Thanks! We will do our best to work our way to it!
I’ve started working on this. Right now, the “Instances” tab is done—it shows all WordPress instances on both local and remote systems (using the Webmin Servers Index module). More tabs are coming, like Plugins, Themes, and Stats.
If you’ve got ideas, now’s a great time to share them—it’s easier to shape things while it’s still in progress.
Most fields have tooltips, and a lot of things can be configured through the module config.
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Great news on the WP Workbench release! This feature was precisely the catalyst that persuaded my employer to get Virtualmin onboard and purchase the Pro license.
We’re currently embarking on a project to decommission a legacy server running a 10-site WordPress multisite network, so this comes in super handy. Our company isn’t a web host per se, but our primary product line necessitates that clients have a web presence. For special cases that don’t manage their own, we provide a complete solution, which historically has involved setting them up within this WordPress multisite environment.
The plan here is to migrate each of these sites out of the multisite structure and into individual virtual servers managed by Virtualmin, and the objective is to provide proper isolation for each site, ensuring separate resources, configurations, security contexts, and plugin/theme ecosystems, as well as seizing the ‘automatic updates’ for plugins, themes and Wordpress itself.
As we plan this migration, we’re researching dedicated WordPress migration plugins to handle the complexities of moving files, databases, and settings accurately. This process led us to consider how WP Workbench could potentially evolve:
- Built-in Migration Tools: It would be a significant enhancement if WP Workbench offered tools to streamline the migration process itself. Imagine capabilities for easily pushing a site from a development/staging site to a production one, or perhaps utilities tailored to extracting individual sites from a multisite network directly into a new Virtualmin server.
- Integrated Backup Management with Offsite Support: Another highly desirable feature would be comprehensive backup management integrated into WP Workbench. Having the functionality to configure, schedule, and run full/incremental backups, with direct support for pushing these backups to common offsite storage solutions (like Amazon S3, Backblaze B2, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.), would be extremely beneficial.
Incorporating capabilities like these would further solidify WP Workbench’s position as an indispensable tool for serious WordPress management on the Virtualmin platform.
Kudos to the team for developing WP Workbench!
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This is a very wise solution! Having an individual isolated environment for each domain is a much better design than sharing plugins across multiple instances.
Could you describe the process you have in mind? It’s not entirely clear what’s implied here.
That would be a more complicated task, I think. As far as I know, there’s no standard format for WordPress backups, so it’s hard to make something universal.
I think the easiest solution is to dump the database and files from the old server, do a fresh WordPress install for a domain in Virtualmin, reinstall the needed plugins, and then restore the database. Clean and straightforward, with no loose ends.
Integrated Backup Management with Offsite Support: Another highly desirable feature would be comprehensive backup management integrated into WP Workbench. Having the functionality to configure, schedule, and run full/incremental backups, with direct support for pushing these backups to common offsite storage solutions (like Amazon S3, Backblaze B2, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.), would be extremely beneficial.
Yep, I’m planning to roll this out with the next WP Workbench 1.1.0 release. Just a heads-up—we already have basic backup support, but there’s no scheduling yet, and no option to upload to the cloud.
Thanks for the heads up!
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This looks fantastic Ilia. I have three features on top on my mind, as I am currently using MainWP to manage many WordPresses, but I would appreciate if I can move over to WP Workbench.
1- I already have WP on 40+ virtual hosts that were not installed through Virtualmin’s script installer. I tried to integrate one using the CLI command that was provided before but there appeared to be complications around WP-CLI, it’s location, version, permissions, jailkit etc… so the first request would be an easier way to integrate already installed WPs.
2- To be able to upload a plugin and apply to multiple WP websites (for plugin upgrades).
3- A list of basic security checks, and fixes.
Thank you again for this amazing peice of work.
Thanks!
Excellent suggestion, though I have already addressed it. However, perhaps we should also reinstall WP-CLI not only during instance upgrades but also upon import. I’ll check!
That sounds like a good idea. However, could you clarify the part where you mention plugin upgrades? Do you mean custom plugins? Because, plugins available in the cloud will be upgraded automatically on the new “Plugins” tab.
I’ve already added an “Integrity Check” to verify the integrity of the WordPress installation, e.g.:
Thank you for your feedback!
I use a few plugins that are not sourced from online repositories, and I have to upload them in order to upgrade. For example Akeeba backup, some Yootheme related plugins, and a custom written plugins that I keep upgrading and need to apply to all websites. This feature is already part of the MainWP and helps me a lot.
Sure, I’ll do it, as it makes perfect sense! And, I hope that after a new WP Workbench release, you won’t need any backup plugins.
Exactly! 
Thanks.
Hello, Can WP Workbench be used to managed other WP sites, on other servers we manage? Or must they all be under the same top level domain?
I guess my requests for the Studio have already been mentioned, but here they are again:
-
Central ability to block
xmlrpc.phpattacks across all sites. I use the.htaccessmethod at the moment but if you have 100 or 200 sites on a server it’s a big administrative burdon. We’ll save so many CPU cycles if get can do this! -
Central console to see who is out of date with plugins. Clients whose site plugins and themes are out of date get attacked and we’re often the only ones who can fix it as the web designers are long gone after the first year.
– Ability to turn on automatic updates for clients whose designers have gone AWOL. -
The holy grail would be to have a type of dedicated WordPress virus checker. With cPanel there is Imunify, but we need more.
– When a site is compromised an email to the systems administrator.
We had a really bad accident last week - the hacker came in via WordPress, compromised the out of date site and plugins, then the Virtualmin user, and deleted all the mailboxes.
Ilia just added support for managing WordPress across multiple Virtualmin systems. That’ll be in the next release, I think.
That wouldn’t be very useful, so that’s not what it does.
Maybe just list them indented like they are for virtual servers
P.s. not seen the product yet so if this is already there, then my bad 
Yes, it will support any remote WordPress instance installed on any Virtualmin Pro system connected via the Webmin Servers Index module.
Yes, all of this will be available and manageable with a single click.
Ability to turn on automatic updates for clients whose designers have gone AWOL.
Yes, will also be available.
The holy grail would be to have a type of dedicated WordPress virus checker.
I don’t think this is the right direction. We should just focus on keeping everything up to date and making sure the WordPress files stay intact (integrity check)—all of which will be just one click away in the next WP Workbench release.
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The scheduling and cloud backups will be supported as part of the standard Virtualmin backup feature.
Hello everyone!
I’d like to mention that a new WP Workbench large upgrade is coming in a few days.
As I’m wrapping things up, I’d like to share with you what’s been done and changed.
First of all, a new WP Workbench Manager page has been added to manage and control all instances on local and remote systems. The manager provides a clean overview of installed instances, WordPress versions, number of plugins and themes, available updates, and lots of other useful information. It allows performing all mass tasks that were previously available for a single WP Workbench instance control, including upgrading and making instant backups. Importing an instance installed outside of Virtualmin can now be easily done via the UI.
The existing WP Workbench instance control page was also improved by removing the upper table and placing al the details to a new “Dashboard” tab, that now also includes site preview, extra actions like force reinstall, integrity check, and show full instance info. The “Development” tab also has a new replace feature.
Have a quick look and please share your ideas, wishes, or suggestions so I can include them all in a new release.
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New workbench looks great, can’t wait to test it out.
Maybe an option to exclude a plugin/theme or an entire instance from bulk updates would be nice to have. We host a legacy wordpress website that is extremely fragile and only certain plugins can be updated, otherwise the site crashes.
This is technically possible because you would be able to update either the selected instance (WordPress core), selected plugins, selected themes, or all of them at once.
Yeah, I was about to release it, but then we decided to add full support for scheduled backups in WP Workbench manager too, which took a little while.
I’m finishing this up really soon though. Scheduled backups will be easy to setup and manage across both local and remote systems.
Preview example:
Congratulations to the Virtualmin team on the release of WP Workbench! It’s a game changer for managing WordPress at scale, especially for hosts with large client bases. As a long-time Virtualmin user, it’s great to see them stepping up with this centralised solution. Keep up the awesome work! Here’s to many more years of success!
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