Hosting Meeting Notes: January 25, 2017

Here’s the summary of the second meeting in #hosting-community on Wednesday, January 25, 2017 at 1600 UTC (Slack archive).

Updates

“Best Practices” Documentation

The current idea is to build a public handbook of the best practices that are generally used in hostingHosting A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their website accessible via the World Wide Web.. This could be a variety of topics (and doesn’t need to be a single team).

• Will probably include things like:
  • ServerServer A server is a piece of computer hardware or software that provides functionality for other programs or devices. Typical servers are database servers, file servers, mail servers, print servers, web servers, game servers, and application servers. configuration requirements.
  • Recommendations.
  • Common scaling configurations.
  • Deployment.
• Need reps from each host that wants to participate to send a sanitized copy of the following information to @voldemortensen (contact on SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. for E-Mail address if needed):
  • Default php.ini.
  • Default nginxNGINX nginx is a web server that can also be used as a reverse proxy, load balancer, mail proxy and HTTP cache. Nginx is free and open-source software, released under the terms of the 2-clause BSD license., Varnish, httpd configs.
  • What modules you include with PHPPHP PHP (PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a general-purpose scripting language especially suited to web development. PHP code is usually processed on a web server by a PHP interpreter. On a web server, the result of the interpreted and executed PHP code would form the whole or part of an HTTP response..
  • PHP versions offered
  • Any changes you make to default wp-config.php.
  • Any mu-plugins you include and their purpose.
• Data will be aggregated so it can be grokked and discussion can happen around the differences.
  • There’ll be a Make Hosting blog post on the aggregated data.
• It was pointed out that some hosts might not want to share all of the above. Whatever they would like to share is welcome.
• Request for additional volunteers.
  • @nemanjac offered their assistance.

Promoting WordCamps

• WordCamps have an official list available, with a simple APIAPI An Application Programming Interface (API) is a computing interface that defines interactions between multiple software intermediaries. It defines the kinds of calls or requests that can be made, how to make them, the data formats that should be used, the conventions to follow, etc. call.
  • Returns JSONJSON JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) is an open standard file format, and data interchange format, that uses human-readable text to store and transmit data objects consisting of attribute–value pairs and array data types. It is a very common data format, with a diverse range of applications, such as serving as a replacement for XML in AJAX systems. with all approved events.
• Meetup.com has an API.
  • All WordPress meetups are in one single, easy to identify spot.
• PoC code pulling from WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ and Meetup.com.
  • https://github.com/squidboylan/wordpress-meetup-scraper
  • Builds a combined JSON containing events from both.
    • Easy to filterFilter Filters are one of the two types of Hooks https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Hooks. They provide a way for functions to modify data of other functions. They are the counterpart to Actions. Unlike Actions, filters are meant to work in an isolated manner, and should never have side effects such as affecting global variables and output. out recent events only, or by proximity.
• To start, we need a post/page that details what information the current APIs offer, and how to reach them.
  • Where are these URLs?
  • What is returned in the JSON?
  • Link existing PoC tools.
  • @smaffulli is down to do this.
• Scope is narrow enough that no additional people appear to be needed at this time.

Security Discussion

WordPress Security Czar @aaroncampbell wants to make sure the WordPress Security Team and hosts work together as much as possible.

• WordPress has a security notifications list.
  • It’s only for established hosting companies.
  • It’s meant to give you a day or two to prepare for any security issues before a security release.
• Also trying out a channel meant for hosts to be able to discuss security issues, potential fixes, etc.
• Private message @aaroncampbell for more information on list and/or channel.
  • He’ll give a primer on what is expected/needed from you, what can’t be shared, etc.

Distributed Unit Tests

The idea is to end up with a common framework for hosts running WordPress tests on their platforms. Also, we’re looking to send reports on tests back to .org. This will allow for more complete testing on actual deployments.

• @jorbin has some posts about it, with some scoping here:
  • https://daily.jorb.in/2016/05/31/wordpress-automated-testing-next-gen/
• @danielbachhuber shared some tools he worked on for Pantheon in last week’s meeting notes:
  • https://make.wordpress.org/hosting/2017/01/18/hosting-meeting-notes-january-18-2017/#comment-10
• The current biggest need is to have someone lead the cause.
  • The project can’t get started without someone to steer the ship.
    • It doesn’t need to be a host that coordinates it.
      • It’s helpful if someone who at least hosts their own installs.
      • At the very least they should have a testbed for the necessary parts.
  • @mikehansenme, @mikeschroder, @joshkoenig, and @octalmage are willing to champion this at their respective hosts.
  • @octalmage kindly offered to look into defining the method for reporting back to .org.

Feedback

Miss this meeting? Want to pitch in on one of the initiatives above? Please feel free to drop into the comments and share your thoughts.

Next Meeting

Our next meeting will be in #hosting-community on Wednesday, February 1, 2017 at 1600 UTC. If you can fit that into your schedule, great! We’d love it if you could attend. Hope to see even more of you next week! 😃

#meetings, #summary, #weekly-hosting-chat