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WordPress Hosting Automated Updates

Applies to:
WordPress Hosting

Introduction

The WordPress managed hosting platform automatically handles updating the core WordPress files and plugins so you will always be up to date.


Automated Updates

WordPress core updates

We automatically update WordPress core when a new version is released, without you having to do anything. When updates occur will depend on the type of update.

WordPress security & minor point releases

These updates are applied on or around midnight on the night following the release. In some rare circumstances these releases might not update until the following evening.

WordPress major releases

These updates will be applied within 2 working days of release. This slight delay is to allow the 34SP.com team time to asses any unexpected problems. Once the release has been reviewed, the automatic update software will update to the latest release that evening.

Opting out or deferring core updates

We currently do not have a way for you to opt out of minor core releases. Clients may defer major core releases by up to 14 days via the Update Settings within 34SP.com Tools within WordPress Admin area.

WordPress says that an update is available

As we have many sites to update, it is possible that you will see the option to update before we apply it to your site. If a site shows as needing an update for prolonged period please feel free to contact support.

If you do manually apply an update, please make sure to clear both the Nginx and memcached caches via your 34SP.com tools. If your site has the CloudFlare CDN enabled you will also need to flush the cache held there.

WordPress plugins

We automatically update WordPress plugins where updates are available through the WordPress update manager. This includes all plugins downloaded from WordPress.org repository and includes other plugins if they are written to include this functionality.

Available updates for plugins are applied on or shortly after midnight each evening.

Opting out of updates for a specific plugin

It is possible to opt-out of updates for a specific plugin. To do so, visit your WordPress admin, select Plugins, then under the plugin click on Disable Updates.

A plugin that has updates disabled will not update, however you will still be notified when an update is available and will be able to manually update the plugin.

We routinely check plugins for known vulnerabilities. Plugins which are out of date and have known vulnerabilities will be deactivated after a warning email is sent.

Deferring plugin updates

Within your WordPress admin area, under Tools then 34SP.com Developer Tools, you will find an Updates tab. From here you will be able to delay the update of plugins by 1 or 7 days if you do not want them to be updated immediately. In such cases, we will continue to notify you of known vulnerable plugins and where necessary will update plugins with security patches as soon as possible.

Manually updating plugins

Not every plugin can be automatically updated. In such scenarios we strongly encourage clients to regularly update plugins. This can be done in the normal way through the WordPress admin interface, though individual plugins may have their own process.

When manually updating a plugin, you should always clear the nginx and memcached caches.

WordPress themes

We do not currently update themes automatically as this could affect customisations made to the theme. We do notify clients when a theme has an update available and strongly recommend that clients update where possible. Like plugins, theme versions are checked for known vulnerabilities and if an issue is found, you will be notified by email.

Notifications

By default we notify clients that we have updated one or more parts of the site by email. This notification is by default sent to all “Administrator” roled users within the WordPress site. This behaviour can be changed from within the 34SP.com tools within the WordPress site.

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