Plesk Official Podcast

TOOLS

• Code editor: VSCode
• General
  • Code Sniffers to make sure your code is clean and proper.
  • Github:
    • Testing tools
    • Deploying
    • Peer Review
• Local Development environment:
  • Laravel Valet
  • Local by Flywheel
  • Lando
• Know and Love the Command Line:
  • iTerm 2
  • Zshell
  • Homebrew
• New library: waiting at least two years before adopting.
  • If you’re picking up a code library, follow the coding standards set forth by the library.

Choosing Your Learning Battles

• Use as little stuff as possible.
• Using purpose-built tools can improve things greatly.
• How do you know what tools to get and try?
  • Follow people who are smarter than you on Social
  • @rzen’s list
  • Codepen.io
  • Css-tricks.com
  • Frontendmasters.com
• Books
  • A Book Apart
  • Clean Code
• Find Brian:
  • @rzen
  • WPSessions.com
  • Wordsesh.com
  • Woosesh.com

1. What should someone consider when choosing an email hosting provider?

• It's probably going to be a central part of infrastructure, so keep that in mind. You'll use it for a long time.
• Features you need. Maybe you need to share your calendar, for example.
• Interoperability and vendor lock-in. You can move on if you want to.

2. What are the benefits of self-hosting over using a service like Gmail?

• One word: Control. You maintain control over your solution.
• If you self-host, you have more control over the product.

3. As a hosting provider, what are some of the pitfalls of hosting email?

• Reputation management. Other services that receive email have to fight a lot of spam.
• Track the reputation of domains and IP addresses.
• Properly configure domains for MX records.

4. Are there any common ways email hosting is misconfigured?

• Set up SPF, DKIM, DMARK.
  • SPF makes sure email is coming from a verifies recipient (DNS).
  • DKIM: Domain Keys Identified Mail. Essentially a signature (Mail Server).
  • DMARK: Ties SPF and DKIM together by publishing policy and protocol. (DNS Record).
• What features in Plesk help with email hosting?
  • SPF, DMARK, DKIM are built-in.
  • Other UIs for important measures like rate and message size limits.
  • Email Security extension with anti-spam.

The majority of users use WordPress.

What are the most common problems for hosting providers?

• Performance
  • Customers expect good performance no matter what level they pay for.
  • Many will install multiple plugins to help.
• Updates
  • People don’t update.
  • Core is easy. But plugins and themes are not necessarily.
  • Hosting providers need to make sure plugins and themes are updated.
• Security
  • Non-updated plugins/themes lead to security issues.

What are some ways they can prevent or quickly fix those problems?

• WordPress Toolkit - checks for updates for themes, plugins, and core.
• Smart updates - staging, updates, then checks for issues.
• Security checker - rights/permissions.

How much can does WordPress mitigate these problems?

• In the past few releases, we’ve seen updates to security. Strong passwords, admin email check.
• Site health checker.

First, as a baseline, what do we mean when we’re talking about cloud services?

• Defined as globally available, global scale.
• Scale, product breadth

Why should an organization consider cloud services?

• Today, many cloud providers are fully privacy compliant
• Allows to to access much more - especially location-wise

What is a hyperscale cloud provider?

• Many hosts are available in 1, maybe 2 countries
• Hyperscale providers are available everywhere. They make infrastructure a commodity

How can hosting companies compete in a hyperscale cloud environment?

• Go from generalist to specialist
• Many hosting providers don’t know what’s running on their servers - they need to figure that out and realize what niches are using them
• 4 Pillars:
  • Guide the end customers based on what you can offer
  • Control the value chain a little more. Offer services and help you customers by offering better/more affordable services
  • Choose the partners that help you.

Why are hyperscale cloud providers not a competitor to me as a hosting provider?

• You can partner with an Amazon, DO, Linode, that run these data centers, and use them as an extension
• You can use these services to grow with your customers

How can I differentiate by using hyperscale cloud? How can I benefit from technologies that hyperscale cloud providers provide me?

• Sites like Squarespace, Wix are using these services
• They might give you marketing funding because as you grow, they grow.
• Develop more custom solutions based on the HSCPs. Things like backups/other IP/software.

Key Takeaways

• Payment gateways bring cashless payments to a store, whether that’s in person or online. They are even more important for eCommerce stores, as this is generally the only form of accepted payment.
• Cashless payments are most often thought of to be credit cards, but it could also be account-based payments like ACH / direct deposit, or Wallets, like Apple Pay and Google Pay.
• Payment Gateways offer a secure environment for eCommerce stores to accept payments. Payment and customer information are set to this secure area to process the orders and the payment.
• This prevents things like a “Man in the Middle” attack, where someone tried to steal credit card information as it’s being transfer.
• These gateways follow strict guidelines (called PCI Compliance) to ensure data security and integrity. They endure audits, not only of their technical implementation, but of their actual premises to ensure only verified people physically access the servers. This comes at great expense to them.
• You also need to have an SSL certificate installed on your site. While payment gateways securely process payment methods, the rest of your data needs to be protected too.
• There are several different types of payment players or systems that Dirk breaks down in the episode. They are Payment Service Providers (PSPs), Payment Methods, Acquirers, and Wallets.
• PSPs are the companies at the top. They assume the risk and work with payment methods. Payment methods generally work with an Acquirer, which is often a bank that works with the credit card companies. Wallets are a special form of payment that hold funds (unlike credit cards, which are, well, credit).
• It’s good to give customers some options, but too many will overwhelm them. In general, a credit card form and a wallet are a good start.
• When it comes to choosing a PSP, you need to determine what payment methods you need. This could be affected by what country your in, and a whole host of other factors.
• For example, if you need in-store payment, going with a PSP that only offers online services won’t work. If you serve a country where PayPal isn’t allowed, you shouldn’t offer that as a payment method.
• EVO Payments is a global company offering in several countries, and offers a wide range of methods. They also seamlessly integrate with Plesk eCommerce Toolkit to give Plesk customers the fastest way to accept payments no matter where they are.
• A BIG benefit of EVO Payments on Plesk is they are much cheaper than some gateways, like PayPal, and even more affordable because Plesk customers don’t need to pay the monthly fee to use it.