Auditing Learningdesigned.org For Performance, Security, Robustness, And Scalability

The customer was aware that their site had become outdated as D8 had reached the end of life. Since the upgrade to D9 was due, the customer wanted to validate the overall compatibility with the D9 version.

Three major areas needed to be airtight. And for that, we needed to validate certain core metrics.

1. Security
   
   • Were there any known vulnerabilities in the dependencies, evidence of common errors such as SQL or JavaScript injection, plaintext storage or transmission of passwords, etc.?
   • Were they making appropriate use of the Drupal security and permissions model?
   • Was user data being handled with appropriate care?
2. Robustness and Maintainability
   • Were the modules compatible and up to date? Did it make use of built-in Drupal capabilities where appropriate?
   • Was anything about the site structure going to cause difficulties in applying future Drupal updates?
   • Was the code organized, documented, consistent in style, and in accordance with the best practices?
   • Was the website compliant with WCAG accessibility standards?
3. Performance and Scalability
   • Was the site set up so that pages can be served efficiently?
   • Was it making unnecessary demands on the database, either in how data is stored or in how it is retrieved?
   • Was the page load time acceptable, and is it making appropriate use of caching and other performance techniques?
   • Was the server infrastructure appropriate for the needs of this site?

Three major areas needed to be airtight. And for that, we needed to validate certain core metrics.

This called for an audit of the project for security, performance, and scalability.

This Drupal Audit Report included:

• Risks
• Observations
• Recommendations

We also presented the audit report to the customer’s team and answered their follow-up questions.

The result was a comprehensive and well-rounded Drupal Audit Report and recommendations that would help Learningdesigned.org optimize the platform’s performance, security, robustness, maintainability, and scalability.

The audit included not just the identification of issues but also resolution.

A few of these findings and recommendations are listed below:

• Security updates and LMS distribution compatibility-related stats
• High-level issues related to PHPCS (PHP Code Sniffer) and PHPMD (PHP Mess Detector) should be resolved for custom modules and themes
• Automating the deployment process
• Integrating the available Cypress tests into a CI/CD pipeline along with deployment to environments to save time and catch issues much earlier
• Improvements in development workflow like peer review and raising PRs for each change
• Having a lighter version of the LMS added instead of having unused modules added to the site to speed up CI and local setup time
• Documenting the workflow and deployment process to ease the developer experience
• Simplifying the local setup process with tools like Lando and DDEV
• Configuring NewRelic to its full potential
• Adhering to Drupal coding standards for custom modules’ code and quality; preventing security loopholes by adhering to it
• Integrating the Dependabot for checking the updates

With a comprehensive audit and recommendation list in place, Learningdesigned.org is undergoing an update. Our team is proud to support them on their journey toward providing educators with the resources they need to support all learners.