Pantheon release notes

The phpredis extension has been updated to the latest version, 6.3.0, for environments using PHP 7.4+ on PHP Runtime Generation 2.

To view the latest improvements and fixes, view the changelog on GitHub.

For sites using Object Cache Pro, a new recommended config constant, Pantheon OCP Config Version 2.0, is now available.

The primary change is setting the analytics persist setting to false to reduce Redis errors experienced by sites. This will now clear object caching analytics when the cache is flushed.

View the new config constant here.

Action Required

You may choose to manually replace the WP_REDIS_CONFIG constant in your wp-config-ocp.php or re-run terminus install:run <site>.<environment> ocp to apply the changes.

All WordPress plugins and Drupal modules actively maintained by Pantheon have been confirmed to be compatible with PHP 8.4. Most did not require any code updates to be compatible, so they did not receive a version bump.

• Pantheon Advanced Page Cache (WordPress)
• Pantheon WordPress mu-plugin
• WP Redis
• WP Native PHP Sessions
• WP SAML Auth
• Pantheon HUD
• Search API Pantheon
• Pantheon Advanced Page Cache (Drupal)
• Pantheon Content Publisher (Drupal)

PHP 8.4 is now available on the Pantheon platform. Learn more about the release.

The New Relic PHP agent has been updated to the latest version, v11.8.0.22, for all eligible versions of PHP. Support for PHP 7.0 and 7.1 was removed in version 11.0, so the New Relic PHP agent for those versions remains at v10.22.0.12.

This update brings several enhancements and fixes compared to the previous version, including some fixes for Drupal errors and exception handling that may now surface some errors that previously were going unreported.

For a detailed list of all changes and improvements, see the complete New Relic PHP agent changelog.

Learn how New Relic's real-time performance monitoring can help you with metrics and reports on your Pantheon web applications.

The New Relic PHP agent has been updated to the latest version, v11.2.0.15, for all eligible versions of PHP. Support for PHP 7.0 and 7.1 was removed in version 11.0, so the New Relic PHP agent for those versions remains at v10.22.0.12.

This update brings several enhancements and fixes compared to the previous version, including support for Drupal 11. Note, New Relic agent 11.2 introduces information collection for Composer packages, but this is not yet enabled on Pantheon.

For a detailed list of all changes and improvements, see the complete New Relic PHP agent changelog.

Learn how New Relic's real-time performance monitoring can help you with metrics and reports on your Pantheon web applications.

Writing more than 100,000 files in the same directory can push the Pantheon filesystem beyond its intended design. Starting September 21, 2024, our platform will automatically reject file writes if the directory is at capacity. This precaution helps avoid catastrophic failures to ensure the site remains online and operational.

When excessive files are written into a directory due to an owner or developer error, the site may lose access to the filesystem, resulting in a critical failure. Recovery from this issue is complex and often requires manual intervention from the Pantheon Support team. The recovery process can be time-consuming, sometimes taking hours or even days, and full restoration is not always guaranteed.

However, this situation is entirely preventable. By automatically rejecting file writes that exceed the 100,000 limit, the system prevents catastrophic failures and keeps the site stable.

Currently, Pantheon provides multiple alerts to customers when the directory size reaches various tolerance levels. Learn more about these alerts and how to optimize in our documentation for highly populated directories.

Upcoming changes

Before: Users could continue writing files to a directory indefinitely, though exceeding 100,000 files limit in a single directory would reduce performance and put the site at risk of complete and irreparable volume corruption.

After: If the file count in a directory exceeds 100,000 files substantially, additional writes will be blocked to maintain system stability.

Unchanged: When a directory reaches 50,000 files due to export or backup activities, a warning will be displayed on the dashboard, and an email notification will be sent to the site owner (limited to one per seven days). The warning system functionality remains unchanged.

We're thrilled to announce an impactful upgrade to Pantheon's security infrastructure, reinforcing our commitment to safeguarding your websites. In response to the escalating sophistication of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, we've implemented innovative solutions to fortify our defenses. Particularly, we've addressed a surge in Layer 7 attacks targeting content management systems, ensuring resilience even without our Advanced Global CDN's Web Application Firewall (WAF).

Key benefits:

• Advanced DDoS protection: Our engineers have proactively countered Layer 7 attacks, mitigating risks posed by inauthentic traffic targeting web content management systems.
• Rate limiting capabilities: We've introduced rate limiting capabilities within our Global CDN, curbing abusive traffic effectively. This ensures a stable online presence, even during large-scale attacks, preventing wider stability issues.

For more in-depth insights into the measures we've taken and the value they bring to your Pantheon experience, delve into the full blog post. Your website's security and stability are our top priorities, and this enhancement is another step in our ongoing commitment to delivering a robust WebOps platform.

Introducing proactive alerts tailored for directories with substantial file counts, which could impact performance or accessibility. Stay informed with timely notifications delivered directly to your dashboard and via email when file counts reach 50,000 and 100,000. This feature empowers you to efficiently manage your file system and address potential issues promptly.