Select Page

Blacklisted and Redundant Plugins

by | Nov 8, 2017 | Featured, Plugins

Today, there are thousands of plugins available for WordPress sites and most of them will work with Website Pro seamlessly. In fact, Website Pro does not prevent users from installing any plugins. However, some plugins have functionality that interferes with the operation of your site in the Website Pro ecosystem. Such plugins could not jive for a couple of reasons. Though most often, it is because they provide duplicate (or the same) functionality that is already provided by Website Pro. These plugins include, but are not limited to:

Caching Plugins

Website Pro is built to make your sites fast. To help WordPress developers serve content as quickly as possible we have server-side caching already in place.

Though plugin based caching features are common and often useful in other hosting platforms, they’re unlikely to improve things in the Website Pro environment. On a cache miss your site will experience the added overhead of populating the plugin’s slower PHP based caching system. In the case of a cache hit the content should be served from Website Pro’s automatic caching layer. The cache hit request will never even make it to your plugin. This leaves your site bloated with cached data that doesn’t get used. In addition, plugin-based caching solutions could cause issues or unexpected behaviour with Website Pro features like backing up and restoring your site.

Examples of Plugins that can conflict with our platforms built-in caching structure:

Site Backup Plugins

Website Pro has your back with a robust backup and restore system. Website Pro saves a copy of your entire site every day and preserves it in an isolated and incredibly reliable cloud-based file storage system. You can also backup on demand using the Website Pro dashboard or restore it to a previous backup if something goes wrong.

With the backup services Website Pro provides, backup plugins are unnecessary and they have several downsides. Poorly configured backup plugins have been known to slow the performance of sites and even render them useless while backing up. Some of them will store the backups in your site itself, bloating the filesystem more every day. Save yourself the headache and leave backing up to us.

  • BackupBuddy
  • BackWPUp
  • BackUpWordPress
  • WP DB Backup
  • WP DB Manager
  • Others

Login Plugins

One of the most straightforward ways for malicious attackers to gain entry to your WordPress site is through a brute force attack on the Admin Login page. Because of this, it is common practice for WordPress developers to use plugins to move, hide, or otherwise override the Admin Login process.The security of your login page is a necessity. That’s why this functionality is taken care of automatically by Website Pro.

Access to your WordPress Admin Dashboard is only available via the Website Pro dashboard. This login is tightly controlled and supports an incredibly convenient “Sign in with Google” workflow.

Because of our integration between Website Pro and the WordPress Admin Dashboard any plugin that alters the login should be unnecessary and is unlikely to work as expected. Even worse it might break the login workflow we have in place for you, leaving your Admin Dashboard inaccessible. If you find yourself in this situation it can be remedied using Website Pro’s SFTP and PHP My Admin integrations to disable or remove the plugin.

Examples of Plugins that might cause issues:

SMTP/Email Plugins

At Website Pro we provide a reliable email delivery mechanism but we understand that sometimes you want more control over how it’s delivered. Plugins that integrate with third-party email senders (like SendGrid) over HTTP based APIs should work as expected in the Website Pro environment. However, keep in mind the standard wp_mail function has been overridden already to support Website Pro’s email system. Some email plugins will refuse to function if that is the case.

To promote compatibility with underlying hosting infrastructures Website Pro does not support plugins that directly attempt to use operating system utilities (like Sendmail) nor any plugin attempting to directly send mail using SMTP. But with email delivery already included and API based solutions available, hopefully, that’s not a problem.

Examples of Plugins that might cause issues:

Security Plugins

For Website Pro, security is fundamental.  We follow WordPress best practices for hosting security and go the extra mile to keep your site safe. We prevent brute force attacks to your site’s login screen (see Login Plugins above) and keep our hosting infrastructure up to date with the latest security patches and configurations.

Several security plugins have been found to interfere with caching mechanisms, weigh down your site with a ton of overhead, and interfere with Website Pro’s security systems. We recommend you exercise caution when deciding to add security plugins.

Examples of Plugins that might cause issues:

Other things to watch out for

Slider Revolution Plugin (Revslider)

Older versions of Slider Revolution (Revslider) plugin has code that is incompatible with PHP 7. From Version 5.3.0.2 this issue should be rectified, but you might find that older versions that are bundled with themes may not support PHP 7. In the case where you have an incompatible Revslider plugin installed, it may result in a 500 error when accessing the WordPress Admin Dashboard.

There are two options to fix the issue:

  1. Set up an SFTP user and remove the plugin entirely using an SFTP client like FileZilla. You can then install the newest version of the Revslider plugin.
  2. Set up an SFTP user and change a line of code within the plugin

If you decide to try option 2, it requires a single line change. Depending on the version of the plugin you might find it in one of the following files:

  • revslider/inc_php/framework/base_admin.class.php
  • revslider/includes/framework/base-admin.class.php

Somewhere around line 21, you’ll find the line:

private static $arrMetaBoxes = ”;

It must be changed to:

private static $arrMetaBoxes = array();

Both of these options should allow you to access the WordPress Admin Dashboard again.

Modifying .htaccess or NGINX configs

There are many plugins that try to create or modify Apache’s configuration files (.htaccess files) and/or NGINX configuration files. Any such changes made to these files by plugins or directly will not be recognized by Website Pro.  This is to ensure Website Pro maintains high levels of security and site speed. A site that relies on modifying those files might not function as expected in Website Pro.

Examples of Plugins that might not function as expected:

Plugins that use exec(…)

Some plugins attempt to execute commands at the operating system level using the exec command. This command has been disabled in Website Pro to improve security.

Example of Plugins that might not function as expected:

Blacklisted Plugins

The below plugins are blacklisted and cant be installed on the platform

  • Akeeba Backup: WebsitePro currently has a site backup solution integrated
  • BackUpWordPress: WebsitePro currently has a site backup solution integrated
  • BackWPup: WebsitePro currently has a site backup solution integrated
  • EWWW Image Optimizer: Plugins like this attempt to execute commands at the operating system level using the exec command. This command has been disabled in Website Pro to improve security.
  • Login LockDown: This functionality is handled by WebsitePro automatically
  • UpdraftPlus: WebsitePro currently has a site backup solution integrated
  • WP Clean Up Optimizer: This creates unreasonably large amounts of data in the database.
  • File Manager (ver. 6.0, 6.8 only): A vulnerability was found in these versions.
  • WP phpMyAdmin: WebsitePro has a PhpMyAdmin dashboard already