I am looking into different solutions for encryption, and as it looks now, PHP mcrypt extension  is best solution of this. Problem is that servers can be set up without this extension installed. Other solutions are much slower than mcrypt that on its own is slow already. Tests I did show that the even the simplest encryption can slow the process 20 or more times. Also, encrypting a single file requires memory, so that also limits the amount of data PHP can handle for this.  Problem with encryption in PHP is that must be in memory operation. If you need to encrypt the file, that file must be loaded, encrypted and saved. There are no stream based functions, partial encodings and things like that in PHP. Also, in most cases PHP can be assigned maximum of 256MB of RAM, new servers, new PHP versions allow up to 4GB (as far as I know).

At this point I am thinking of encrypting database data. Encrypting PHP files can be pretty pointless, since most of the installation is WordPress, themes and plugins that don’t hold anything worth encoding. And to encode uploaded files, images, videos and things like that will be very complex to do and again, limiting by the size.

To encrypt database data there are few approaches to it. If the backup is done using mySQL dump, only way to make encryption is to encrypt the database file. But, to do that, file must be smaller than 100MB (with GZIP that can be achieved). 100MB GZIP SQL file can hold typically up to 500 MB database. So, big websites can’t use this method. For instance, Dev4Press website right now has 100MB database, packed in under 15 MB GZIP. The whole file is encrypted after backup. If database backup is made using SQL functions in plugin, encryption can be done same way as described before on the completed file. But, also, I can attempt to encrypt parts of the data before writing them into file. This will be very complicated to do, but it is doable.

Encrypting files can be done also, but the more files to encrypt, the slower the backup process will be. Dev4Press website, full backup takes about 3 minutes to backup everything (500 MB). From encryption tests I did, for 100% encryption this can take up to an hour or even more, with also high CPU usage during this period, and that can leave your website unresponsive.

So, what to do? I am open to suggestions on how to handle encryption for backups. If you have examples on how to handle large file encryption, tips on how to do it, or suggestions on what to encrypt, how to go around PHP limitations, please leave comments, or contact me directly if needed.

New Backup Module

It’s not easy to summarize new backup module in the few sentences. It has a lot of features and compared to all other backup solutions for WordPress, GD Press Tools Pro the only truly complete solution for WordPress backups. And much more. Plugin has quick backup, tasks based backup, archive files protection, support for multisite/network installations, customizable backup tasks, CDN/FTP upload, email notifications and more.

To see all that in action, you can check out the video tutorial: Using GD Press Tools 4.2 Backup. And, plugin now includes restore and clone script that you can use to restore website from full backup archive or migrate it into another website. For a whole backup and restore procedure, check out this tutorial: How to backup and restore your website.

GD Press Tools Pro 4.2: Backup Panel

I got many questions about comparing GD Press Tools Pro to other plugins especially for the backup. So, I have prepared comparison table comparing GD Press Tools Pro versus BackupBuddy. As you can see, not only that GD Press Tools Pro offers much more for in terms of backup features, you get many more features for full administration plugin. And best part is that GD Press Tools Pro costs much less then BackupBuddy.

GD Press Tools Pro: New Tagger Form

Auto Tagger

Another new module is Auto Tagger. Previous versions of the plugin had a simple auto tagger. Now, you get very powerful tool that allow scheduling, support for custom post types and custom taxonomies, wide range of settings and filtering and support for 4 different tagging methods: internal extraction, Yahoo  API, Alchemy API and Zemanta API (last two need signing up for the API keys). To see how each method works, there is a test tool available.

All tagging methods can be used with single post tagging, that will be further improved with next plugin versions. If you want to see the auto tagger in action, check out the tutorial: Using GD Press Tools Auto Tagger.

Plugin Menu

Interface, SEO, Security and more

Plugin uses once again updated interface, refining look further using simpler color scheme. Plugin menu is now color coded that display items in different colors (for multisite menu, normal menu). New SEO panel is just start of the full SEO module that will be added later. Now has support for previous existing meta features, and added new Facebook open graph integration. Sucuri powered free security scan is added as a new panel, and you can scan any website.

Most other features are also updated: debugger, dashboard widget, new settings added, more WordPress 3.2 related changes, updated third party libraries and added about plugin page.

Bug fixes include: changing admin username works now with multisites, invalid archive status during backup, minor issues with building XML sitemaps, several new PHP warnings, download of files via file manager, missing nonce protection in some cases.

What’s next?

There are much more planned features for future versions. Roadmap is updated recently, but there are many smaller features not listed that will be added to minor revisions along with bugs fixed. If you have any suggestions, leave a comment here or in the support forum.

And, if you find any bugs, I have started new thread in the forums for this plugin version.

Links and Resources

Here is the list of tutorials mentioned in this post:

How to backup and restore your website
Using GD Press Tools 4.2 Backup
Using GD Press Tools Auto Tagger

Comparing GD Press Tools Pro versus BackupBuddy:

GD Press Tools Pro versus BackupBuddy

To see the list of plugin features, overview and to buy the plugin, visit these pages:

GD Press Tools Overview
GD Press Tools Main Page
Buy GD Press Tools Pro

Promo coupon

To get 30% discount for this plugin (for yearly recurring payments standard and developer licenses, coupon is applied to initial payment only): GDPT42PRO. Coupon can be used until September 5 2011.

Warning: This is a development version, and its for use only on test environments and I can’t recommend that you use this plugin version on your live websites.

GD Press Tools 4.2: Sucuri Free Security Scan

New panel in this version is Sucuri Powered Security Scan. You can scan your website or enter URL to any other. You will get info on existing malware, blacklisting, IFRAME’s, JavaScript files, server, application and more.

As for the backup, another long list of bugs is fixed, bringing us one step forward to stable 4.2 release. More tests are done to make sure that plugin works with non standard WP installations: renamed content file and/or custom database prefix. Email notifications and editing of tasks now work. Backup log is expanded with more info, database backup improved with better escaping of data, backup status information is expanded and improved. Cron Scheduler has additional button to display arguments for each job.

If you still have issue starting backups or creating tasks:  it’s highly recommended that you clean up all the tasks data from the database, and allow plugin to create all that again as it should be. So, go to the Plugin Tools panel, Reset tab, and check ‘Remove everything tasks related option, and click Reset button. Now, you should have Backup working as it should be.  Also, from Cron Scheduler tab remove (clear) these tasks: gdpt_backup_job (old backup job) and gdpt_task_backup (new one).

Leave all bug reports or other information in the comments or in the forum (there is a Beta #3 thread opened in GD Press Tools forum).

Warning: This is a development version, and its for use only on test environments and I can’t recommend that you use this plugin version on your live websites.

When running Quick Backup in the multisite environment, when on Network admin, everything will work as expected. On site level, full backup will fallback to only site database tables and site owned files. Only network admin can backup everything, and when you create backup tasks that was so, only Quick Backup was a problem.

Other major issue was with installation where wp-content folder is renamed. This now works also. There is only one instance that is not working and will not be supported for now: wp-content moved outside of WP folder. This case causes too many issues for backup procedure. Third major issue was ZipArchive built in PHP class. In some cases this was causing problems with adding files. For now, this method is disabled, and plugin will use only PCLZip class.

Log for backup is improved, additional paths cleanup added for inclusion and exclusions, problem with writable folders is not more visible and plugin will not allow backups to run if the folder is not writable, clear and abort buttons for backup process are now working.

As it was reported, there are some issues with some other plugins that can inject own JavaScript that can break GD Press Tools. Not much to do about it, other than disable problematic plugins. I will publish the list of these plugins once it all gets confirmed. Other than that, plugin is working great, and very stable. I am running Beta #2 on all my sites (not on Dev4Press yet), and I have zero problems with it.

If you still have issue starting backups or creating tasks:  it’s highly recommended that you clean up all the tasks data from the database, and allow plugin to create all that again as it should be. So, go to the Plugin Tools panel, Reset tab, and check ‘Remove everything tasks related option, and click Reset button. Now, you should have Backup working as it should be.  Also, from Cron Scheduler tab remove (clear) these tasks: gdpt_backup_job (old backup job) and gdpt_task_backup (new one).

Still, we need more testing for the following features: backup jobs with emails notifications, custom files backups, multisite installations backup. Leave all bug reports or other information in the comments or in the forum (there is a Beta thread opened in GD Press Tools forum).

Warning: This is a development version, and its for use only on test environments and I can’t recommend that you use this plugin version on your live websites.

New version number will be 4.2. My internal build and version system required this change to be made, so 4.1 as official number will be skipped.

After last 3-4 days since release of Alpha #3, many bugs are fixed, most of them related to the Backup module. Now, after extensive testing on several different servers, backup module is working as designed. Still, I expect some minor bugs to be still present, so next 4-5 days will be spend making sure that all these things are fixed. Backup has working Statistics and Process panels that will show you general info about the backup tasks running. Editing of backup tasks works now.

If you still have issue starting backups or creating tasks:  it’s highly recommended that you clean up all the tasks data from the database, and allow plugin to create all that again as it should be. So, go to the Plugin Tools panel, Reset tab, and check ‘Remove everything tasks related’ option, and click Reset button. Now, you should have Backup working as it should be.  Also, from Cron Scheduler tab remove (clear) these tasks: gdpt_backup_job (old backup job) and gdpt_task_backup (new one).

GD Press Tools: About

Cron Scheduler panel is improved, new About page added, few more bugs in File Manager fixed. Some unused tabs removed and many minor things improved. Translation strings are updated, and they are not expected to changed until final 4.2 is released.

So, now we need to test following things: backup jobs with emails notifications, custom files backups, multisite installations backup. Leave all bug reports or other information in the comments or in the forum (there is a Beta thread opened in GD Press Tools forum).

Warning: This is a development snapshot of the upcoming version, and its for use only on test environments. I try to make even alpha versions as stable as possible, but still I can’t recommend that you use this plugin version on your live websites. Also, new Backup is NOT compatible with old one! Once you upgrade to this version, all scheduled backups from old version will stop working.

Known Issues: Backup tasks editing not working. Backup process log and statistics tab not done yet.

If you were using previous Alpha versions is highly recommended that you clean up all the tasks data from the database, and allow plugin to create all that again as it should be. So, go to the Plugin Tools panel, Reset tab, and check ‘Remove everything tasks related’ option, and click Reset button. Now, you should have Backup working as it should be.

In the next couple of days, I will release 4.1 Beta version, and soon after that final 4.1 will follow. So, please report all errors or problems you encounter with this release, I expect that there are some bugs in still, mostly with new Backup module. If you have some suggestions on the features present in this version, leave comments in this post or in the forum.

Next week will see several new video tutorials for new backup, auto tagger and few other things.

Warning: This is a development snapshot of the upcoming version, and its for use only on test environments. I try to make even alpha versions as stable as possible, but still I can’t recommend that you use this plugin version on your live websites. Also, new Backup is NOT compatible with old one! Once you upgrade to this version, all scheduled backups from old version will stop working.

Known Issues: Backup tasks editing not working. Backup process log and statistics tab not done yet. Problems with custom files backup.

For users that were using Alpha #2, new backup was broken, and default backup task missing (and quick backup broken because of that). To remedy this problem, you need to reinitialize backup tasks: Go to Plugin Tools panel, open Reset tab, and from Tasks And Connections select Backup tasks and click on Reset button. This should bring the default task and everything should be OK. Report back if this is still broken.

All icons and images are now replaced with new ones. New icons are done with Axialis IconWorkshop. Minor changes are added to File Manager with few fixes, Security panel got few things fixed and XML Sitemap manual rebuild works again.

In the next couple of days, I will release 4.1 Beta version, and soon after that final 4.1 will follow. So, please report all errors or problems you encounter with this release, I expect that there are some bugs in still, mostly with new Backup module. If you have some suggestions on the features present in this version, leave comments in this post or in the forum.

Next week will see several new video tutorials for new backup, auto tagger and few other things.

Warning: This is a development snapshot of the upcoming version, and its for use only on test environments. I try to make even alpha versions as stable as possible, but still I can’t recommend that you use this plugin version on your live websites. Also, new Backup is NOT compatible with old one! Once you upgrade to this version, all scheduled backups from old version will stop working.

Known Issues: Backup tasks editing not working. Backup process log and statistics tab not done yet. Several interface bugs and problems. Not fully tested with multisite / network environments.

First of all, Backups now use Tasks system developed previously for auto tagger. All other modules, if possible, they will use Tasks system in future versions. For improved flexibility, CDN and FTP is now separate panel as well, allowing you to define multiple connections you can use later in Backup and more.

GDPT 4.1: Quick Backup

For faster backups, there is a new option called Quick Backup (image on the right). Just click on the type of backup to create and that’s it, backup will be added as a background process. This is default backup option and in this case no settings are needed.

If you need detailed backup, things are much better now, since you can create and edit backup tasks. Once the task is created you can run it (with additional settings for CDN and few other things), or you can schedule it. One backup task can have multiple scheduled jobs.

GDPT 4.1: Backup Task Editor

GDPT 4.1: List of Backup Files

To use new backup module, go to Backup panel. Now you open Tasks tab. There, you will see Default task (you can’t delete it or edit it, but you can run it or schedule. This task is used for Quick Backup (top red button). You can create new tasks and use them. They have much more options right now, and it is much easier to create exactly what you need. Also, on Backup Settings tab you will find more interesting things: email notification to edit and exclusions for files backup.

Old Meta Tags panel is now renamed to SEO. Old tabs on this panel are still here, and only new feature for now is Facebook Open Graph integration meta tags. More SEO features will come in future versions. Other changes in this version include many minor improvements to debugger, new auto tagger module, more interface improvements and fixes and changes for WordPress 3.2.

In the next 4-5 days, I will release 4.1 Beta version, and soon after that final 4.1 will follow. So, please report all errors or problems you encounter with this release, I expect that there are some bugs in still, mostly with new Backup module. If you have some suggestions on the features present in this version, leave comments in this post or in the forum.

Next week will see several new video tutorials for new backup, auto tagger and few other things.

Email / SMTP Panel

Email / SMTP Settings

Global settings panel got new settings tab for custom SMTP server to be used with wp_mail and WordPress mailer. You can use predefined GMail account with your username and password or custom SMTP server. You can also override default from name and from email for sent emails. And you can test settings to make sure that everything is OK.

This should work with most servers, depending on their settings, so test it to see if your SMTP can handle it or not.

More HTAccess Tweaks

Jeff Starr is well-known for security related work on his PerishablePress website. His latest htaccess tweaks are released as 5G Firewall list, and I have included query and request string tweaks in the GD Press Tools security panel. Be sure to test all the changes, because some of them can cause problems in very rare cases, as with anything that is htaccess related.

Security & Backup

If you move wp-config.php outside of the WordPress main folder, security and backup in GD Press Tools will ignore this file for security check and backup. Now, this is changed, and plugin can detect if this file is moved, and will use the correct path for it.

And more

Bug fixes include: inconsistent dates in the backups now fixed with new functions, duplicated action for unloading jQueryUI, minor issues with debugger printing of arrays and objects and broken loading of translation files. gdr2 library has several new functions and many improvements to some of the core functions also.

Once again, thanks to Frank P. Walentynowicz and his continued contribution for improving some elements of the plugin.

Win the plugin license

It’s not too late yet, and if you don’t already have license for Pro version, here is the chance to win it simply by using Twitter. So, two lifetime standard licenses will be given on March 4 2011. To take part:

1. You only need to follow us on Twitter.
2. Tweet this:
   

   GD Press Tools 4.0 Pro for #WordPress giveaway. For a chance to win it, follow @milangd and retweet http://dv4p.com/gdpt4

3. You can tweet as many times as you want, the more the better are chances to win.

Promo coupon

Hurry up, and get 40% discount for this plugin (for yearly recurring payments standard and developer licenses, coupon is applied to initial payment only): GDPRESSTOOLS4. Coupon can be used until March 7 2011.

More about GD Press Tools Pro:
http://dv4p.com/gdpt

Bug fixes include: inconsistent dates in the backups now fixed with new functions, duplicated action for unloading jqueryui, minor issues with debugger printing of arrays and objects and broken loading of translation files. gdr2 library has several new functions and many improvements to some of the core functions also.

Win the plugin license

It’s not too late, yet and if you don’t already have license for Pro version, here is the chance to win it simply by using Twitter. So, two lifetime standard licenses will be given on March 4 2011. To participate:

1. You only need to follow us on Twitter.
2. Tweet this:
   

   GD Press Tools 4.0 Pro for #WordPress giveaway. For a chance to win it, follow @milangd and retweet http://dv4p.com/gdpt4

3. You can tweet as many times as you want, the more the better are chances to win.

Promo coupon

To get 40% discount for this plugin (for yearly recurring payments standard and developer licenses, coupon is applied to initial payment only): GDPRESSTOOLS4. Coupon can be used until March 7 2011.

More about GD Press Tools Pro:
http://dv4p.com/gdpt

There are many new features added, many existing features are improved, and I will try to cover all changes here. Also, in the next couple of days, a number of tutorials and introduction videos will be published covering everything in GD Press Tools 4.0 Pro.

This overview covers only some of the plugin features, focusing only on new things added in 4.0. You can first check out the video introduction, before proceeding to the rest of the post.

Dashboard Widget

Dashboard Widget

This widget has been in the plugin from the very begining, and now it’s changed to support new options and to act as a quick access to some of the plugin options. You can see the Google Page Rank of your website (refreshed every week, this is screnshot from my GD Star Rating website), you can enable maintenance mode and debugger, with options to set them up. And you can delete spam, revisions and database overhead. This widget options will change in the WP 3.1 network mode admin.

Plugin Front Page

What is on the plugins front page also depends on using the multisite and network mode admin, but in normal usage you see all options as on the image bellow. It shows a lot of relevant info that will help you quickly manage what needs to be done to improve security, review backups and registration and access some of tplugin panels.

Front Page Options

Debugger

Very powerful, intelligent, useful, expandable with tons of features to set, debugger panel unlike any other seen for WordPress, can be embedded into admin bar or available as a button on the page shows you all kinds of useful info that depends on available settings, admin or blog side, errors and other stuff. You can add own panels with additional info (tutorial coming soon).

Debugger

Files and DB Backup

For a while, plugin could backup database, now it’s expanded to backup files and manage backup jobs, files, of-site upload. I can’t really list all the backup features, detailed video is coming to explain all features. But, you can make full backup, partial backups based on database and file system tasks, support for multisite, scheduler, email on completion, upload to Amazon S3, Dropbox, FTP, Google Storage and Rackspace Cloud.

Backup Jobs

Backup Settings

XML Sitemaps Generator

Another new feature, very flexible sitemaps generator with support for custom post types, custom taxonomies, splitting file by content and size, running after post publishing, or scheduled, search engine notifications and support for multisite.

XML Sitemaps

File Manager

Brand new File Manager with basic operations supported for browsing, editing, uploading of files and creating new folders. More features will be added over time. Limited to browsing only WordPress installation folder for security purposes. In multisite, only super admin can use it.

File Manager

GD Press Tools

And more

Yes, there is much, much more in the plugin. On the right you can see all menu options for the plugin, most of them were available for a while and now are updated with new styling, more options. Plugin fully supports new network mode, and in that case different things will be available in menus for site and network.

And more is to come. Each new version will get more and more features, and roadmap is already updated with info on the next two major versions.

As usual, if you find any bugs, please report them in the comments or in the forum.

Win the plugin license

If you don’t already have license for Pro version, here is the chance to win it simply by using Twitter. So, two lifetime standard licenses will be given on March 4 2011. To participate:

1. You only need to follow us on Twitter.
2. Tweet this:
   

   GD Press Tools 4.0 Pro for #WordPress giveaway. For a chance to win it, follow @milangd and retweet http://dv4p.com/gdpt4

3. You can tweet as many times as you want, the more the better are chances to win.

Promo coupon

To get 40% discount for this plugin (for yearly recurring payments standard and developer licenses, coupon is applied to initial payment only): GDPRESSTOOLS4. Coupon can be used until March 7 2011.

More about GD Press Tools Pro:
http://dv4p.com/gdpt

Custom Post Types

Updated support for custom post types requires GD Custom Posts and Taxonomies Tools Pro (read more on 2.2 released yesterday). Plugin adds and control rewrite rules for custom post types and enables WordPress to use new templates. All xScape themes now have new base template called type.php that is default for custom post types (only if GD Custom Posts and Taxonomies Tools Pro is used). Also, for each custom post type you can add new templates: type-$post_type.php. In Menu Designer you can see new menu items for adding custom post type archive pages.

Theme Upgrade and Backup

One of the biggest problems with any theme that you end up customizing, add files and so on, is that when new version is released, you can’t upgrade it without loosing changes. I decided to do the best that can be done to fix that issue. All themes now have Theme Upgrade panel. Here you can specify files and folders you want protected from upgrade. Upgrade as before is done using Dev4Press Updater plugin (1.4.2 or newer is required for this to work).

xScape will make backup of the files and folders you set to keep on this panel, and (if enabled) make full backup of the theme. Files will be stored in the xScape storage location (usually xscape folder in wp-content). New sub-folder backup is added there and it will be used for things like this. When Dev4Press Updater attempts to make update, theme will first try to make a backup. If that fails, upgrade will be aborted. If backup is done, upgrade is performed and files than restored. Backups can be made manually from the Tools panel also.

Tutorials

Four new tutorials are in works to be released today and tomorrow. One is for lightScape (long overdue, sorry for the delay), two are for the new upgrade/backup feature and the fourth one is for the new custom post type archive feature.

Test all themes,and try them with a free test drive, for both front end and back end before deciding what is right for you:

Demo Loader: http://xscape.info/load/
Demo Home: http://xscape.info/

With Pro version, you can now hide WP version from footer for non admin users. And on the Database Backup panel you will see estimated size of the backups. This goes for full backup and for partial backup. When you select partial backup tables, estimation will change and update to see how big file will be in the end. Right now you get uncompressed size, next version will show both compressed and uncompressed. Displayed values are only approximation.

Work on Pro goes on and next release is 3.3 with long waited maintenance mode, and after that we will go to major version bump and GD Press Tools 4.0 is next. More on that soon.