Webscale STRATUS

In short, no. While you can manually spin up additional resources should a traffic event dictate, Webscale STRATUS is the only Magento hosting platform on the market today that will automatically spin up additional resources—both vertically and horizontally—to give your Magento store the ability to effortlessly handle any traffic surges. And Webscale STRATUS will release the added resources automatically, as well. And the good part is that you only pay for the increased user sessions; you’re never charged for the added hardware or other resources employed.

For Stratus scaling plans, Webscale measures resources and pricing based on session traffic. By understanding the technical impact of user sessions on a Magento store, Webscale engineers were able to construct a pricing model that fairly allocates appropriate technical resources based on real-world traffic requirements.

In order to provide estimated pricing and plan recommendations, customers can connect their Google Analytics account on the Webscale pricing page and receive quick estimates. Once enrolled, Webscale STRATUS customers permit Webscale to read their Google Analytics account (via GA User Management) for billing and validation purposes.

Properly configured GA accounts and Stratus “exclude” filtering can dramatically reduce session counts (and necessary server resources) by blocking visits from superfluous indexing “bots” and countries the Magento store is not servicing. Webscale support can also help customers optimize their configurations to reduce session counts and resource load.

Yes, it does! Webscale STRATUS utilizes the Webscale CloudEDGE CDN for the fast delivery of static assets such as images, javascript, and cascading style sheets (CSS). Webscale includes the CDN as part of the Webscale STRATUS platform at no additional cost. The capacity of the CDN is based on the storage of the Webscale STRATUS plan chosen, with a provision for storage overages at a modest per gigabyte charge.

Yes! In fact, the Webscale STRATUS control management center is the most advanced, custom-built application for hosting Magento stores ever. With Webscale STRATUS, developers and customers have quick, easy access to all facets of their Stratus environments, including user access, cron jobs, SSL certificates, cache management, search micro-services, and more. For a hands-on demonstration, contact Webscale STRATUS Sales. For detailed control panel descriptions and usage guidelines, visit the Webscale STRATUS Knowledge Base.

Yes. In fact, many Webscale STRATUS customers still operate Magento 1.x stores. Although Adobe no longer supports Magento 1, merchants are successfully operating PCI compliant stores by adhering to all best practices, security updates, and using Webscale STRATUS cloud delivery.

Webscale STRATUS provides optimized Magento 1 configurations and guidelines in itsKnowledge Base articles..

Webscale STRATUS provides an easy-to-use interface for installing SSL certificates provided by Let’s Encrypt and other certificate providers. For domains hosted on our Route 53 nameservers, Webscale STRATUS will provide free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates automatically installed and updated.

Excluding extreme cases, the short answer is “no.” Bandwidth is factored into our session-based pricing. If you do anticipate higher than normal bandwidth usage, please contact Webscale STRATUS Sales for help in determining any customized pricing needs.

Since Webscale employs some of the most experienced Magento engineers in the hosting industry, migrating existing Magento stores to a Webscale STRATUS account is fairly straightforward and efficient. Webscale provides detailed instructions and clear guidelines to assist the customer in achieving a quick, sound, and secure migration.

Migrations are not covered, though, by the Webscale 15-minute SLA and generally require 24-hour advanced notice for the initial migration and, after customer acceptance, the final migration synchronization.

Yes. In fact, many Magento installs host multiple storefronts on the same codebase. A Webscale STRATUS install can only accommodate one root directory, however; all domains must resolve to the same root directory.

No. We do not limit API calls

Indeed, yes. One of the more exciting developments in ecommerce interface design is the use of Progressive Web Apps (PWA). PWAs are lightweight, dynamic interfaces that have wide-ranging applicability, especially for B2B merchants. PWA frameworks are hosted on other servers and platforms and utilize API calls for retrieving information and communicating data to your Magento installation.

Certainly. As your needs evolve, Webscale can quickly and easily upgrade or downgrade your Webscale STRATUS plan. Contact Webscale STRATUS Sales for assistance.

While incoming IPs will be variable and dependent upon your location due to Webscale CloudEDGE CDN, the “outgoing” IP of your Webscale STRATUS instance will remain the same until your store is moved to different hardware due to the retirement of AWS hardware, an upgrade, or other need to change the underlying node.

Webscale STRATUS also provides a unique CNAME for use with a domain name. The use of a CNAME has not been shown to adversely affect search engine rankings. Google, for example, rewards stores for speed and accessibility.

With the Webscale STRATUS implementation of Amazon Web Services (AWS), load-balancing across multiple, scaled instances is included. The auto-scaling mechanism of Webscale STRATUS replicates the PHP codebase. MySQL and other microservices are not replicated due to their own limitations and scaling issues. However, Webscale, through considerable research and development, has determined that the true bottlenecks of a properly optimized Magento store occur within the PHP codebase. Other services, such as Elasticsearch, Redis, and Varnish operate on optimized instances and, except in very rare cases, do not require scaling across load-balanced servers.

A Web Application Firewall (WAF) is designed to thwart hackers and others who attempt to access or disable a store by such tactics as Distribute Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. Webscale STRATUS uses a very robust WAF which is capable of handling huge traffic loads and spikes without issue. Webscale engineers have employed custom rules specific to Magento cloud delivery to give the WAF even greater protections for Magento stores deployed on Webscale STRATUS.

Absolutely! Versioning Magento code, though, can be a bit tricky, especially when it comes to ignoring specific folders, such as /media or /var. However, many developers have been successful at versioning and promoting code with a Webscale STRATUS installation.

Most Webscale STRATUS plans also provide for one or more development instances. These can be used to promote development code for testing within the Webscale STRATUS environment. Note that some Webscale STRATUS features, such as crons, are disabled for development environments by default, but available upon request.

Security is a major feature of Webscale STRATUS. Unlike conventional hosting, Webscale STRATUS is built for PCI compliance and protecting the Magento installations deployed on the platform.

To achieve this level of security, access to the codebase and server instance of Webscale STRATUS is only available via Secure Socket Host (SSH) connections. For file transfer, Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) connections are allowed using SSH credentials. Remote access of the MySQL instance using apps such as MySQL Workbench or Navicat is available using an SSH tunnel.

Due to security and the unique engineering of Webscale STRATUS, root server access is not permitted or allowed under any condition.

Webscale STRATUS is uniquely tuned and configured for optimized Magento cloud delivery. However, other PHP applications may be deployed on a Webscale STRATUS instance. WordPress is often used in conjunction with Magento and can co-exist on a Webscale STRATUS install with a Magento store.

While Webscale STRATUS is tuned for Magento, customers who wish to consider Webscale STRATUS for other applications are invited to consult with Webscale STRATUS Sales.

Webscale STRATUS' renowned 15-minute response time SLA is provided to help with system issues that may arise. In some cases, Webscale STRATUS support engineers may help identify code issues or problems when they affect store performance or stability.

However, Webscale cannot provide support for fixing, altering, or fully debugging the Magento codebase, themes, or add-on extensions. Customers should rely on competent developer assistance with coding or configuration issues unrelated to Webscale STRATUS.

Our many partners do appear to think so. Partnering with Webscale STRATUS is often quite different than conventional hosting providers. Our engineers work very closely with our partner developers to identify and support various store requirements. In addition, Webscale actually works with many partners by providing detailed Webscale STRATUS recommendations, demonstrations, and optimization recommendations. Our sales and engineering teams work in lockstep with our partners to deliver the most reliable, valuable, and long-lasting solutions in the Magento ecosystem. Please reach out to Webscale STRATUS Sales for more information about our Partner program.