A Few Pre-Sales Questions

[mitsos]

Hello,

I've seen your software mentioned on the HB forums and since I'm waiting anyday now for the HB implosion I need a quick exit strategy. I've read a lot of the forum posts and most of the documentation, but I might have missed a few important questions that I need answered before I start evaluating the software. If all goes well, then a license purchase is almost certain to follow.

1) How is the license activated? I've read that it is linked to the domain used. Does that mean I can use the same license on 2 boxes for a single company (failover configuration, same domain, databases synced)? Coming from HB, the license is linked to the installation path, domain name, and IP address. The IP address has always been a headache for us since the only way to activate private addresses (what we require for failover solution) is to send a ticket to "support" to get the IP updated on their end. Normal clients can only update a public IP that the license is linked to. Fine, no problem there. The downside is that we have to setup a failover solution for the private IP on our end, and have the license linked to that IP. More steps,more things to break apart (they always do, Murphy's Law).

2) Seen that most software code is not encrypted. What is encrypted?

3) How are software updates handled? I mean if I purchase a lifetime license without support, are the updates still available when the support runs out, or do I have to purchase additional yearly support for the updates after that? I do not mind purchasing support for when things go wrong, but I prefer not to have to rely on the subscription to keep the software updated.

4) Does the software need to be installed on the root website directory (www.example.com)? Or can I install it in a directory (www.example.com/billing or billing.example.com) and have my website template with links to purchase products?

5) I've seen that most pages can be edited with an in website editor. Does this support creating custom orderpages (a couple of paragraphs describing the products, maybe a small table/boxes on the bottom with buy now buttons for example)?

6) Any plans for full nginx integration? (no .htaccess, no manual file editing to make it work)

7) What is the average fix time for security bugs?

8) Can I move certain directories outside the publicly accesible directory (eg. template directory, speaking from HB experience)? If yes, what are the needed directories to keep in the publicly accesible directory?

9) A question for the developers, a must have in any job application. What do you do in your free time? Makes the difference on who get the job between a guy having all the certifications for it, or a guy having no certifications for it.

10) Will future updates (eg v4) require a license key renewal (paying for a new license)?

 

Thank you

[Michael]

1. It's licensed per domain / IP / folder. To use on another installation you will need another license or if its on the same server a multi-company license.

2. Only the license call backs etc are encrypted.

3. Updates are issued to everyone I believe it's just the support tickets which have to be renewed. After you've installed just download the patch zips as it only updates the needed files.

4. Installed at root / subdomain / folder.

5. Not at the moment I believe. You can edit the pdt file though.

6. It works like that now except its index.php/files/.

7. A couple of weeks as they collect as many and put as a patch, they also tell you how to patch some up yourself.

8. Yes uploads folder.

[Cody]

Hello,

I've seen your software mentioned on the HB forums and since I'm waiting anyday now for the HB implosion I need a quick exit strategy. I've read a lot of the forum posts and most of the documentation, but I might have missed a few important questions that I need answered before I start evaluating the software. If all goes well, then a license purchase is almost certain to follow.

1) How is the license activated? I've read that it is linked to the domain used. Does that mean I can use the same license on 2 boxes for a single company (failover configuration, same domain, databases synced)? Coming from HB, the license is linked to the installation path, domain name, and IP address. The IP address has always been a headache for us since the only way to activate private addresses (what we require for failover solution) is to send a ticket to "support" to get the IP updated on their end. Normal clients can only update a public IP that the license is linked to. Fine, no problem there. The downside is that we have to setup a failover solution for the private IP on our end, and have the license linked to that IP. More steps,more things to break apart (they always do, Murphy's Law).

Licenses are linked to install path, domain, and IP address. We can enabled multiple IPs and domains per install, though this is typically only done for multi-company licenses but there may be something we can do to acomodate you.

 

2) Seen that most software code is not encrypted. What is encrypted?

Only what's necessary to protect licensing.

 

3) How are software updates handled? I mean if I purchase a lifetime license without support, are the updates still available when the support runs out, or do I have to purchase additional yearly support for the updates after that? I do not mind purchasing support for when things go wrong, but I prefer not to have to rely on the subscription to keep the software updated.

By lifetime are you referring to our lifetime owned license? That license includes support and updates for life, so there's no need to purchase anything else to receive support and updates.

Owned licenses include 1 year of support and updates, after which you may optionally purchase support and updates on a yearly basis.

 

Releases follow semantic versioning, and patch releases are always free. As an example, if you are running 3.0.0 and we release 3.1.0 but you are not current with your support and updates at the time of that release you may upgrade to any 3.0.x release, but you will need support and updates to upgrade to the 3.1 minor release.

 

4) Does the software need to be installed on the root website directory (www.example.com)? Or can I install it in a directory (www.example.com/billing or billing.example.com) and have my website template with links to purchase products?

You can install Blesta anywhere you'd like.

 

5) I've seen that most pages can be edited with an in website editor. Does this support creating custom orderpages (a couple of paragraphs describing the products, maybe a small table/boxes on the bottom with buy now buttons for example)?

You can certainly do that if you're comfortable with a little PHP. Or you can create static HTML pages that simply link to pages within the Blesta order form.

 

6) Any plans for full nginx integration? (no .htaccess, no manual file editing to make it work)

A number of users are currently running Blesta on nginx. Kudos to cloudrck.

 

7) What is the average fix time for security bugs?

Security is by far our top priority, so we make a strong effort to releases security patches as fast as possible. The average turn around time varies depending on the severity of the issue, but can range between a few hours to about a week.

[Cody]

8) Can I move certain directories outside the publicly accesible directory (eg. template directory, speaking from HB experience)? If yes, what are the needed directories to keep in the publicly accesible directory?

You can move just about everything outside of the public directory, with the proper code changes. We only recommend having the uploads and temp directories above the publically accessible directory at this time, however.

 

9) A question for the developers, a must have in any job application. What do you do in your free time? Makes the difference on who get the job between a guy having all the certifications for it, or a guy having no certifications for it.

Spend time with my family, contribute to open source projects, and play video games. I'm in the middle of The Last of Us right now.

 

10) Will future updates (eg v4) require a license key renewal (paying for a new license)?

Absolutely not, though you may need to have support and updates in order to upgrade depending on your license type.

 

Thank you

You're welcome.

[mitsos]

Spend time with my family, contribute to open source projects, and play video games. I'm in the middle of The Last of Us right now.

 

You are hired!

 

Thanks to all for your answers, I'll begin evaluation ASAP since all my questions have been answered so far.

A couple more questions, if it's not a problem.

11) Any firm date on when the 30% off when migrating ends? Last I've seen was it ends when it ends. Will there be any alert before the offer expires?

12) Is the "Blesta Owned Lifetime" ($500) a branded or unbranded license? Meaning powered by and copyright can be removed? I can't see anything relating to this on the order page.

 

Thanks again

[Paul]

You are hired!

 

Thanks to all for your answers, I'll begin evaluation ASAP since all my questions have been answered so far.

A couple more questions, if it's not a problem.

11) Any firm date on when the 30% off when migrating ends? Last I've seen was it ends when it ends. Will there be any alert before the offer expires?

 

No firm date has been set, we're going to let it run for a while yet. When it is about to end, we'll probably tweet something out.

 

12) Is the "Blesta Owned Lifetime" ($500) a branded or unbranded license? Meaning powered by and copyright can be removed? I can't see anything relating to this on the order page.

 

Thanks again

 

Blesta Owned Lifetime is unbranded, and you can remove copyright and powered by. I've actually got quite a few inquiries about this, I think we need to make it clearer on the order form. Thanks!

[Alex]

You are hired!

 

Wise choice.