Most Widely Used Plesk Extensions and Toolkits This ‘HoliDeals’ Season (Part 2)

If you enjoyed the first HoliDeals announcement, this blog post will definitely perk you up. The world is running on Cloud today. Especially businesses that have to host their websites. Plesk has emerged as a great web hosting control panel that can make things way too easy for you. And you can make your Plesk control panel even more efficient with the right extensions, feature-rich packs, and toolkits. This way you not only increase productivity but reduce operating costs too.

But don’t worry – we got you sorted. As they say, ’tis the season to be jolly. And we want to make your holidays even more special with our Plesk HoliDeals Calendar. For 24 days, starting from December 1st, 2020, you’ll get exclusive discounts on top Plesk extensions, feature packs, toolkits, and licenses to make your toolbox jingle all the way!

So, enough chitchat – Let’s reveal the next 12 extensions and discuss their major benefits and features!

#13 Teamspeak Interface

It’s Tea(m) Time! This extension is a multifunctional web interface that allows you to install Teamspeak Interface and add-on modules with just a single click. With this extension, you can manage TeaSpeak and Teamspeak 3 Voice Server and other existing instances.

It provides you with an extensive set of user management options and roles, customized according to your customer needs or the co-administrators’ needs.

Teamspeak Interface extension is an ideal solution that enables you to control TeaSpeak and Teamspeak 3 servers through the web. There are two available license packages with Teamspeak Interface – Basic Starter and Pro Starter.

The Basic Starter pack comes with:

  • 100 additional user accounts.
  • Manage up to 3 voice server instances.
  • Includes extensions like Server File Management and Icons, Server Group Management, Channel Group Management, Client and Permission Management, TS Bots, and API.

The Pro Starter pack comes with:

  • 300 additional user accounts.
  • Manage up to 10 voice server instances.
  • Includes extensions like Reseller Management, Server File Management and Icons, Server Group Management, Channel Group Management, Client and Permission Management, TS Bots, and API.

We are offering an exclusive discount on this extension through HoliDeals. Make sure you grab the opportunity before it’s too late.

#14 Joomla! Toolkit

Joomla! Toolkit is a powerful toolkit for Joomla! users that allows them to secure and mass manage Joomla templates, extensions, and instances running on the Plesk server. The toolkit comes with a single dashboard for easy management, safety, and creation of Joomla instances.

All it takes is a single click to download, initialize, and configure the toolkit for hassle-free operation. We have created Joomla! Toolkit to enhance the security aspects of your content management system. There is no security expertise requires – the toolkit hardens your website by default, and with its security scanner, you can ward off any potential threats.

It is an all-inclusive toolkit for Joomla! as you can update templates, extensions, and instances from a single place. Also, you can monitor the performance of your Joomla websites from a single dashboard.

#15 KernelCare

Those who have Linux servers installed always experience system vulnerabilities and security flaws. To cope with this issue, we have launched the KernelCare extension that protects your Linux server against critical issues and downtime.

It is a paid extension and is probably one of the best security and server tools. During the HoliDeals, you have the opportunity to purchase the subscription at the best value.

The extension installs kernel updates within a matter of minutes without needing to reboot your Linux server. In this updated version of KernelCare, we have fortified the extension with the following benefits:

  •   Displays the server uptime.
  •   Enables roll back changes.
  •   Support automatic and manual updates.
  •   Check for updates every four hours.

#16 Cloudplan

You can use Cloudplan on your Plesk server to host folders and files, synchronize them between all your devices and share them on the go. We have designed Cloudplan to be a PCaaS (Private Cloud as a Service) solution that you can install on all on-premise servers, cloud servers, and even hybrid clouds.

The primary objective of Cloudplan is to provide users with a complete private cloud solution with full control over data. With this extension, you can connect all the possible nodes available, including cloud and on-premise servers, mobile devices, PCs, and laptops, among others.

They all can be connected automatically with end-to-end encryption. You will be provided with a centralized web portal to control and monitor the whole private cloud network.

#17 Sitejet

Sitejet is a web design platform for agencies that allows you to collaborate with your team and customers with ease and create, manage, and launch quality websites. It comes with a high-performance content management system (CMS), which you can use to create responsive websites.

It is designed and developed by a team of experienced web designers looking at cost-effective results for web developers. With Sitejet, you can streamline your web development process.

The extension comes with intelligent workflow automation, file management system, time tracking, to-do, and a ticket to make the design process less complicated and less time-consuming. Some of its salient features include:

  •   Customer collaboration.
  •   Whitelabel platform.
  •   Multi-user and permissions.
  •   Scale your agency.
  •   Manage customers efficiently.
  •   More time for creativity.
  •   Complete design flexibility.
  •   Save management and design time.

#18 Virusdie

Virusdie is a Plesk website antivirus extension for Windows and Linux servers that lets you keep your websites free from viruses with just a single click. The extension comes with features like email alerts, patch management for plugins and CMS, an in-built file editor with malicious code highlighting, automatic malicious code deletion, and an accurate threat scanner.

The best part is that we have designed Virusdie to be compatible with a selection of content management systems, including PrestaShop, DLE, Drupal, Joomla, and WordPress, among other popular methods.

We are offering Virusdie services for both free and paid. In the free version, you get features like:

  •   Email notifications
  •   Automatic antivirus database updates every 6 hours
  •   Full description of viruses
  •   Automatic site scans for vulnerabilities.

In the premium version, you get:

  •   Scheduled scans – daily and weekly
  •   Vulnerability manager
  •   Malicious code highlighting
  •   Safe and accurate malicious code deletion
  •   Scheduled scans – daily and weekly
  •   Vulnerability manager
  •   Malicious code highlighting
  •   Safe and accurate malicious code deletion

#19 Smart Updates for WordPress Toolkit

If you have a WordPress content management system that you want to keep updated and secure all the time, then you should download our Smart Updates for WordPress Toolkit. We have designed this extension to help you determine the required updates to keep your websites up-to-date.

We are offering a one-month free trial of Smart Updates for WordPress Toolkit, in which you get smart, automated tests, and you will always remain in charge of the operations.

Make use of the free trial to understand how the extension might be helpful, and if you like it, you can always purchase it. As we are currently in the middle of the Plesk HoliDeals Calendar, there is a high chance that you might get a good deal on Smart Updates for WordPress Toolkit.

The prominent features that will make you install this extension are:

  •   Smart Updates available for WordPress themes, plugins, and core.
  •   Production website is not affected during both manual and automatic updates.
  •   Smart Updates service determines the changes, analyzes the update, and concludes whether the update needs to be performed on the production site.
  •   Automatic and manual updates are available.
  •   We are providing Smart Updates for WordPress Toolkit on a per-site basis.

#20 Statistics and Usage Manager

This is an extension for Plesk that enables you to manage and view disk usage and traffic of your Linux OS subscriptions. The best part is that Statistics and Usage Manager allows you to do this all in real-time.

With Statistics and Usage Manager, you can sort your subscriptions by disk space statistics or traffic. You are also provided with a custom button to manage and view the statistics of all your subscriptions. As an admin, you can disable or enable this function.

This is an excellent extension for web managers looking to gain insight into how their websites are performing. You can use the Plesk HoliDeals currently available to grab this extension at the best possible price.

#21 Google PageSpeed Insights

Google PageSpeed Insights provides you with increased visibility in search engines by suggesting specific improvements and providing you with tools to design and develop fast and fully optimized websites.

The extension allows you to analyze your website content and its performance to determine what can be improved. With Google PageSpeed Insights, you can:

  • Analyze the performance of your website.
  • Rate the website based on its desktop and mobile performance.
  • Make use of the suggestions to optimize your website.
  • Access extension UI like mod_pagespeed Apache module to enhance website performance.
  • Reduce the size of static files.

#22 Bitninja

Bitninja is a Plesk extension designed for companies who are looking to bulletproof their server security. This extension provides a proactive and unified system that prevents 99% of all types of malicious attacks, safeguarding your company from reputation loss.

It comes with nine defense modules, namely:

  • Port Honeypot.
  • IP Reputation.
  • DoS Mitigation.
  • Web Application Firewall.
  • Log Analysis.
  • Web Honeypot.
  • Malware Detection.
  • Outbound WAF.
  • SSL Terminating.

These defense modules save you at least 12 hours of troubleshooting every day.

#23 Additional Language Pack

Plesk includes language packs for the translation of UI into different languages. While all the supported languages are installed during Plesk installation, you can download the Additional Language Pack extension if you want additional languages.

The number of languages you can install and download will depend on the Plesk license you have bought.

Suppose your site operates globally, and you want to reach out to the local community by offering your website in their native language. In that case, you can do so with Additional Language Pack.

#24 Web Host VPS or dedicated

Finally, here’s our last but not least HoliDeals offer. The growing need for customer self-administration can be quickly taken care of by Web Host VPS or dedicated. This Plesk edition proves to be an optimal solution that can fully customize your business, allowing you to increase profit and service offerings. 

When you install Web Host VPS or dedicated, you get several benefits, such as:

  •   Improved supportability.
  •   Turnkey application storefront for resale of services and applications.
  •   Instant high-end website creation and design.
  •   Improved audience focus for agencies, content teams, and website developers.
  •   Customize your service offering.

Don’t Miss a Gift!

Did you know you can add your daily reminders to your personal calendar? Or you can also subscribe now to receive fresh updates to your mailbox. Check here if you want to know more!

So… these above are some super hot extensions that you would want to install to boost your Plesk server performance. So, you would want to make use of the Plesk HoliDeals Calendar. 

Based on their popularity, we have managed to list these 24 Plesk extensions and toolkits. If you think that you need offers on some other Plesk products and services, let us know in the comments. Happy HoliDeals!

Setting up Your Ideal Web Development Environment With Plesk Essentials

Morning beverage ready. Mail and calendar checked. Daily meeting with the team done – It’s time to start your engines and crack on with your project. If you’re familiar with this sequence, it’s because you’re also immersed in the web developer’s everyday routine.

Carrying out your daily tasks might be an easy-peasy chore. But when it comes to beginning a new project from scratch. And setting up your web development environment, you might need to add on a few more steps. Before starting cooking up a new project, you must have all the ingredients sorted. That is, for example, prepare all the data and tools you’ll need along the way.

And indeed, there’s a significant amount of web development tools out there. But what tools are suited to web developers? How do you decide which ones to have in your toolbox? In this article, we’ll bring you some prime extensions and toolkits that will make your web development experience even better. Let’s get ready to know some of Plesk’s essentials for web development, DNS, security, SEO, server, and backup.

Organizing Your Toolbox

At Plesk, our goal is to make web development simple and easy. And its integrated platform with full development and deployment capabilities allows you to build, secure, and run servers and websites. But if what you want to know is how to level up your skills with great tools, here are some excellent examples. Let’s dig deeper:

DNS, Security, and Web Plesk Extensions for Web Developers

Plesk DNSSEC

The DNSSEC acronym stands for Domain Name System Security Extensions. It’s a set of DNS protocol extensions that sign DNS data to secure the domain name resolving process.

The Plesk DNSSEC extension helps make the Internet safer. Let’s see what it allows you to do:

  • Configure the settings used for key generation and rollover.
  • Sign and unsign domain zones according to the DNSSEC specifications.
  • Receive notifications related to DNSSEC records and keys.
  • View and copy DS resource records and DNSKEY resource record sets.

Docker

Docker is a handy software technology that provides containers. That means an extra layer of abstraction and automation of operating-system-level virtualization. As a flexible Plesk tool, Docker can help you perform a wide variety of tasks. But that’s not everything. Docker also removes the obstacles to adapt to new technologies digitally as it uses existing technologies. This way, it acts as an assistant between different operating systems and developers.

The extension also frees applications from system infrastructure. Allowing expansion in capacity through collaboration. Here’s more of what you can achieve with Docker for Plesk:

  • On-demand access to a vast range of modern technologies.
  • Upload a custom image or choose one from a catalog.
  • Deploy and manage Docker containers straight from the Plesk interface.
  • Install Docker containers locally or to a remote node registered in Plesk.

Web Presence Builder

If you’re a beginner in web development, Web Presence Builder is the right tool for you. It doesn’t require great HTML knowledge or graphic design skills. This tool helps you create professional-looking websites – not bad, huh?

Web Presence Builder also provides a simple visual editor and a broad set of templates for different websites. Pick a page design that you like and your content template. And then add your text to the pages and publish the website. Here’s what you can do with this tool:

  • Create web pages.
  • Add a wide variety of content (text, images, video, scripts, and more).
  • Edit website settings (website name, keywords, icons, and so on).

Joomla! Toolkit

Up next it’s the Joomla! Toolkit. A complete toolkit to power Joomla! websites. With this toolkit, you can mass-manage, secure, and automate all your instances, extensions, and templates running on a server managed by Plesk. All from one single entry point. Here’s more:

  • One single dashboard to control, maintain and monitor all your instances.
  • One-click installer to download, initialize, and configure Joomla! from start to finish.
  • It hardens your site against all types of cyberattacks with its robust security scanner.

Plesk WordPress Toolkit

As a developer, you’re probably craving lots of features and intelligent tools that make your daily workload easier to digest. Well, we’re proud to say that our beloved Plesk WordPress Toolkit is definitely one of them. With this toolkit, you can focus on core tasks and automate the mundane ones. And substantially increase productivity, security, and efficiency too.  

The Plesk WordPress Toolkit is by far the most complete tool for WordPress admins seeking pre-configured solutions for the best possible performance. As well as an intelligent tool that helps to always keep their WordPress sites secure and up-to-date without breaking a live site. In case you’re not falling yet, here’s why using this tool is not only a smart idea but also a rewarding experience: 

  • Manage all WordPress sites on the server simplifying admin tasks.
  • Install, activate, update, and remove plugins and themes from one single dashboard.
  • Keep the highest level of security selectively securing websites.
  • Clone and stage websites to simulate changes before going live. 
  • Synchronize the changes between files and databases of different sites.
  • Optimize SEO for higher traffic and manage WordPress search engine indexing.

Smart Updates

A great addition to the Plesk WordPress Toolkit is the Smart Updates feature. This power-tool combo automatically updates WordPress core, plugins, and themes using AI. Here’s more:

  • Smart Updates clones and simulates your WordPress updates before performing them.
  • It mitigates the risk of hacked sites by running updates in a secure staging environment without affecting production. 
  • You can activate Smart Updates in WordPress Toolkit with a switch, as well as automate update analysis email notifications.

SEO, Backup, Cloud, and Server Plesk Extensions for Web Developers

SEO Toolkit

Along with the performance, a thought-out SEO strategy is fundamental to improve your search engine rankings. And with better rankings, more visibility, traffic, and conversions. 

Organic search can become your primary source of clicks, traffic, and revenue for your business. With the SEO Toolkit, you get all the tools you need to give your customers a chance to find you online. And help them pick your website over those of your competitors. We’re listing some reasons why you should use SEO Toolkit for your website:

  • Track SEO KPIs and check your website’s Visibility Score to measure your success.
  • Site Audit analyzes your site and gives you tips on how to enhance optimization.
  • SEO Advisor provides you a to-do list to improve your performance based on your Site Audit and Visibility Score.
  • Log File Analyzer will crawl your site and pages to help search engines rank and index them accordingly.
  • Check each of your keyword’s performance and compare it directly to your competitors’.

Google PageSpeed Insights

As explained above, one of the main worries for web developers is site performance. Because after all the work you’ve put into your web development, you just want it to work smoothly and without any issues. But don’t panic – Here’s what you need to know to achieve good visibility in search engines. 

First of all, you need to create websites that are fast, useful to your visitors, optimized for all traffic, and most importantly, mobile-friendly. And secondly, you should monitor your sites with tools like Google PageSpeed Insights. It will help you analyze your website’s content and its performance to suggest specific improvements. Here’s how the PageSpeed Insights extension works:

  • Analyzes the performance of websites hosted on your Plesk server.
  • Assigns every website a desktop and mobile score depending on its performance.
  • Generates a report based on the results of the analysis and displays suggestions to optimize your websites’ performance.
  • Provides links in the extension UI to the suggested tools aimed at improving websites’ performance (for example, the mod_pagespeed Apache module).
  • Gives already compressed files to reduce the size of static files (free API key required).
  • Installs the mod_pagespeed Apache module and lets you configure it for your needs.

Plesk Cgroups Manager

Often, web developers suffer what’s known as the ‘noisy neighbor’ problem. For those who aren’t familiar with this concept, this issue occurs when a website on a shared hosting consumes all system resources and disrupts the performance of other websites.

To avoid this common problem, we recommend using the Plesk Cgroups Manager extension. This solution helps you deliver reliable and continuous availability. The Cgroups Manager lets you control the amount of CPU, RAM, and disk read/write bandwidth resources each subscriber or tier of subscribers gets. You can use Plesk Cgroups to:

  • Prevent consuming of resources of your server by some of the subscriptions on your shared environment.
  • Automatically set a limit of resource consumption, monitor it, and send email notifications when it exceeds a certain level.
  • Set limits at two levels – subscriber service plan level or subscriber level.

Backup to Cloud Pro

Last but not least, we find the Backup to Cloud Pro extension. This solution is for all web professionals that want to set up different backup schedules to the cloud effortlessly. What’s more, it allows you to focus on more exciting and innovative tasks as it automates your backup management. It’s easy to set up and you can secure your domains with Google Drive, Amazon S3, DropBox, DigitalOcean Spaces, and Microsoft OneDrive:

  • Back up the entire server, individual user accounts with websites or individual subscriptions.
  • Schedule backups.
  • Restore data from backup archives.

CyberDeals Sale – 50% Off Selected Plesk Extensions and Toolkits

Thank you for reading up to this point – As a reward, we want to share with you a sneak peek of what’s coming soon this November. From Friday 27th until Monday 30th, we’re giving 50% off all the extensions listed in the article as part of our CyberDeals sale. So if you don’t want to miss out on these unbeatable offers, stay on the lookout for new updates. And catch them before they fly! 

How Formerly Skeptical IP-Projects Turned Direct Plesk Partner

How IP-Projects Turned Direct Plesk Partner

What makes our customers and partners tick? We asked Michael Schinzel, Managing Director at IP-Projects and long-term Plesk partner about what made them choose us. Seems it was a shift of perception, proper support when in need, and open discussions about prices. 

Who are IP-Projects?

The hosting company IP-Projects focuses on personalized direct customer support and its mantra is to solve the needs of its customers. And these very customers asked specifically for Plesk. Why? Because they prefer a user interface that allows them to create and manage domains within seconds – within a single platform.

Watch Michael Schinzel tell the full story of how the “rather small or medium-sized” IP-Projects powered up with Plesk. 

So, based on a pure cost /benefit analysis, Michael says IP-Projects opened up to Plesk. But it was not an instant decision.

Initial Reservations of Plesk and Change of Perception

The start was not very optimistic, as IP-Projects was rather reserved towards using Plesk. The perception was that it was a rather confusing and complicated management panel, some time back in 2011. Therefore, Michael recalls, “until the time when our former license partner had ceased to cooperate with Plesk, we did not deal with your company intensively.”

Michael Schinzel from IP-Projects

IP-Projects go from fear to finding something special in Plesk.  

“In our experience, there is no other hosting control panel with such a diverse offer.”

size: 24pt;"> 

“Only in 2014 did we become a direct Plesk partner. From that point on, Plesk established itself as a real alternative to the free dashboard we were using.” 

Finding Solutions to Critical Issues

Plesk is an added layer over IP-Projects’ server infrastructure. Their numerous enhancements such as the SEO Tools, WordPress Toolkit and Joomla! Toolkit, are also valuable add-ons for IP-Projects customers. They discovered it to be a great choice due to our management interface. But one of the strongest arguments for using Plesk is the technical support offered free of charge for direct customers.

“[Plesk Support] created several service tickets for a range of issues. And some were not even 100% coming from the Plesk hosting panel. We always received excellent support from the customer care teams. Without any additional costs. This is how we discovered that Plesk has become a reliable partner in the recent years”

Michael Schinzel

Good Value for Money

When it comes to Plesk pricing levels, Michael Schinzel believes that startups should benefit from a pricing tier dedicated to this category.

Good value for money - Plesk Panel

“This way they would be able to offer new providers good conditions to buy Plesk licenses. For example, a special discount for 1-2 years for direct partners.” 

size: 18pt;"> 

With such a settling offer in their pockets, companies on the same range as IP-Projects could build a customer portfolio faster. And once secured, they can scale up by choosing from Plesk’s solutions portfolio. Nonetheless, IP-Projects moved smoothly past this specific initial challenge. And Plesk played a key role in this regard.

How? Plesk is always open to discuss license prices and other possibilities of cooperation with customers. IP-Projects listened to its customers, as does Plesk. They both met halfway. However, being open to price negotiation is not all.

Plesk support for direct partners is the other top differentiator. Faster and leaner operations for direct partners generate happier customers – And this provides great value for money.

Not tried Plesk yet?
See how a free 14-day trial can help your business.

Start Free Trial

Are you a reseller?
You can sign up for exclusive Plesk Partner Benefits.

Become a Partner

The Complete Guide to Your First Joomla! Installation from Plesk panel

Joomla! Installation

Joomla! ranks as one of the most popular Content Management Systems worldwide. But running a secure Joomla! installation is not a one-shot task. Join us for a session on how to build, secure and run your first Joomla! installation on a fresh Plesk Server. In order to help you streamline the process a bit, we recommend that you first install our Joomla! Toolkit.

Build your first Joomla! on Plesk

Installing your first Joomla! on a Plesk server became one of the easiest tasks since we introduced the Joomla! Toolkit. Because it can perform menial and repetitive jobs. You can start the installation directly from “Websites & Domains” as below.

joomla-toolkit-screenshot-your-guide-to-your-first-joomla-installaton-using-the-plesk-joomla-toolkit

Joomla! Installation

The Installation itself is simple. Because you only need to select the domain, subfolder, username, password and whether you want to install demo data. After installing, we’ll head straight into the new Joomla! instance. You can either log in from http://{{your-url}}/administrator or use the single Sign-On feature of the premium Joomla! Toolkit.

Joomla! wrapped in a secure environment

Security’s one of the main tasks for an administrator of a Joomla! website. This little checklist should help you with the first batch of security tasks.

  • Use the “protect folder” function to create an .htaccess protection for your Joomla! backend.
  • Activate https for your website by using an SSL certificate.
  • Use the latest PHP Version.
  • Force strong passwords in Joomla! and activate an 2FA extension.
  • Create separate user accounts for Administration and Content Creation.

On top of these tasks, you should always check to keep the system up-to-date. This includes the Joomla! installation, extensions, PHP, Plesk and the OS itself. To double-check, you can even use the Security Scanner from the Joomla! Toolkit. In order to identify any potential to up your security.

Follow the steps from our Advisor to learn more about security and how to stay on top of yours. But don’t forget to come back from time to time, as our Advisor’s always learning new things too!

Time to run your Joomla! Website

Now that you’ve installed Joomla! and completed the first batch of security tasks, we want your Joomla! website to run. And for this, we need it to be highly available and fast. Therefore, we can tweak Joomla! itself and the server to gain the best performance. Maybe you’ve already activated HTTP/2 from the Advisor. But there’s more to tweak right from your Plesk installation.

Inside the Joomla! Toolkit

You can now activate the caching on file level inside the “System”-Configuration. But the best trick to keep your Joomla! instance fast? Use as few extensions as possible. Because most extensions bring their own JavaScript and CSS files, which are then loaded on your pages.

Next up: Caching. Select “Apache & NGINX settings” from your domain overview and scroll down to enable the Microcaching of the NGINX server.

And there you have it – your first Joomla! installation: Complete. Let us know how it’s worked for you in the comments below. We love feedback! <3

Spot these Pleskians at J and Beyond

Plesk at J and Beyond 2018 - Cologne, Germany

Huddle up, we’ve got a Joomla! announcement to make! Two of our guys, Lucas and Viktor, will be attending and speaking at J and Beyond 2018 in Cologne, Germany from May 11 to 13. Not only will we at Plesk be sponsoring, but also contributing to the Joomla! Community by sharing our know-how. And let’s face it, even learning a few things ourselves.

What J and Beyond is all about

If you’ve never attended one of these events, now’s the time. Not only is it a great learning experience, but you’ll also connect with new peers. Some say it’s more than just any conference, because you’ll come as a developer, however, you’ll leave as a J family member.

Since the community is facing several issues, this year’s talks will focus on learning different techniques and approaches to achieve solutions. Topics will range from Development and even advanced development, integration and design to community, marketing and even keynote speeches. Have a look at what the Pleskians will be tackling over the long weekend.

Lucas Radke talks about scaling Joomla!

Lucas Radke - Plesk Joomla! expert

Lucas’ first meeting with Joomla! Happened back in 2008 when he was constructing his company’s website. But in 2014, he returned to Joomla! At his first JoomlaDay in Cologne. Before joining Plesk as a Product Manager, Lucas was Joomla! Product Owner at 1&1 Internet SE. Safe to say, he knows his stuff.

Day 1 right before lunch will see us at Lucas’ expert talk in the main room. Our Plesk rep will explain how to harvest the power and tools from Hyperscalers, like AWS. And use them to scale your single Joomla! Installation to a multi-server setup.

All this via autoscaling and producing nearly zero downtime. Hyperscaler power is the new “it” thing in our field. If you’re not up to date yet, this talk’s for you.

“Don‘t be afraid of the Cloud”, Says Viktor

Viktor’s been using Joomla! since 2005, and currently leads the Kubik-Rubik Joomla! Extensions project. He also formed part of a few official Joomla! teams (PLT / JSST) back in the day. Yet another 1&1 veteran, where he worked as a Joomla! Specialist. But now, he’s  a Tech Evangelist and Community Manager here at Plesk.

On the final J and Beyond day, Viktor will hit us with a double-whammy – an advanced web development session on the Cloud. Or moreover, how Plesk helps you to manage all your Joomla! projects on a scalable infrastructure. And we mean without having to mess with the server maintenance.

It’s all done with the simplicity of our Joomla! Toolkit. Viktor will give a proper run-down on it and show you how it will make your life 10x easier.

Why J and Beyond?

This conference will be extra important to us, because of our passion for the popular CMS. We even released the Plesk Joomla! Toolkit last year to simplify the work of Joomla! Users. Check out its functions and benefits here.

Meanwhile, if you’re in Cologne or close, swing by and we’ll see you there. For more info about the event, head to the official J and Beyond website.

What you may have missed at last weekend’s Cloudfest Hackathon

This year, the intention behind the Cloudfest Hackathon was for the big guys to contribute to the open source communities. The pitched projects were across different CMS – WordPress, Drupal and Joomla, and involved diverse companies. The participating developers and sys-admins were free to choose which projects they wanted to contribute to. And so the event began!

The Cloudfest Hackathon Event

Cloudfest Hackathon event location 2018 - Plesk sponsors

Inside Europa-Park in Rust, the Cloudfest Hackathon kicked off with a casual get-together lunch. And with the presentations of the open source projects by host Jeffrey Hardy, it was time to hack! It was also time to repeatedly hear the most used expressions in the development world: “But it works on my machine”, “Must be a bug” or “This worked earlier!”

Some were more prepared than others – check out these guys’ matching hackathon wardrobe and hairstyles. We take the Cloudfest Hackathon coordination very seriously around here.

Though it was clear that most people are used to collaborating together on projects remotely, it still seemed like an overall amazing experience to bring everyone together and create some great code with those like-minded people, in person.

Plesk Team on Projects 1 and 5

Pleskians at Cloudfest Hackathon 2018 - Plesk people post

Here at Plesk, we’re very supportive of open source projects. So we were more than happy to help co-organize the event and be part of a great sponsor list. That way, attendees could go without having to worry about accommodation and travel expenses. Our fellow Pleskians participated in developing 2 out of 6 proposed projects. Project 1: “Automated security check for WordPress plugins” and Project 5: “Domain Connect Example DNS Provider”.

Cloudfest Hackathon 2018 - Project 1 - Plesk
Cloudfest Hackathon 2018 - Project 5 - Plesk

For project 1, we built a simplified command line tool to extract security reports out of the RIPS static analyzer. Then it sends them to given email addresses to integrate them into CI tools or extension pipelines. Just like the WordPress plugin repository SVN. As for project 5, I’ll let our CTO, Jan, tell you all about that:

Project insights from David and Arnold – CMS Garden and GoDaddy

I got the chance to chat with two iconic people behind the projects ideas we got involved in – David Jardin (CMS Garden) and Arnold Blinn (GoDaddy).

David met the founders of a German startup who located an important safety gap in Joomla core with a security scanner tool they had developed. The Joomla community strived to implement the tool into the Joomla extensions directory to use it for plugin and core review. Today, 30% of all websites run on WordPress and David’s passionate about making the web a safer place. That’s why he suggested working on this project for the WordPress CMS, as well during the Cloudfest Hackathon.

One of Plesk’s main goals is to make the web a safer place and ease the workload that comes with managing WordPress and Joomla! sites. Find out more about the toolkits we developed to facilitate your working life by clicking below.

Discover Plesk Toolkit for Joomla
Discover Plesk Toolkit for WordPress

Project number 5 was already a huge success during last year’s Cloudfest hackathon. Arnold explained that Domain Connect is an open standard that makes it easy for a user to configure DNS for a domain running at a DNS provider to work with a Service running at an independent Service Provider. The user can do so without understanding any of the complexities of DNS. This project is very valuable and it’s kind of surprising that it has not been initiated and realized years ago. This project had the most contributors by far with up to 12 people working on it at the same time.

The result was a step higher than we thought

The Cloudfest Hackathon lasted 3 days with 55 coders working on 6 different projects until the late evenings. This edition had brilliant minds behind it like Timo Kargus, David Jardin, Sabrina Waltz and our CTO Jan Löffler.

Plesk at Cloudfest Hackathon 2018 - I'm a nerd - get over it

This team managed to create a unique and inclusive setting for innovative projects and brilliant code in a laid-back atmosphere that we won’t easily forget. And they happily confirmed that the new open-source thinking everyone brought to the Cloudfest Hackathon was a huge success.

The idea is to move further in this direction and to aim for more participants and open source projects across different CMS next year. Cloudfest’s organizer team will soon be in the early planning stages for 2019’s edition. And we can tell you now – us Pleskians will be involved in one way or another. Stay tuned.

Plesk Joomla! Toolkit brings automation and privacy enhancements to your Joomla! sites

With over 11 million websites running on Plesk, creating a toolkit for Joomla! was the natural next step for us. We wanted to bring a set of tools that enhanced Joomla! site performance, improves privacy and security, and is agile and versatile for all purposes.

Get Joomla! Toolkit

Specifically, we wanted to focus on two main problems that Joomla! users and agencies face: First, we wanted to address the challenge of managing and running multiple Joomla! Instances, for multiple clients. Second, we wanted to find a better way to guarantee privacy and security than passing data outside the server to an external Joomla! management application.

plesk-joomla-toolkit-detail

One of the biggest challenges freelancers and agencies face is having to waste valuable time to repeatedly execute tasks on multiple Joomla! instances. Tasks such as updating the Joomla! core are time-consuming, technically complex and highly risky when untested. Most importantly, the hours spent doing these tasks are usually neither strategic, innovative, nor billable. As a result, many Joomla! users typically opt not to run these updates unless absolutely necessary.

plesk-joomla-toolkit-overview

With the Joomla! Toolkit, we created a single entry point to gain a master view of all your Joomla! instances. You can easily scan and execute important security updates within the Plesk UI, without having to sign into every Joomla! backend.

joomla-tookit-security

By simplifying these daily maintenance processes, you will feel more compelled to keep all instances up-to-date and secure.

Our second goal for Joomla! Toolkit was to create a safe environment where privacy and security best practices are applied. To achieve that, we designed the toolkit to keep everything on the same server and allow commands to be executed locally, without the use of “connector scripts” to pass information to a management application on an external server. This innovation sets us firmly apart from similar solutions, and not only guarantees security and privacy for both users and their clients, but also offers a measurable performance advantage.

plesk-joomla-toolkit-extension-update

With these two core enhancements and many other features, we allow users and agencies who use Joomla! to save time, effort and money, so they can focus on the important things. But we’re not resting on our laurels, attending Joomla! Conferences to listen and get feedback from our existing and potential users about their needs, and what problems we could help to solve in their daily work lives. Based on these real-world inputs, we can continue to develop the Joomla! Toolkit into a valuable and meaningful application.

So where can you get the Plesk Joomla! Toolkit? Get a preview version of the toolkit from our launch partner Aruba.it, and watch out for the full-featured version that will launch in Spring 2018.

Announcing Plesk Joomla! Toolkit at Joomla! World Conference

Acronis Plesk partnership

Plesk introduces the brand-new Joomla! Toolkit to offer a secure, single-point entry to build, secure and run all your Joomla! Sites.

Schaffhausen, Switzerland, Nov 10, 2017 – Designed especially for web developers, web designers and web agencies, Plesk is the complete development platform to build, secure and run websites and applications. The brand-new Joomla! Toolkit offers a single-point of entry to all your Joomla! sites, so you can easily check, update and secure all Joomla! versions, plugins and themes in the Plesk UI without having to log-in to every Joomla! back end.

“Privacy and security were top of the agenda when we created the Plesk Joomla! Toolkit,” commented Viktor Vogel, Tech Evangelist at Plesk and Joomla! Enthusiast. “And the only way to guarantee privacy and security is to ensure that all work is done within the confines of the server, without the use of “connector scripts” to pass information outside the server to external applications. That’s what we’ve done, and we’re very proud of our achievement.”.

Overcoming the complexities and risks when managing Joomla!

Many Joomla! users do not update their Joomla! Core, Joomla! Extensions or websites regularly because of the technical complexity and risks involved with applying an untested update.

Jan Loeffler, CTO Plesk said: “Even if time and resources are invested in these updates, they usually tie up the most senior of technical personnel to DevOps tasks that are neither billable nor strategic. This leads to serious security issues prevents you from enjoying new features that come with every release. “

With Plesk Joomla! Toolkit, you’ll get:

  • A master view of Joomla! sites
  • Update support for Joomla! Core and Joomla! Extensions
  • Auto-Hardening of Joomla! sites
  • Scan for important security measures
  • Full details of each instance with quick stats

We’re part of the community, and we’re here to stay

Plesk will continue to participate and innovate in the Joomla! space to provide secure and state-of-the-art server solutions to the Joomla! community in the near future.

“We are attending Joomla! Conferences to listen and get feedback from our existing and potential users about their needs, and what problems we could help to solve in their daily work lives. Based on these real-world inputs, we can continue to develop the Joomla! Toolkit into a valuable and meaningful application,” concluded Jörg Strotmann, VP Marketing, Plesk.

Find out more about Plesk Joomla! Toolkit here.

 

About Plesk:

Plesk is the leading WebOps platform to run, automate and grow applications, websites and hosting businesses. Plesk is running on more than 377,000 servers, automating over 11 million websites and 19 million mailboxes. Available in more than 32 languages across 140 countries, 50 percent of the top 100 service providers worldwide are partnering with Plesk.