Managing MODX installations can be arduous work, especially if you have a few dozen installations to keep tabs on. This is why we decided to develop MOD COMMANDER, a cloud-based tool to save time installing, upgrading and backing up MODX pages. We’re almost ready for beta and are looking for feedback on what we’ve got so far.
Features
In order to use MOD COMMANDER you first have to provide the SSH credentials of your server. After you have provided a server name, the host (either by IP or domain) and the SSH username and password, the MODX installations on the server can be managed through MOD COMMANDER and new MODX installations can be deployed to the server. You can add multiple servers this way.
If you’d like to install MODX from scratch, you can do this by providing a name, the absolute path from your server root to where you’d like the new MODX installation to be located, the URL as well as a database configuration. Once this information is saved you can access the manage screen for your new installation and select a MODX version that should be installed. After providing some additional, installation specific information, MODX will be installed at the specified location.
Or, if you have an already existing MODX installation, you can easily import it into MOD COMMANDER. Simply provide a name, the absolute path from your server root to the MODX installation and the URL and MOD COMMANDER will automatically detect the MODX version of your installation as well as the database settings.
If you deploy a lot of installations that use the same extensions and settings, you can create a template based on one of your existing installations. This allows you to add new MODX installations based on this template.
Once an installation has been added to MOD COMMANDER you can upgrade MODX from the manage page. Select the MODX version that you’d like to install and click “install”.
MOD COMMANDER also provides a mechanism to handle backups. You can either create instant or scheduled backups, the latter of which can be configured to occur at specific times and intervals. There is also the possibility to choose where you’d like your backups to be saved. As of right now this can either be on our servers or on your Dropbox account.
Prospects
We plan to publish a beta version of MOD COMMANDER at some point. Anyone can sign up to test MOD COMMANDER for free during this phase, although there will be certain limits regarding data that can be saved on our servers as well as the number of users, servers and installations that can be managed through MOD COMMANDER.
After the beta phase existing accounts and settings will be transferred to the live version. There will also be the possibility to expand on the freely available quotas through a paid subscription model. We will decide on the exact pricing once we see how the beta phase goes.
Your feedback
We have already received some feedback and people seem to be excited about the idea. However, please feel free to contact us. Your input is valued and we want to hold an open dialogue about MOD COMMANDER.
If you’d like to send us an e-mail you can do that at hello@mod-commander.com or if you’d like to get the latest news on MOD COMMANDER you can visit mod-commander.com and subscribe to the beta invite list.