Magento 2.4 Release Brings Big Changes

Magento's New Version 2.4.0

Since their acquisition by Adobe, they have been trying to release consistent improvements and to deliver their upgrades quarterly and on time. Two important upcoming releases are the v2.4.1 pre-release on 1 October 2020 and the General Availability release scheduled for 15 October 2020.

Magento Aims for Constant Improvement.

Magento shows the drive to improve the product that is a part of the forever growing Adobe family. Continuous work to eliminating bugs and issues makes it easier for developers to cope with frustrations they face on a day to day basis at the same time as enhancing the worlds best online sales platform.

Mandatory 2-Factor Auth for Admin Panel

The one enhancement that is so necessary but will cause Admin users and developers the most frustration is the mandatory two factor  authentication (2FA)  for Magento 2 admin panel.

There is apparently no way to switch this off! So you can be sure that it is going to be the subject of much cursing by store owners and developers alike.

The 2FA provider can be configured globally or individually. This allows admin users to set their own personal 2FA at first login, if individual 2FA is configured. The “Trust this device” option is no longer available.

Thankfully, the 2FA authentication method does not apply to storefront customers.

These authenticators are supported:

• Google Authenticator
• Duo
• Authy
• U2F keys

Magento 2.4 Speed Improvements

The most significant for user experience with the page loading speed.

• Page loading has improved (by up to 40% in some cases)
• Reordering and checkout screens can show speed improvements approaching 50%
• Quick Order has up 30% faster add to cart performance
• Lazy loading for images is now available

There are also major speed enhancements in 2.4 due to enhancements to the Redis cache which works hard in the background of Magento stores. Some Redis settings have also been surfaced in the Admin UI and allow for the caching to be configured.

Redis speed enhancements include:

• minimize the number of queries between Redis and Magento
• decrease in the size of network data transfers
• a reduction in the CPU cycles required for cache operation

In-Store Pickup is now Standard

In-Store Pick Up in Inventory Management (previously Multi-Source Inventory, or MSI) allows retailers to choose  physical inventory locations for easy pickup location convenient for customers.

MySQL Version 8 Migration is now Recommended

Magento 2.4.x now supports MySQL 8.x. and merchants are encouraged to migrate deployments to this version.

Migration will allow new 2.4 installations to take advantage of its improved performance, enhancements, reliability and security in MySQL 8.

Also, MySQL 8.0 allows merchants to deploy MariaDB 10.4 support for improved performance and reliability. Merchants can still use MariaDB 10.2 with Magento 2.4 but the upgrade is recommended.

Support for MySQL 5.6 has been removed.

Magento 2.4 Adobe Stock Integration

• The Adobe Stock Integration v2.0 has an ability to license stock image previews directly from the Media Gallery
• The New Media Gallery provides a 30X faster searchable interface for Magento media and assets
• One can now find Adobe Stock preview images, which reduces the number of steps it takes to license a stock preview image

Elasticsearch Now Default Stock Search

• Elasticsearch 7.6.x is now the default ‘catalog search engine’ for Magento Commerce and Open Source.
• You cannot install or upgrade to Magento 2.4.0 without also installing Elasticsearch.
• Elasticsearch versions 5.x and 6.x have been deprecated and are no longer supported. Elasticsearch v2 code has also been removed.

PHP and PHPUnit Testing

• Support for PHP 7.4. (PHP 7.1 and 7.2 deprecated)
• Depreciation of PHPUnit 6.5. PHP 7.4 requires now the use of the latest PHPUnit testing

Magento marketplace extension vendors must confirm that tests have been configured to run with new PHPUnit 9.

Enhancements to Magento Version 2.4

The new version sports 98 new functions, 68 bug fixes, 50 security improvements, 7 test cycles, 12 packages & modules as well as support for PHP 7.4.

Enhancements include:

• Purchase Approval Workflows
• Seller-Assisted Shopping
• In-store pickup
• New media gallery
• PWA Development
• Headless commerce

Other fixes include:

The Zend Framework has been deprecated. This reflects the transitioning of the Zend Framework to the Linux Foundation’s Laminas Project.

Signifyd fraud protection code removed. Merchants need to check the Magento Marketplace to migrate to Signifyd Fraud & Chargeback Protection.