This page describes the scope of Remote Administration (RA) and includes the following sections:
Subscribers may request Acquia perform website modification tasks, including making minor and occasional functionality adjustments typically needed for an operating website. The following Drupal administration tasks typically fall in the scope of Standard Acquia RA services:
Automated security updates for unmodified Drupal core as released by the Drupal Security team.
Automated security updates to contributed modules as released on Drupal.org. All security updates are limited to those in the same major version release (for example: 7.x-3.1 to 7.x-3.3).
Automated generation of a composer.json file for websites running Drupal 9 or later on request.
Acquia product support notes
RA has limitations regarding support for the following products:
Site Factory subscribers: Site Factory supports only standard RA services.
BLT users: RA works directly in the Cloud Platform Git repository. Any changes made by RA should be backported to external repositories (e.g. those hosted outside Acquia on GitHub) to stay inline with your project’s codebase.
Acquia RA does not support websites, subscriptions, or applications which do not meet our Requirements.
Certain website maintenance activities required to properly maintain a fully functioning website fall outside the scope of RA Services and must be handled by the subscriber. The subscriber is responsible for coordinating their own internal resources, or engaging Acquia Professional Services for an added cost or a third-party vendor to perform these tasks under a separate arrangement. These tasks include, but are not limited to:
The RA automated update process may update Drupal Core to the next minor version even if there is no security update. This is done to ensure that the core version remains within scope for future automated updates.
If the RA automated update process fails to provide you with an update and your Drupal Core version is older than one version behind the latest one, RA cannot provide you with a manual update branch and may recommend a Professional Services engagement.
Acquia RA does not support the updates of modules that include version jumps (such as upgrading the Services module from 7.x-3.18 to 9.x-4.0). Major version upgrades are a development effort that is not in the scope of RA. If such modules require updates, a Support Engineer will recommend a discussion with the Account Management Team, who can discuss a Partner developer or Professional Services agreement.
Acquia RA does not support core upgrades that include major version jumps. This is a major development effort.
Customizations and modifications are considered custom code, which is out of the scope for RA. In addition, the Acquia update automation uses Drush which overwrites customizations.
Acquia recognizes that, at times, patches to core and contributed modules are necessary. Ideally, such customizations and alterations should reside in custom modules. While the RA team can provide limited troubleshooting assistance, verification of patches and patched files are the responsibility of the subscriber’s development team.
General policies about modifications:
Modifications recommended by Acquia Support Engineers will be given limited support, but must be correctly documented and patched.
Modifications that are not correctly documented and patched will not be supported.
Modifications to address bugs which have a solution other than a patch will not be supported.
Core code which does not match the official release of the identical version is considered custom code and is only supported at the discretion of the Acquia RA team.
Core modifications may be a part of various Drupal distributions, and as a result, security update services and general RA services may be limited or unavailable for websites built on these distributions.
Contributed modules whose code does not match the official release of the identical version are considered custom code. The RA team only applies updates to such modules at its discretion. Updating customized code may require a significant development effort to be handled by your internal development resources, through a separately contracted Acquia Partner, or through an Acquia Professional Services engagement. If you would like to update a modified module, a Support Engineer will recommend a discussion with the Account Management team, who can discuss a Partner developer or Professional Services agreement.
Custom modules are solely the responsibility of the subscriber. Acquia RA can help troubleshoot issues that may arise from custom modules, and conflicts between custom modules and core or contributed module updates. However, in these instances, Acquia RA does not modify or fix custom code. If requested, a Support Engineer will recommend a discussion with the Account Management team, who can discuss a Partner developer or Professional Services agreement.
Acquia RA may not apply .htaccess
changes as part of a Drupal Core update.
Subscribers are free to apply a custom fix on our update branch for
.htaccess
.
Some module updates require that corresponding entity updates be made. You’ll need developer assistance for Entity updates that cannot be applied by any of the following methods:
by Drush
by updating a module to a newer version
by applying a patch
Significant changes to the design or architecture of the website(s)
New website creation
Data migration from other websites, systems, or versions of Drupal to the website(s)
In-depth performance or security analysis
Content management, creation, or translation
Graphic design
Usability or accessibility testing
Website load testing unless expressly included in an order
Note
Acquia will not configure, diagnose, administer, or repair:
DNS or domain names
Software not directly related to running Drupal
Integrations (will diagnose up to the Drupal integration point)
The RA update process may not complete as expected due to the size of your Git repository, databases, number of multisites or PHP memory requirements. In each case, the Remote Administration Team will respond in one of the following ways:
Large number of multisites
RA will request a list of websites to update against.
Memory limit errors
For Composer websites, the Remote
Administration Team will review your composer.json
and
composer.lock
files. RA will recommend reducing the scope of your
project versions.
For drush-updated websites, RA will request a list of websites to update against.
Large Git repositories
The Remote Administration Team will send documentation on reducing your repository size.
For Legacy Premium RA subscribers, the Remote Administration Team will assist with reducing repository size with the understanding that the repository history may not be saved.
Large databases
The Remote Administration Team will request a multisite with a smaller database to update against.
If possible, the RA Team will copy the database from another environment to update against, and will request you set your preferences to not copy the database during this process. Alternately, your team can manually copy the database to the non-production environments.
The Remote Administration Team can clear or truncate cache tables on the production environment.