Insights & Metrics: July 2024 Updates

In April, we announced the launch of our Insights & Metrics panel. Thanks to your feedback, we have diligently improved the experience and are proud to announce new features and improvements today.

Your site is vital to your business. That’s why you partner with WordPress VIP. Application Insights & Metrics gives you the visibility and tools you need to accurately assess the performance and stability of your applications.

Here is a short demo of what you can expect using Insights and Metrics today.

We are excited about the visual polish and user interface improvements we’ve made to the dashboard, but are just as excited about some new features.

You may have noticed the comparison metrics in the demo. These allow you to understand how your current performance is trending at a glance. 

We’ve added new metrics:

  • Application Memory and CPU usage per HTTP request metrics to give you even more insight into how your application is performing. 
  • Your database size over time, in addition to its current size.
  • Terminated MySQL queries that were hidden from view before, but now can be tracked.
  • A view of 500 errors per 1,000 requests serves as an early warning sign of application trouble.

We are also bringing these insights into other parts of the VIP Dashboard. The Database Backup page now shows the total database size, and every deployment page includes a response time graph to quickly assess if the code change affected performance.

To access these insights, log in to your account on the VIP Dashboard and select “Performance” then “Insights & Metrics” for any application. 

Read our documentation on the Insights & Metrics panel.

And we aren’t done yet. We are in the midst of a closed beta of anomaly detection to highlight when important metrics move beyond historical norms. Stay tuned to this space for an announcement of the open beta in a few weeks.

Call for Testing: Jetpack 13.7-beta

Jetpack 13.7-beta is available now for testing and the download link is available here

Jetpack 13.7 will be deployed to VIP on Wednesday, August 21, 2024*. The upgrade is expected to be performed at 17:00 UTC (1:00PM ET).

*This deployment date and time are subject to change if issues are discovered during testing of the Jetpack release.
A full list of changes is available in the commit log.

What is being added or changed?

Enhancements

  • AI Assistant: Make Jetpack Breve available to general public.
  • Jetpack: Port additional Full Site Editing features from WP Cloud.
  • Jetpack AI: Enable the AI Logo generator extension.
  • Jetpack Newsletter: Add Jetpack Newsletter menu with preview option.

Bug fixes

  • Jetpack Comments: Fix replying to comments in Chrome when logged in to both WordPress.com and Jetpack.
  • Sharing: Do not include Gravatar images in Open Graph Meta tags.

What do I need to do?

We recommend the below:
<ol>
<li>Installing the release on your non-production sites using <a href="https://docs.wpvip.com/how-tos/jetpack/version-updates/#h-pinning-to-a-version" target="_blank">these instructions</a>.</li>
<li>Running through the testing flows outlined in the <a href="https://github.com/Automattic/jetpack/blob/trunk/projects/plugins/jetpack/to-test.md" target="_blank">Jetpack Testing Guide</a>.</li>
</ol>

As you're testing, there are a few things to keep in mind:
<ul>
<li>Check your browser's <a href="https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/using-your-browser-to-diagnose-javascript-errors/" target="_blank">JavaScript console</a> and see if there are any errors reported by Jetpack there.</li>
<li>Use <a href="https://docs.wpvip.com/how-tos/enable-query-monitor/" target="_blank">Query Monitor</a> to help make PHP notices and warnings more noticeable and report anything you see.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Questions?</h2>
If you have any questions, related to this release, please <a href="https://docs.wpvip.com/technical-references/vip-support/" target="_blank">open a support ticket</a> and we will be happy to assist.

Announcing VIP Learn

The WordPress development resource you’ve been waiting for

Today, we’re excited to announce the launch of VIP Learn. 

We frequently hear the request for deeper learning and training, a way to empower our customers with the same WordPress expertise we offer in our support and professional services. Well you asked, and we listened. VIP Learn is a comprehensive platform for upskilling your development teams with courses curated by seasoned WordPress VIP Engineers and industry experts. 

  • Obtain enterprise-level WordPress development skills to accomplish more, faster
  • Easily progress through coursework at your own pace
  • Free access, no credit card required

What is VIP Learn?

VIP Learn is a free instructional platform for engineers with intermediate or higher experience levels who are looking to advance their skills in enterprise-level WordPress development. 

While there are many great foundational resources out there to get acquainted with open-source WordPress, VIP Learn is designed to build on existing WordPress knowledge and take those abilities to the next level. 

VIP Learn accelerates learning for WordPress VIP customers and partners, but it is also an open resource for the wider enterprise WordPress community. You don’t have to be a WordPress VIP customer to take advantage of the key principles on the platform, such as security or performance.  

Our aim is to uniquely contribute to your learning journey, providing you with the tools and knowledge needed to excel in your projects and leverage the full potential of the enterprise WordPress.

Courses

With our roots at Automattic and deep connection with the WordPress community, WordPress VIP has cultivated exclusive expertise for building sophisticated, secure, and scalable WordPress applications. 

Our courses include:

  • Enterprise WordPress Security: Dive deep into safeguarding WordPress applications, focusing on identifying and mitigating common security vulnerabilities. This course covers essential techniques such as secure code writing, safe plugin usage, rigorous security testing, and hardening of WordPress configurations. Master practical, real-world strategies to fortify your WordPress sites against potential cybersecurity threats.
  • Enterprise WordPress Performance: Equip yourself with the skills to build high-performing, scalable WordPress applications. Learn performance optimization strategies, including efficient database management, caching techniques, and content delivery optimization. Enhance user experience through improved page load times and overall website performance.
  • WordPress VIP Architecture and Tooling: This course covers the developer-specific tools available on the VIP Platform and how to best use them. Learn to leverage the platform built for enterprise use, with security and performance at scale in its DNA.

How to get started

Engineers can work through course material at their own pace by creating a free account at learn.wpvip.com. The first three courses—Security, Performance, and VIP Architecture and Tooling—are available now. Please look forward to additional courses coming soon. 

Enroll today to push your WordPress development capabilities to new heights.

Content from WordPress VIP customer sites not included in WordPress.com’s licensing deal with Perplexity AI

Today, WordPress.com announced a licensing deal with Perplexity AI, an AI search engine. We want to clarify that the deal does not include any content from customer sites hosted by WordPress VIP. WordPress VIP will never share your content or data without your explicit consent.

While it is not possible to prevent all AI crawlers, you can signal to reputable organizations that you do not want your content crawled. Please see more details on managing AI Crawlers in our documentation.

HTTP Request Log Shipping: Changes to File Names

To prepare for planned improvements that increase the performance and stability of our log shipping systems, we are changing the naming convention of files sent with HTTP Request Log Shipping. The change will be deployed on Monday, August 19, 2024, between 15:00-17:00 UTC (11:00 am – 1:00 pm ET).

This deployment date and time are subject to change.

The export path, which includes the date, is not changing. Currently, log files shipped to an AWS S3 bucket are named according to this format.

%H:%M_%{random_hex}_%{index}.%{extension}

Here’s an example of what a log file name looks like today.

17:00_8ZKWFWYX_0.gz

The naming convention of log files is changing to the following format. 

%H:%M-%{UUID}.%{extension}

Here’s an example of what a log file name will look like once the changes are deployed.

17:00-40a74671-7555-4ae6-8132-fd8d26347779.gz

Who is affected by this change?

All customers with HTTP Request Log Shipping enabled will see changes to the naming convention of log files shipped to their S3 bucket after Monday, August 19, 2024.

Customers who ingest log files into log management and analytics tools (e.g. GoAccess, ELK Stack) may need to update configurations in those tools if they rely on the current naming convention.

If you have any questions related to the upcoming change, please open a support ticket and we will be happy to assist.

*01-08-2024 – Update: Underscore in file name changed to hyphen

WordPress 6.6.1 Maintenance Release

This minor release features 7 bug fixes in Core and 9 bug fixes for the Block Editor. You can review a summary of the maintenance updates in this release by reading the Release Candidate announcement.

WordPress 6.6.1 is a short-cycle release. The next major release will be version 6.7 planned for November 2024.

If you have any questions related to this release, please open a support ticket and we will be happy to assist.

Now Available: WordPress 6.6

WordPress 6.6 has been released. In keeping with WordPress version numbering convention, 6.6 is a major release.

WordPress 6.6 brings a number of enhancements, including:

  • New design tools.
  • Updates to the publish flow.
  • Modern pattern management for Classic Themes.
  • API refinements and more.

Learn more about the highlights of WordPress 6.6.

For more details about this release (including specific changes), please see the announcement post and Field Guide.

Questions

If you have any questions related to this release, please open a support ticket, and we will be happy to assist.