Meza: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:38, 8 October 2025

Meza is MediaWiki EZ Administration

For the past couple years, we've been the primary maintainer and have successfully pushed our contributions upstream to NASA.

Why Meza is More Valuable Than Simply Downloading MediaWiki

Enterprise-Grade Deployment Automation[edit]

MediaWiki alone: Manual installation, configuration files to edit by hand, extension management is manual and error-prone.

Meza: Single meza deploy monolith command that orchestrates:

MediaWiki core installation with proper versions
100+ pre-configured, battle-tested extensions
Automated database setup and updates
Web server configuration (Apache/PHP-FPM)
Search integration (Elasticsearch/CirrusSearch)
Automatic TLS security certificate provisioning
Full logs and audit trails for change management

Production-Ready Extension Stack[edit]

Meza automatically installs and configures:

VisualEditor with proper Parsoid integration
Semantic MediaWiki with rebuild capabilities
CirrusSearch for enterprise search
Flow for modern discussions
50+ other extensions with tested configurations

MediaWiki alone: You'd spend weeks researching, installing, and configuring each extension individually.

Multi-Environment Management[edit]

# Meza supports multiple environments out-of-the-box
meza deploy production
meza deploy staging  
meza deploy development

Each environment has separate:

Configuration hierarchies (/opt/conf-meza/secret/<env>/)
Database backups (automated before updates)
Deploy locks to prevent conflicts

Operational Excellence[edit]

Automated maintenance (logged):

Database backups before each deployment
update.php runs for all wikis automatically
Search index rebuilding
Semantic data rebuilding
Log rotation and cleanup

MediaWiki alone: All maintenance is manual scripting.

Multi-site Architecture[edit]

Meza supports multiple sites in one deployment:

sites: meta, biz, demo, policy

Each gets:

Separate databases
Individual configuration
Shared extension stack
Unified management

Infrastructure as Code[edit]

# Simple configuration drives complex deployments
wikis:
  - demo
  - production_wiki
  
extensions:
  - SemanticMediaWiki
  - VisualEditor
  - CustomExtension

vs. MediaWiki: Manual LocalSettings.php editing with no version control integration.

Enterprise Security & Scalability[edit]

Multi-server deployments: Load balancers, database clustering, GlusterFS
SSL automation: Let's Encrypt integration
Access controls: Fine-grained permission management
Backup strategies: Automated, tested restore procedures

Time to Value[edit]

MediaWiki download: Days/weeks to get a production-ready wiki
Meza: Minutes to deploy, hours to customize

Meza offers a complete enterprise MediaWiki deployment with search, visual editing, semantic capabilities, and operational tooling - all from a single command. That's the Meza value proposition.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 [[mw:Meza|Meza]] is '''MediaWiki EZ Administration'''
-See our fork at https://github.com/freephile/meza
+For the past couple years, we've been the primary maintainer and have successfully pushed [https://github.com/freephile/meza our contributions] upstream to NASA.
-[[File:Meza component logos.png|alt=Meza components|948x948px]]
+[[File:Meza component logos.png|alt=Meza components|948x948px|link=https://github.com/freephile/meza]]
+{{Messagebox
+| text = Why Meza is More Valuable Than Simply Downloading MediaWiki
+}}
+== Enterprise-Grade Deployment Automation ==
+'''MediaWiki alone''': Manual installation, configuration files to edit by hand, extension management is manual and error-prone.
+'''Meza''': Single <code>meza deploy monolith</code> command that orchestrates:
+* MediaWiki core installation with proper versions
+* 100+ pre-configured, battle-tested extensions
+* Automated database setup and updates
+* Web server configuration (Apache/PHP-FPM)
+* Search integration (Elasticsearch/CirrusSearch)
+* Automatic TLS security certificate provisioning
+* Full logs and audit trails for change management
+== Production-Ready Extension Stack ==
+Meza automatically installs and configures:
+* '''VisualEditor''' with proper Parsoid integration
+* '''Semantic MediaWiki''' with rebuild capabilities
+* '''CirrusSearch''' for enterprise search
+* '''Flow''' for modern discussions
+* '''50+ other extensions''' with tested configurations
+'''MediaWiki alone''': You'd spend weeks researching, installing, and configuring each extension individually.
+== Multi-Environment Management ==
+<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
+# Meza supports multiple environments out-of-the-box
+meza deploy production
+meza deploy staging
+meza deploy development
+</syntaxhighlight>Each environment has separate:
+* Configuration hierarchies (<code>/opt/conf-meza/secret/<env>/</code>)
+* Database backups (automated before updates)
+* Deploy locks to prevent conflicts
+== Operational Excellence ==
+'''Automated maintenance''' (logged):
+* Database backups before each deployment
+* <code>update.php</code> runs for all wikis automatically
+* Search index rebuilding
+* Semantic data rebuilding
+* Log rotation and cleanup
+'''MediaWiki alone''': All maintenance is manual scripting.
+== Multi-site Architecture ==
+Meza supports multiple sites in one deployment:
+ sites: meta, biz, demo, policy
+Each gets:
+* Separate databases
+* Individual configuration
+* Shared extension stack
+* Unified management
+== Infrastructure as Code ==
+<syntaxhighlight lang="yaml">
+# Simple configuration drives complex deployments
+wikis:
+  - demo
+  - production_wiki
+extensions:
+  - SemanticMediaWiki
+  - VisualEditor
+  - CustomExtension
+</syntaxhighlight>'''vs. MediaWiki''': Manual <code>LocalSettings.php</code> editing with no version control integration.
+== Enterprise Security & Scalability ==
+* '''Multi-server deployments''': Load balancers, database clustering, GlusterFS
+* '''SSL automation''': Let's Encrypt integration
+* '''Access controls''': Fine-grained permission management
+* '''Backup strategies''': Automated, tested restore procedures
+== Time to Value ==
+* '''MediaWiki download''': Days/weeks to get a production-ready wiki
+* '''Meza''': Minutes to deploy, hours to customize
+Meza offers a complete enterprise MediaWiki deployment with search, visual editing, semantic capabilities, and operational tooling - all from a single command. That's the Meza value proposition.
 [[Category:Meza]]
 [[Category:MediaWiki]]