Announcement: New modules - SimpleSiteMgr and SimpleSiteInfo

Nullig · **Posted:** Sat Sep 04, 2010 7:32 pm

Two new modules to help you monitor your CMSMS installations have been uploaded to the Forge.

SimpleSiteMgr is used for your main (production/personal/business) site to gather information from sites that you have installed CMSMadeSimple on. It has an admin interface to pull up the information from those sites and display the CMSMS version, along with all module versions installed on the sites and any available updates.

SimpleSiteInfo is used on the remote sites that have CMSMadeSimple installed, to create the version info that is used by the SimpleSiteMgr module.

Note: SimpleSiteInfo does not have to be installed on the site which has SimpleSiteMgr installed.

Hopefully, this will be useful for some of you that manage multiple sites, to keep track of what's installed on those sites and whether they're up-to-date, or not.

Nullig

uniqu3 · **Posted:** Sat Sep 04, 2010 8:04 pm

This is great and useful announcement Nullig!

Thank you exactly what i need :)

Either i am blind or there is SimpleSiteMgr missing in the forge?

Rolf · **Posted:** Sat Sep 04, 2010 8:14 pm

Haha, my post got you thinking

I'm going to try it out, Nullig.

Thanks, Rolf

Rolf · **Posted:** Sat Sep 04, 2010 8:43 pm

Just tried it, Nullig. Brilliant!

I just left you a message in the IRC.

Perhaps style the bold "needs an upgrade" version in red?

Only the security worries me a bit...
It is very easy for others (Search Engines) to look into the text file...
But perhaps it is my paranoia speaking

Grtz. Rolf

Nullig · **Posted:** Sat Sep 04, 2010 9:10 pm

Yes, Rolf, you did inspire me - glad you like it.

I thought about the security, but all they would get would be the version info and I don't know if that would be very useful/helpful in trying to hack a site.

Nullig

Nullig · **Posted:** Sat Sep 04, 2010 9:12 pm

@uniqu3 - it should be there - and hopefully will appear in MM soon.

Nullig

Nullig · **Posted:** Sat Sep 04, 2010 9:34 pm

@Rolf

- changed the styling for "need an update" version to red.
- fixed the undefined function problem:
file - SimpleSiteMgr.module.php
line 72 s/b - return $this->GetRemoteFileDate($newUri);

Thanks for the feedback. Let me know if you find anything else.

Nullig

Tomek · **Joined:** Tue Jun 12, 2007 1:29 pm **Posts:** 156

great module ! Just installed and everything is ok for the moment.
What security flaws could there be ?

RonnyK · **Posted:** Mon Sep 06, 2010 7:49 am

Nullig,

great add-on

2 points.

- "Exand All" should be "Expand All",
- Would it be possible to show ONLY the cmsms-version directly, without having to expand.

Ronny

alby · **Posted:** Mon Sep 06, 2010 8:44 am

I have to give it a try .....

Very brilliant idea

Alby

RonnyK · **Posted:** Mon Sep 06, 2010 8:53 am

Nullig,

other question, I updated the sitename in the ManageSites-tab. Submitting then gives:

"NOTE: If you changed the name of the Site Info file on the remote site, you must use the "Update" button the on the "Site Listings" tab to obtain the latest data."

What is meant with the site-info-file, as I didnt change any file, and I dont see an Update-button there.

Ronny

Nullig · **Posted:** Mon Sep 06, 2010 3:39 pm

@RonnyK

Originally, I was going to let people use whatever filename they wanted for the file created by The SimpleSiteInfo module. Then I took that feature out and forgot to change the help text.

Good catch on the Expand typo.

I'll add the CMSMS version to the "expand" title bar.

@Tomek

I don't think there's any security flaw - I suppose people who know the system would be easily able to see what versions you're running, but I don't think it would help them in any way.

Nullig

NaN · **Posted:** Mon Sep 06, 2010 4:15 pm

Some badasses could use the version info to know if your site has any known security leaks. E.g. in CMSms 1.6.8 and 1.8.2 has been some security fixes. If you provide your version info to others they also know if your site is up to date and if there is any known vulnerability.
This is why you should set filepermission to the version.php to not readable by others than the FTP user and even remove the version info from your template or content to not to show to the public what version you're running.

But this is almost a trivial security flaw because if the badasses know that you use CMSms and want to break in they will try it regardless if they know the used version or not. And if they succeed it doesn't matter what version is used or if the version info was hidden or not.

Nullig · **Posted:** Wed Sep 08, 2010 4:09 am

OK, I've released a second beta, which incorporates the requested changes - including encryption. There is now a pass phrase which is used to encrypt/decrypt the file. It can be changed in the Admin for both modules.

Nullig

Rolf · **Posted:** Thu Sep 09, 2010 4:36 pm

Hi Nullig

Upgraded both sites to the latest beta.
The client website still has core 1.8.1

Server website gives however:
Installed version 1.8.2 Latest version 1.8.1

Reg. Rolf

Announcement: New modules - SimpleSiteMgr and SimpleSiteInfo

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