Blesta 4.3 is now available! New tools to respond to requests under GDPR (client delete, and data export), addons services can now syncronize and renew with their parents, suspension reasons, five new extensions, powerful new plugin and module capabilities, and much more!

SHA256 Sum

b1d4a587597e8374d7332ffb440523e0fed71b7ecb989c9867b66f2fe502deb1

See the documentation for details on how to install or upgrade.

What’s new in 4.3?

• Full client delete option (GDPR: Right to erasure / Right to be forgotten).
• Client data JSON export (GDPR: Right to portability).
• Addon services can be automatically prorated to renew with their parents.
• New Modules: Vultr, TeamSpeak 3, CyberPanel
• New Gateways: CoinPayments, CoinGate
• SolusVM now has a password generator for password resets.
• Display order of package groups can now be sorted on order forms by drag-n-drop.
• Clients can now see and purchase restricted packages that are assigned to them.
• Plugins can now register service management options like modules. (See docs.)
• Modules can now create their own automation tasks like plugins. (See docs.)
• CSV importer. (Imports Client data only.)

See the release notes for everything.

Sponsored Development

A big shout out to the following companies for sponsoring development for one or more items in this release.

• KnownHost (Several features)
• Infortech (Support Manager - Delete tickets)
• HostJane.com (Vultr module)

“This is a well written and useful module for provisioning both virtual and bare metal instances on the Vultr cloud computing platform. It combines HostJane.com’s goals for stable, reliable servers that are highly available and able to be provisioned from any device, from anywhere in the world, whether you’re in China, the U.S., or in a rural area with only mobile internet service. HostJane is very excited to have been involved with sponsoring Blesta’s brilliant engineering team and to have been a part of this module’s planning and coming to fruition. In the spirit of the open source community, we hope this powerful addition to Blesta’s module range will be extremely valuable to a wide group of webmasters who require exceptional web hosting and like us see the power of Vultr and Blesta combined.” —Tunde Reid-Kapo, CEO HostJane.com

Sponsored development is a good way to support Blesta and get a shout out for your company! Interested? Reach out and say hello.

Stay Connected!

Like our Facebook page, join our Facebook group, and follow us on Twitter.

We are pleased to announce that Blesta 4.3.0 BETA 1 has been released!

Can I participate in the beta?

If you have an owned or monthly license with us directly, you may download blesta-4.3.0-b1.zip in the client area now (Login Required). If you obtained your license from a reseller or distributor, you may be able to participate. Contact your reseller to find out. As with any beta, this release is for non-production use only and is unsupported. During installation, choose to start a free trial, open a ticket to request a trial key, or use your dev license if you have one.

Once you are up and running, head to the forums to report any issues and let us know what you think!

(Caption: Adding and sorting Package Groups on an Order Form)

So what is new in 4.3?

Blesta version 4.3 includes several new extensions, and new features, including features to help you respond to GDPR requests and ease the burden of compliance.

New Extensions

These extensions will be included in the final release of 4.3, but can be downloaded separately now.

• Vultr module (Download from the forums).
• TeamSpeak 3 module (Download from the forums).
• CyberPanel module (Download from the forums).
• CoinPayments gateway (Download from Github).
• CoinGate gateway (Download from forums).

Updated Extensions

• Order Manager
  • Clients may now order Restricted Packages that are assigned to them.
  • Package Groups can be sorted by drag and drop, changing their order of display on order forms.
  • Embed code may now be set for the order form, for tracking or conversion data collection. (See docs.)
  • Listens for the Clients.delete event, and removes a deleted client’s order data (For GDPR).
• Support Manager
  • Tickets may now be permanently deleted, normally after a defined period of time in the trash.
  • Added new ticket status “On Hold”.
  • Now listens for the Clients.delete event, and removes a deleted client’s tickets (For GDPR).
• Download Manager
  • Improved staff management UI.
  • Unauthenticated users now see a message when there are hidden files in a directory to indicate so.
• Billing Overview
  • Proforma stats can now be displayed.
• SolusVM: Added a password generator for root password changes.
• Client Documents: Listens for the Clients.delete event and removes associated documents (For GDPR).
• PayPal Payments Standard: Payer’s email address is now stored in the transaction reference field.

Changes to the Core

• Clients may now be fully deleted (GDPR: Right to erasure / Right to be forgotten).
• Client data may now be exported in JSON file format (GDPR: Right to portability).
• Clients may now opt-in to email marketing (GDPR: Consent).
• New addon services can now be prorated to renew at the same time as their parent.
  • The option may be found under (Settings > Company > Billing/Payment, and within the Client Group).
• Staff may set a reason when manually suspending a service.
  • To include the reason on your Service Suspended template, use the tag {service.suspension_reason}.
• Most submit buttons are now disabled on click to prevent duplicate submissions.
• Added JSON format to the Report Manager.
• Added a new log for client setting changes, to track marketing opt-in/opt-out requests.
• Google Finance discontinued their exchange rate service. See the list of current processors.

Changes for Developers

• Plugins can now register service management options like modules. (See docs.)
  • Note: If any plugins implement this, a section will appear for Packages to assign them.
• Modules can now create their own automation tasks like plugins. (See docs.)
• Added a new event, Clients.export. (Clients.delete should be used in your plugins for GDPR.)
• Added a new javascript password generator, that can be used by extensions.
• The Event System has been updated, and the Events component has been deprecated. (See docs.)

And more! See the release notes for more details.

Is there something you want to see in Blesta? Create a new feature request or upvote an existing one!

When is the final release?

Version 4.3 will be officially released after the beta phase has completed, which we expect to take a week or two. Once we deem 4.3 stable for production, a final release will be issued. You can help by participating in the beta!

General Data Protection Regulation, or more commonly known as GDPR, is a new set of rules designed with the intent of giving EU citizens more control over their personal data. If you aren’t familiar with GDPR, Wikipedia is a good resource.

It’s up to each company to determine how they are impacted by GDPR, and what compliance looks like for them. Our goal is to make compliance as easy as possible as it relates to Blesta. We have made some changes to Blesta to ease some of the burden with compliance. These changes will be included in version 4.3, to be released very soon.

Here’s a list of individual rights as specified by GDPR, and how they are impacted by Blesta. See Individual Rights for a complete list.

The right to be informed

Order forms in Blesta can, if enabled, define the URL to your Terms of Service. This can be set by modifying your order form under Packages > Order Forms, and checking the box labeled “Require Agreement to Terms of Service”, and entering the URL to your Terms of Service. You should include information about how you use the data you collect.

The right of access and rectification

When a client places an order, they are given a user account to Blesta. The client may login to their account at any time and access, view, and correct their personal information, so long as their account status is “Active”.

The right to erasure

Also know as the “Right to be forgotten”. The client delete feature has been changed in Blesta 4.3 to remove many of the restrictions that prevented an account from being deleted, and to increase the amount of data that is deleted so as to satisfy this requirement. Should you receive and accept a request for erasure, using the delete client feature will allow you to fully delete the client and any associated data.

Conditions

The client should have no open or recurring invoices, and no active services. If they have any of these things, you would probably deny such a request. However, voiding open or recurring invoices, and cancelling active services will then allow you to delete the client.

Items deleted

• All invoices belonging to this client
• All services, including service meta data for this client
• All transactions for this client
• All contacts (The primary client contact, and all other types) belonging to this client
• All database logs associated to the client
• The client’s “Set Packages” for restricted packages
• The client’s client settings
• The client’s custom contact fields
• The client’s notes (staff notes for the client)
• The client’s payment accounts (CC & ACH)
• The client’s user account
• The client’s tickets
• The client’s orders

Additionally, third-party plugins can make use of the Clients.delete event to delete associated client data when a delete client action is performed. We use it to delete data within the Support Manager and Order plugins.

The right to data portability

Blesta 4.3 adds a new Data Portability Export under Billing > Reports. Should you receive and accept a request for data portability, running this report for a client will generate a JSON file with the client’s data.

Export includes

• All services
• All transactions
• All invoices
• All tickets
• All logins including IP address and time of login
• All contacts (including primary contact/client)
• All payment accounts (but not cc/ach encrypted data)

Consent

GDPR requires clear and affirmative consent for email marketing. Blesta 4.3 adds new settings for consent in marketing, and allows you to control its behavior. You can enable the ability for clients to opt-in under Settings > Company > General > Marketing, and then set the behavior within the order sytem under Packages > Order Forms > Settings. For GDPR compliance, you should select “The option to receive email marketing must be selected by the client”, so that the opt-in box is not pre-checked.

We are wrapping up the final details on this release and look forward to getting version 4.3 to you very soon. If you receive any requests under GDPR, you will have sufficient time to respond to those requests. If you have any suggestions on how we might make GDPR compliance even easier, please submit a feature request, or start a discussion on our forums.

We are pleased to announce the released of Blesta 4.2.2, which addresses bugs discovered in the 4.2.0 branch. A big thanks to everyone who participated in helping to make Blesta better by reporting and confirming bugs on our forums, we appreciate your help!

The release notes are available at https://docs.blesta.com/display/support/4.2.2.

Always run /admin/upgrade in your browser after patching or upgrading your installation.

Download 4.2.2 Patch Download 4.2.2 Full

SHA256 Sum

% blesta-4.2.2.zip
3423a80a8dbbfa1e76f2cd93c528af484a75efd5a05915137fa7f3767ede7099

% blesta-4.2.0-4.2.2.zip
5df5eefbbe24251d95f32eba97d7356b8f9861d9eb7d4606138e81f5b5e2b509

To patch your installation, please follow the instructions for Patching an Existing Install from our user manual.

We are pleased to announce the released of Blesta 4.2.1, which addresses bugs discovered in the 4.2.0 branch. A big thanks to everyone who participated in helping to make Blesta better by reporting and confirming bugs on our forums, we appreciate your help!

The release notes are available at https://docs.blesta.com/display/support/4.2.1.

Always run /admin/upgrade in your browser after patching or upgrading your installation.

Download 4.2.1 Patch Download 4.2.1 Full

SHA256 Sum

% blesta-4.2.1.zip
7ffabc888d80086f180e1240d882cc567bd4e99a709168961aa1f1d02c91951e

% blesta-4.2.0-4.2.1.zip
dabbdf8f0ef1872bf5c7d0fbd9d05644f2d679cde45d790195d7c2562bc6e7d7 

To patch your installation, please follow the instructions for Patching an Existing Install from our user manual.