisov

thank you for your answer

So if I have a blog that has pages with a lot of traffic in a short period of time, then this solution will be helpful.

But if I have a blog that has a lot of pages, but with a small amount of traffic in a short period of time (for example, one page have an average of one visitor every few hours), then this solution will not speed up these pages.

And in both of these cases, it is worth having a caching plugin installed.

I understand this correctly?

Is it compatible with Woocommerce?

 

[custer]

Hi everyone,

We have published WPT 3.0.2 update that addresses several issues reported by customers. Full list of changes:

• Addendio Plus plugin is no longer installed on all new WordPress instances by default. If you want it to be installed by default, go to WPT Global Settings and enable the corresponding checkbox.
• [-] WPT now properly refreshes instance cache data in Plesk Multi Server environment. (EXTWPTOOLK-1356)
• [-] Users can once again install and manage WordPress instances on domains with PHP 5.3, although we strongly recommend to use at least PHP 5.6 for security reasons. (EXTWPTOOLK-1356)
• [-] Reseller subscriptions can now be customized again without any errors about invalid specified limits. (EXTWPTOOLK-1352)
• [-] Users are now able to remove WordPress instances with missing database. (EXTWPTOOLK-1349)

 

[Atramasis]

Not completely. Nginx caching may be faster, but WP caching plugins are more flexible and integrated to WordPress.
In the current state, Nginx cache is intended to be used mainly as a simple short-term cache. But we're planning to improve it for support of HTTP PURGE method to make it possible to use benefits of both web server and WP caching plugins.

Will it be something like this: Nginx Caching for Wordpress using fastcgi_cache - LinuxAdmin.io ?
I think it would be great to automatically purge the cache (or even only affected pages) from within WordPress. When will it be available?

 

[Atramasis]

I have a question about WP-Cron. In a previous incarnation as a freelancer I would routinely disable WP's per page load cron check in favour of an actual cron job (i.e. Scheduled task). This is a trivial task for a single instance of WP, but it would be a tedious and time consuming chore for many sites.
I have looked over the guide, and this forum. I can see the regular scheduled tasks that call various things, and what they do, but no mention of anything like a call to wp-cron for all installed instances of WP.
I was thinking if such functionality existed it would be in:
wp-toolkit/scripts/maintenance.php
I haven't poked around enough to find that specific file, as it doesn't appear to be accessible through the standard Plesk interface.
So, does this file trigger wp-cron? or is there a setting to make it do so?
It seems (to me) like an obviously useful feature I'd expect it to be there, but I can't find any info. Will I need to think about a 'PLESK CLI AND API-RPC' project to make this work?

I would also like to see this feature. It helps to optimize the server load. I posted this in uservoice: Option to disable wp-cron and set up crontab
I think it should be easy to implement and very effective.

 

[Atramasis]

Why is "Cache requests with cookies" in nginx cache settings an opt-in? I think it should be opt-out, like "Don't cache requests with cookies". And when you activate the nginx cache in WTC, than the ovious cookies should be in this list, more like this:

# Don't use the cache for logged in users or recent commenters
if ($http_cookie ~* "comment_author|wordpress_[a-f0-9]+|wp-postpass|wordpress_no_cache|wordpress_logged_in") {
  set $no_cache 1;
}

Why? Because when you skip cache on any cookie as default, very few websites would use the cache, as you have cookies from: Cloudflare, Jetpack, Analytics, wordpress_test_cookie,... for not logged in users. So you don't know what cookies are there for normal users, but you know the cookies for logged in users - just use them to exclude from caching.
What do you think? Is there an explanation for the current behaviour?

 

[Igor Borisov]

Will it be something like this: Nginx Caching for Wordpress using fastcgi_cache - LinuxAdmin.io ?

Yes, something like that but without having to create Nginx config manually of course.

I think it would be great to automatically purge the cache (or even only affected pages) from within WordPress. When will it be available?

I can't tell exact time now. I believe we'll do it this year, but it's not a top priority.

 

[Igor Borisov]

What do you think? Is there an explanation for the current behaviour?

Current version of Nginx caching was implemented with minimum functionality. Other functions will be added according to customers' feedback.
Now you may add any cookies to exclusion list. I see you're telling about reverse behavior, it's not implemented yet.

 

[custer]

Hi everyone,

We have released WPT 3.0.3 update, addressing several customer issues. Here's the changelog:

• [-] Maintenance screen text is now displayed in English instead of Arabic if WordPress admin UI uses languages not available in Plesk localization packs. (EXTWPTOOLK-1382)
• [-] The contents of the Actions dropdown (displayed in the WPT toolbar under certain responsive circumstances) no longer offend the aesthetic sensibilities of users. (EXTWPTOOLK-1355)
• [-] WordPress Toolkit now properly indicates that rollback of an instance restore point has been actually finished. (EXTWPTOOLK-1358)
• [-] Scan and Import buttons now work properly when you click on them in the Actions dropdown. (EXTWPTOOLK-1362)
• [-] Plesk now properly redirects users to the corresponding page when they remove WordPress instances from My Apps screen on the Applications tab (ProTip: do not go there for managing your WordPress instances). (EXTWPTOOLK-1365)
• [-] User-provided username will no longer be reset when changing the password in the Password Protection UI. (EXTWPTOOLK-1339)
• [-] Users can now change WordPress admin settings when WPT does not yet know the password to the WordPress instance. (EXTWPTOOLK-1383)
• [-] Smart Update limit in hosting plans is not displayed anymore on Plesk Onyx versions prior to 17.8. (EXTWPTOOLK-1391)

 

[custer]

Hi everyone,

We have published WPT 3.0.4 update that addresses two small but important issues reported by customers. Full list of changes:

[*] Improved the reliability of creating instance preview screenshots: WordPress instances were taught to politely stand in the queue instead of overcrowding the screenshotting service like barbarians. (EXTWPTOOLK-1401)
[-] Activating a theme on a WordPress instance no longer shows themes being switched off on other instances in the list when these instances also have Themes tab opened. (EXTWPTOOLK-1398)

 

[Tomek]

Hi everyone,
[*] Improved the reliability of creating instance preview screenshots: WordPress instances were taught to politely stand in the queue instead of overcrowding the screenshotting service like barbarians. (EXTWPTOOLK-1401))

This description made my day

 

[custer]

This description made my day

Glad you enjoyed it -- I think a bit of fun won't hurt anyone.

 

[custer]

We have published WPT 3.0.5 update that addresses a number of small issues and improvements in the new UI. Here's the changelog (not that there's anything interesting there this time, but anyway):

[*] Minor improvements and bugfixes related to the new WordPress Toolkit UI.

 

[Aleksey Filatev]

Hi everyone,

We are happy to announce the release of the WordPress Toolkit 3.1.0 update. This release includes long-awaited plugin and theme autoupdates, completely redesigned and improved Smart Update comparison screen, and a bunch of smaller changes and bugfixes. Here's the full changelog:

• [+] Automatic updates for all plugins or themes on a WordPress instance are now available.
• [+] Smart Update comparison screen was dramatically prettified to the point where it makes certain other screens jealous. The screen also provides more data to help users make informed decisions about whether update will be fine or not.
• [+] Multisite instances are now visually marked in the UI.
• [+] WordPress Toolkit now generates database names with random suffixes when installing WordPress to avoid database name clashes under certain circumstances. Server administrators can also change the database name prefix on the Global Settings screen.
• It's now possible to remove multiple plugins or themes at once on the corresponding tabs of an instance.
• Minor improvements and bugfixes related to the new WordPress Toolkit UI.
• [-] Plugins installed on an instance will be visible right away without refreshing the page if all other plugins were previously removed from the instance and the page was not refreshed. (EXTWPTOOLK-1426)
• [-] Smart Update can now be properly performed when wp-config.php is located in a non-default folder. (EXTWPTOOLK-1418)
• [-] Preview screenshots now have a much harder time using timeouts to avoid being created. (EXTWPTOOLK-1412)
• [-] Smart Update settings can no longer be tricked into giving the impression of being enabled if the Smart Update is not available for the instance. (EXTWPTOOLK-1379)
• [-] Updates screen was trained to be more courageous and can now be successfully opened from the list view. (EXTWPTOOLK-1378)
• [-] wp-toolkit CLI utility had some grammar classes and now consistenly understands that 1, true, and on all mean one thing (Enabled), while 0, false, and off all mean precisely the opposite thing (Disabled). (EXTWPTOOLK-1377)
• [-] Plesk session expiration is now checked on most WordPress Toolkit screens, making for a less confusing working experience. (EXTWPTOOLK-1375)
• [-] Plugins and themes can now be successfully removed in Internet Explorer 11. Why would anyone still use that browser remains a mystery, though. (EXTWPTOOLK-1292)
• [-] Security checker Permissions for files and directories now agrees that 750 for directories is quite secure. (EXTWPTOOLK-1103)
• [-] Database naming settings are no longer ignored when WordPress is installed automatically upon the provisioning of a Hosting plan. (EXTWPTOOLK-1098)

Let us know if you have any questions or other feedback. Thanks!

 

[cool_sh]

Hi Aleksey,

I am wondering if the new features from the latest update are only for Onyx 17.8 and not on 17.5 or I am a bit
I have updated the Toolkit on one server and checking the changes but do not see a new icon or so on the multisite instance and do not see any difference in the options on themes and plugins for removing multiple at once as well. Such an option was there before or what exactly is meant by "the corresponding tabs of an instance" ?

Can anyone point that out more clearly for me? Thanks in advance.

 

[Aleksey Filatev]

Hello,

Hi Aleksey,

I am wondering if the new features from the latest update are only for Onyx 17.8 and not on 17.5 or I am a bit
I have updated the Toolkit on one server and checking the changes but do not see a new icon or so on the multisite instance and do not see any difference in the options on themes and plugins for removing multiple at once as well. Such an option was there before or what exactly is meant by "the corresponding tabs of an instance" ?

Can anyone point that out more clearly for me? Thanks in advance.

Almost all new features in WordPress Toolkit designed for Plesk Onyx 17.8. We still provide fixes for all supported Plesk versions, but new features available only for Onyx 17.8.

 

[ChristophRo]

Is there a way to disable the screenshot/preview option.
We have a server with 100+ wordpress sites and opening the wordpress toolkit page takes minutes. (and I assume that it's this preview option that slows everything down)

 

[Aleksey Filatev]

Is there a way to disable the screenshot/preview option.
We have a server with 100+ wordpress sites and opening the wordpress toolkit page takes minutes. (and I assume that it's this preview option that slows everything down)

Loading of preview should be performed asynchronously, so it should not block operating with the list of instances. In the same time, list can display only 10 instances at the moment (40 if list view slected). Could you please clarify, loading of the list of instance take a minutes before you can perform any operation with it? Which mode do you use to display instances: cards, tiles or list?

 

[ChristophRo]

• I do use list view normally, but same happens with tile
  
• I cannot perform any action during that time, browser is loading but does not display anything

If you're telling that preview is performed asynchronously, we must have another problem - I will try to dig a bit deeper and find out what exactly that is. (did not do that for now, as I've just assumed it's the screenshot/preview feature)

 

[Aleksey Filatev]

Looks like an issue occurred while retrieving list of instance at backend side. Could you please check panel.log - is there any errors or long-running operations while list of instances is loading?

 

[Tomek]

Hi Aleksey,

this update looks great. Brilliant work.

I have a question about automatic updates. Does the Wordpress Toolkit check the health of the installation after the update?