Concrete CMS Hosting UK (formerly concrete5)

Concrete CMS and concrete5

Concrete CMS is the current name for concrete5, an open source CMS known for in-context editing: you edit the page while looking at it. Many UK agencies built sites on it in the 2010s, and plenty are still running, sometimes long after the agency moved on. We host every generation:

• Concrete CMS 9: current PHP 8.x, with the PHP extensions it checks for such as mbstring, gd, curl, zip and pdo_mysql.
• concrete5 8.x: usually PHP 7.x, depending on the add-ons in use.
• concrete5 5.7: older PHP 7 or 5.6, isolated.
• concrete5 5.6 and earlier: PHP 5.6 where our platform supports it, isolated and behind Cloudflare.

The 5.6 problem

Version 5.7 was a ground-up rewrite. There is no upgrade button from 5.6 to 5.7 or later, so 5.6 sites were often simply left as they were. Moving forward means building a new site on Concrete CMS 9 and moving the content across, which the Concrete migration tool can help with, or rebuilding on another CMS. Until you're ready, we can host the 5.6 site safely. See old website hosting and PHP 5 hosting.

Moving a Concrete site to dijitul

We copy the files, including the application/files folder where uploads live, and the database. Then we update the database settings, clear the cache, check that pretty URLs work through .htaccess, and make sure the cache and tmp folders are writable by the site's own user. Marketplace add-on licences may be tied to your concrete account, so we'll flag any that need re-linking. Everything is tested on a temporary address first. See website migration.

Scheduled work and email

Concrete uses automated jobs, called tasks in version 9, for things like indexing search, generating the sitemap and clearing old page versions. Left to run on page visits, they're unreliable on quieter sites. We set up a server cron job to trigger them on a schedule. We also check the site's mail settings so form submissions arrive, using SMTP where needed.

Keeping it secure

Each site runs under its own system user, with ModSecurity rules and Cloudflare in front. For older concrete5 versions we also restrict access to the /dashboard login where possible and remove add-ons that are no longer used. Daily backups are kept so we can roll back. Order dijitul Complete Hosting or call 01623 650333 to talk it through.

Problems we often find on inherited Concrete sites

Concrete sites tend to be handed over with little documentation, so we check the usual suspects during the move:

• Cache settings pointing at the old server: a full-page or object cache set up for Redis or Memcached that no longer exists, which stops the site loading at all.
• Hard-coded paths in application/config files referring to the previous host's directory structure.
• Thumbnails not generating: GD or Imagick missing, or the files folder owned by the wrong user.
• Login loops on the dashboard: session or cookie settings tied to the old domain or to http rather than https.
• Add-ons from the old marketplace that are no longer sold or updated, which we flag so you can plan replacements.

None of these mean the site is beyond saving. They just need someone who knows where to look.

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