Shield Security Extension for MainWP

Our most requested feature for ShieldPRO is for an extension to the popular WordPress management software, MainWP.

We’re set to release our integration for MainWP, with ShieldPRO 10.1.

This article outlines what this is, how it works, and everything else you need to know.

What is MainWP?

MainWP is an alternative to our WordPress management software, iControlWP. There are many differences between the two platforms, the main one being that MainWP is “self-hosted” – that is, you install it on your servers and manage it from there – while iControlWP is a SaaS service that runs on our servers.

We created an integration between iControlWP and ShieldPRO several years ago and it allows our clients to manage settings and create security profiles all from within the iControlWP platform.

But not all our ShieldPRO clients want to use iControlWP – some prefer different management solutions, MainWP being the most popular of the self-hosted approach.

Which is why, after many requests to build an integration between the 2 (Shield and MainWP), we’re delighted to announce that it’s finally here!

How Do MainWP Extensions Work?

Extensions are “addons” to the core MainWP platform that add functionality or integrate with 3rd party products and services.

You might install, for example, the “Uptime Monitoring” extension that would activate the code letting you manage site uptime monitors from Uptime Robot.

Extensions are normally separate plugins installed on your MainWP server.

You don’t need a separate plugin on your client sites because the MainWP client plugin already has the code for the extensions built-in.

But for 3rd party extensions (not distributed by MainWP), like ShieldPRO, no such code exists in either the MainWP client plugin or the MainWP server installation.

In order to integrate with MainWP, we’ve had to build out both sides of the product – the server and client.

This is why it’s taken so long to reach this point as this is no small undertaking.

How To Get Shield’s Extension For MainWP

Our approach has always been to automate as much of the heavy lifting as possible. This reduces your work (and ours).

Rather than ask our clients to install extensions for every single website they manage with MainWP, we’ve integrated the extension code directly into our ShieldPRO plugin.

This means there’s nothing extra you need to install to integrate Shield with MainWP – just install Shield!

We’ve provided the option to disable the integration with MainWP within Shield’s new Integrations module.

We’ve also limited the integration to ShieldPRO – it’ll not work on the free version.

What Does The ShieldPRO extension offer?

This release is just our initial integration. It doesn’t yet have nearly the same level of functionality as our iControlWP integration.

But it’s a fantastic start and it gives us a great foundation to build upon.

We received feedback as to what was important for admins, and top of the list was the ability to see a summary of issues across the entire portfolio.

When managing your sites with MainWP, the overview page will have a new column, entitled ‘Shield’. This simply displays the current status of Shield on that site. If there are issues discovered, these will be highlighted.

This overview summary links to the primary Extension page for Shield which lists all your sites and offers more details on any problems that exist.

From this extensions page you’ll be able to:

• See how many issues exist on any child site and login directly to the Scan tool for that site
• Run an update/sync on a child site to get the latest Shield data
• Install the Shield Security plugin on a child site
• Activate/Deactivate the Shield Security plugin on a child site
• Turn-on the MainWP integration on a child site
• Run a ShieldPRO license check on a child site

We appreciate there is much more that we can bring to this extension, and it will come. We wanted to get our progress into your hands as early as possible.

Of course, new functionality for this Extension is up to you. If you need something that’ll improve your security workflow, let us know and we can use your feedback to prioritise ongoing development.

How Can You Get Shield Security’s MainWP Extension?

You just need ShieldPRO 10.1, which is scheduled for release on 16th October 2020. As we mentioned, this is a pro-only feature and an active license will be required on both the server and any child sites.

Feedback and Suggestions

This is a brand new Shield feature but one that has been requested for a while. As we mentioned, we planned to add much more functionality to this extension, but we need your feedback on what works, what can be improved, and what’s missing.

Please leave your comments below or drop us an email to share your thoughts.