8 Magento B2B Commerce Cloud Features You May Have Missed in 2018

Magento’s Commerce edition allows for numerous benefits for expanding e-commerce websites and businesses. Those significant benefits include Magento’s cloud features, which are only available to Magento Commerce users. Since its integration in 2016, the Magento cloud offerings have developed even further, specifically within the Magento B2B realm.

With the recent updates, Magento Commerce’s cloud features have increased even further, providing more benefits to users. To help you take advantage of these top features on your website, we’ve provided a guide to some of the most beneficial new cloud integrations available.

1. Ece-Tools Package

When you operate your website through Magento Commerce, you want a system that allows you to deliver a scalable website suited to your customer’s needs. The updated ece-tools package implements a streamlined version for all current and previous Magento versions, allowing you to have easier access to upgrading your site.

Upgrading to ece-tools allows you access to the other cloud features listed in this post – and any future updates that Magento produces. If you don’t take advantage of any other cloud feature available for Commerce, this is one you want to discuss implementing with your developer.

2. Simplified Workflow

The initial version of Magento’s cloud features required developers to have three different repos for the different levels of integration, staging, and production environments – and only the integration levels were available through the Cloud UI. While this system functioned, it didn’t allow for a streamlined process that was convenient to developers and users.

Since then, Magento has offered major improvements: all integration, staging, and production tasks are available through the Cloud UI. In addition, they’re also all in one git tree, making code merging and deployment a unified process. Additional ease of access features are also available for direct control by developers, such as adding and removing users and variables to staging and production.

3. Performance Boosts for Pro Nodes

Pro customers have access to all three nodes available on production environments for Redis and MariaDB. Launching the new feature means that all operations apply to a single master node, allowing for ease of applying updates. Meanwhile, traffic balances between the three nodes. Together, your website can see a significant performance boost on your website when you enable the feature.

4. Local Development Template

Magento’s initial version of the cloud made it necessary for developers to figure out their own local development environment. While this wasn’t an impossible task, it did run the risk of affecting code that moved to the cloud, potentially disrupting the functionality of the site.

With a February 2018 update, Magento introduced a cloud template. Its job is to prevent local build commands from affecting remote code stored in the cloud environment, as well as the website issues these builds may cause. This allows developers to work without needing to configure their local development environment first.

5. Increase in Memory Resources

Magento has been working on transferring Pro cloud users from Amazon Web Services’ C3 family of servers to the M4 family. This process is occurring without any additional cost to the website or merchant – and with this transfer, the servers provide an increased memory of 100 percent. As time progresses, all Magento cloud users will be on the M4 family of servers.

The increase of memory will contribute to increased performance. If your website isn’t already on the M4 servers, you’ll receive notice when Magento plans to move it over. This change will also involve reconfiguration of several other internal features, like the REDIS Cache and ElasticSearch, which will also increase performance.

6. Fastly Web Application Firewall

Magento takes its security responsibilities seriously, especially when it comes to cloud users. One of the newest additions to its security services is Fastly’s Web Application Firewall. This feature provides additional protection from malicious site traffic. The templated ruleset will receive regular adjustments to best act against threats to the security environment.

As with the transfer to the M4 family of services, the implementation of the Fastly Web Application Firewall is in the rollout phase. It will be available to all cloud customers as a standard level of the infrastructure, letting merchants maintain their level of flexibility without having to worry about additional security concerns.

7. Fastly Image Optimization

Also powered by Fastly is the new Image Optimization feature. All websites should incorporate images into their content, and e-commerce sites especially rely on high-quality pictures to help sell products. Unfortunately, those high-quality images contribute to performance slowdown for your website.

Fastly’s Image Optimization helps to cut down on those slowdown issues. Both page speed scores and image weight go down, allowing merchants to incorporate more effective images into their websites without worrying about the effect on performance. This feature is also in the rollout phase and will be a standard part of Commerce Cloud services.

8. PCI Compliance

To make sure merchants are meeting PCI minimum security standards, Magento Commerce Cloud has applied new restrictions on protocols older than TLS 1.2 as of April 30. That means you’ll need to discuss necessary updates with your developer to keep using cloud services. While it may require some website maintenance on your end, this cloud update helps establish the security of your website access.

Working With Magento Managed Support to Make the Most of the Cloud

Magento’s regular stream of updates allows you to work with a platform that provides you with some of the most up-to-date cloud advances on the market. However, you may require the help of a top technical support team to ensure your site meets new standards and makes the most of these advances. Connect with an e-commerce expert at Forix to hear more about Magento B2B commerce cloud features.