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- 1,572 Posts
Hi All,
Just wondering how the developers on here handle the costs of upgrading the sites they build for clients, as we know all upgrades are needed because of security but if you host 100 sites and they need to be upgraded thats a big cost to us for our time.
How do you handle this, is it just something you do or do you pass the costs on ?, if you host the sites do you insist that they have to be upgraded for server security ?
Cheers
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- 1,613 Posts
We don't charge costs, but we actually should..
9 out 10 sites don't need muchfixes after update but some do..
Evolution user, I like the back-end speed and simplicity
It depends on my contract with the client. I have clients which have had me on a $1500 monthly retainer. It is in my best interest to keep them updated and happy. Other clients will handle the upgrade themselves, agree to pay a minimal charge for us to do it, or get updated annually upon renewals.
It is far too easy to automate the process.
As I host my own servers it takes only a few seconds to git the sources to my server and then run a bash shell to copy the files over the client's website.
I then loop through the sites in a bash script:
php index.php --core_path=/home/$USER/public_html/core/ --config_key=config --installmode=upgrade
On my personal site it takes:
Installation finished in 2.0150 s
.
Disclaimer:
This of course does not include the extremely rare security update. I force those across all sites in under a minute.
[ed. note: wshawn last edited this post 9 years, 1 month ago.]
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I find this issue to be more of an client-education issue, best done on the front end. A site is like a house. You can't just build it, and then not maintain it.
Site takes a long time to develop and I can only ask from an accounting perspective: What's most cost effective: completely redesigning and redeveloping a site, or paying a nominal fee for improvements and updates to the person in which I have trust and confidence?
I have lately been factoring in one year of free updates and minor tweak improvements with my initial estimates. Beyond that, projects and tasks are either estimated, or billed hourly depending on the scope.
A MODx-friendly host is 100% critical. Support when you need it. Fast & flawless MODx upgrades.
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I have sites with various hosts. Skytoaster has softaculous for MODx updates, and each update I have done has taken about 5 minutes or so, and has been without complication.
On other hosts, one of which I can only do the update via SSH since no cPanel or file upload manager exists, the updates take at least and hour or more, and in some cases where there have been hiccups, I've easily spent most of the day troubleshooting and resolving the issues.
With other MODx installs on the big box shared hosting platforms, it's like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get. I can have 2 MODx sites running under the same hosting plan. One can take half hour or so to update with SSH, yet the other can be fraught with all kinds of inexplicable complications. In terms of support — it's open source CMS, not something they offer, so support not included unless I can target and define the issue that is occurring on their end. In most cases when I have relied on the support of those hosting companies, they have done more damage than improvement, and in the end, I have resolved the issue on my own — er, well with the fabulous support of the MODx forum I mean.:)
Why don't I move all of my sites to one fabulous MODx-friendly host? Still resolving that one.
A few hosting situations are dictated by the client. (No longer accepting work for clients who determine hosting).
Plus, I have an instinct to not put all my eggs in one basket. I need TWOOOOOO MODx-friendly hosts. (Although, I do work in MODx soley–aside from my static sites—so not sure where that factors in to my instinct. )
The install.php script handles upgrade uploads with one click, then you're in the setup to run the upgrade. Usually takes about two minutes.
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Quote from: vigilante at Mar 04, 2015, 04:33 PMQuote from: mmcgee at Mar 04, 2015, 04:29 PM
A MODx-friendly host is 100% critical. Support when you need it. Fast & flawless MODx upgrades.
I'm curious what you mean by this. Besides the host simply supporting the technologies and settings needed by MODX, what else would make them "MODX friendly"?
And to followup, what hosts do you consider MODX friendly and why?
http://bobsguides.com/modx-friendly-hosts.html 
It also has a lot to do with the hosting provider's basic configurations - memory limits, processor limits, mod_security settings, basic PHP and web server configurations, and especially if they use any kind of distributed servers, how these are configured.
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