At MODX Cloud, we take the hassle and stress out of owning a website. Our customers rave about our support, and we’re committed to providing exceptional value, strong security, and unparalleled workflow. Here’s an update on our recent improvements and upcoming changes.
What’s New
Security & Infrastructure Enhancements
We’ve created a new knowledge base section to help you understand our robust security measures. Visit our Security, Maintenance & Disaster Recovery guide for detailed information.
For new sites, we’ve implemented stronger default passwords containing mixed case alphanumeric characters plus special characters, defaulting to 20 characters long. You can now also update your MySQL database and SSH passwords from each Cloud’s Edit view. When you change database passwords, we automatically adjust your MODX or WordPress configurations for you.
With these improvements and our Port 22 protections, a brute force attack would literally take trillions of years to succeed. We encourage you to update older sites with passwords up to 30 characters long for maximum security.
Backstage™: Revolutionizing Content Staging
Backstage, our game-changing content staging tool, continues to evolve. Unlike most all-or-nothing staging solutions, Backstage lets you collaborate seamlessly:
- Track all content changes, including file uploads and renames
- Group changes into manageable changesets
- Push changes live, selectively, with a simple list and “Deploy” button
- Enjoy easier tracking of 3rd party extras
- Utilize new bulk deployment options
Backstage eliminates the need for content freezes and guru-level expertise, making collaboration accessible to everyone on your team. See a Backstage demo video on our YouTube channel.
Ongoing Maintenance and Backup Improvements
We regularly maintain all stack components, including MySQL, NGINX, PHP, and crucial server components like OpenSSH. This ongoing maintenance ensures your sites remain stable, safe, and performant.
Our new backup retention system allows for robust schedules that mix daily, weekly, monthly, and annual policies, giving you more flexibility and peace of mind.
To help customers maintain their sites and prepare for the future, MODX Cloud always has the latest releases and nightly builds, including the upcoming MODX Revolution 3.1 release. (Don’t forget to make sure you have a backup and upgrade your Extras before upgrading MODX!)
Claude Bot Mitigation
To protect your websites from server strain, we’ve blocked the aggressive Claude AI bot on all MODX Cloud-hosted websites.
Introducing MODXperts on Demand
For agencies and marketers seeking expert help, we now offer MODXperts on Demand. It’s perfect for growing digital agencies and marketing groups who need to augment their teams or who just want occasional help. Starting at $250/month, this service provides:
- A team of MODX Experts available on call
- Assistance with updates, best practices, site performance, new feature implementation, and fixes—not creative or marketing services
- A Basecamp project and shared Slack channel to track all requests
- General consulting on most aspects of your MODX sites
As one digital agency owner stated, “This is the best website update experience I’ve ever had!”
What’s Next
NodeJS Upgrade
We’re upgrading to the latest LTS version of NodeJS in our Cloud chroot environments. While existing projects should continue working, we recommend updating your project dependencies to match the new Node environment.
Cloud Edge Enhancements
Our CDN/WAF solution, powered by Cloudflare Enterprise, is getting new features. Soon, you’ll be able to block by path or geo-region and allow by path in the MODX and WordPress plugins.
SSH Security Update
We’re moving towards SSH keypair authentication as the recommended method for CLI connections. While we currently provide SSH passwords and key-based logins, we plan to allow customers to disable SSH passwords for their entire account in the future to enhance security.
Deprecations
We’re phasing out Unique Domain Names (UDNs) like sitename.company.modxcloud.com. These have never served over HTTPS and are increasingly difficult to access in modern browsers.
Introducing Usage-Based Billing
In our ongoing effort to provide fair and flexible pricing, we’re adopting industry-standard usage-based billing for certain services:
Vault Storage for Snapshots and Backups
We’ve implemented a tiered system for Vault storage usage:
- Each plan includes a generous storage allowance for your Snapshots and backups.
- If your usage exceeds this included level, your account will be automatically moved to the appropriate higher tier upon renewal. For customers who pay annually, Vault may be upgraded as frequently as monthly, with the pro-rated amount billed to the payment method on file.
- This ensures you have access to the storage you need while maintaining cost-effectiveness for accounts of all sizes.
Learn how to manage and upgrade Vault storage to minimize cost increases in our support KB.
Coming Soon: Bandwidth and Local SSD Disk Storage
Most customers will have room to grow with the generous included plan limits. However, some customers with large sites, high visitor traffic, or many projects need more resources. In the future, we’ll extend usage-based billing to include:
- Bandwidth: The bandwidth your sites consume will be considered for high-traffic sites, allowing for more accurate and fair billing.
- Local SSD Disk Storage: Your billing will reflect the gigabytes of your sites’ local SSD storage, giving you more insight and control over your hosting costs.
This transition to usage-based billing for these additional services aims to provide you with:
- Greater cost transparency
- More flexible scaling options
- Improved ability to optimize your hosting expenses
This model will better serve our users’ diverse needs, from small personal sites to large, high-traffic applications. As we approach the rollout of these new billing features, we’ll provide detailed documentation and support to help you understand and manage your usage effectively.
Stay tuned for more specific details and dates for these upcoming changes. As always, our team is here to answer any questions you may have about these new billing models and how they affect your MODX Cloud experience.
Conclusion
At MODX Cloud, we’re dedicated to providing the ultimate value for your important websites through enhanced speed, security, best practices, maintenance, and collaboration tools. If you have any questions about these updates or want to try our new features, please don’t hesitate to reach out via our contact form.
We look forward to continuing to serve your web hosting needs with unparalleled support and innovative solutions.