Over the years, we’ve had the pleasure of serving more and more clients who trust us with their OJS Managed Hosting and Support needs. Through this journey, we’ve learned that optimizing, monitoring, and protecting our clients’ sites aren’t just tasks—they’re the core of our commitment to excellence. These standards are essential, and we never compromise on the quality of service we deliver.
During our internal discussions, we recognized a critical need: to elevate our infrastructure and ensure it is fully equipped to protect and optimize our clients’ sites. This led us to the conclusion that automation is the key. Manual processes, no matter how thorough, are no longer sufficient to handle the complexity and scale of modern hosting demands. To truly deliver the best for our clients, we needed a tool that could automate these essential tasks—ensuring consistency, efficiency, and reliability.
With such commitment, we are aware that with our limited staff, we should make a smart guardian tool that can work for us to help us improve, monitor, and protect the client site. However, we know that we have equipped all our clients exclusively with OJT Blazing Cache, which will make OJS significantly faster, and OJT Advanced Security, which will add a layer of protection to our clients’ OJS. We still consider that it is important to add a guardian tool in low-level interaction with the traffic/server level so the request won’t reach the OJS before it will suck up the resource for unnecessary traffic caused by malware or useless bot.
Need some tips from our team for securing OJS, read our article : How to secure your OJS ?
Some of our concern of the guarding tool such as :
- Uptime monitoring as it is become essential for journal to maintain their indexing in Google Scholar, Scopus and other reputable indexing
- Malware protecting with AI that will smartly detecting and preventing any backdoor injection to the site
- Blocking of malicious traffic that will gain information about the journal such as scanning some leftover file or vulnerability.
- Block known agent or bot that is known as automation tool that make the journal become overhelmed such as some AI agent, rank tool such as “SemrushBot”, “AhrefsBot”, “Screaming Frog”, “Sitebulb”, “Moz”. This tool does not provide any value to the type of the site of our client such as Journal and Book publishing.
- Protecting the server for popular OWASP 10 Vulnerability
- Automatic notification system that will inform our team that require manual intervention of any case from the issue arise in the server.
Table of Contents
Should we used available tool ?
In our quest to find the perfect solution for securing and optimizing our servers, we conducted an extensive survey of available Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) and Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS). Tools like Wazuh, OSSEC, and even commercial options such as Bitninja were evaluated. While these tools are well-known and widely used, we found that they do not align with our specific requirements.
Here’s why:
One of the most significant drawbacks of these tools is their high resource usage. During testing, we observed that tools like Wazuh and OSSEC consumed up to 80% of the server’s CPU resources. This creates a counterproductive situation: while the tool is designed to protect the server, it ends up making the server unresponsive due to resource exhaustion. Instead of enhancing server performance and security, these tools become a burden, hogging resources that could otherwise be used to serve clients efficiently. We couldn’t help but joke internally about how a tool meant to protect the server ends up crippling it instead.
Another critical shortcoming is the absence of integrated antivirus functionality in tools like Wazuh. For a comprehensive security solution, antivirus capabilities are non-negotiable. Without this feature, the tool only addresses part of the security equation, leaving gaps that need to be filled by additional software. We need a tool that combines IDS/IPS with antivirus scanning to provide a holistic security solution. However, the current tools fall short by requiring separate antivirus software, which further increases resource usage and management complexity.
Beyond security, we also need a tool that optimizes server performance. Unfortunately, none of the existing IDS/IPS tools we tested offer integrated optimization features. Our vision is a tool that not only secures the server but also ensures it runs efficiently, with features like cache management, resource allocation, and performance tuning. However, the tools we evaluated focus solely on security, leaving optimization as an afterthought or a separate task altogether.
In conclusion, while existing IDS/IPS tools may work for some, they fall short of our requirements. This is why we’ve developed OJT Guardian—a solution designed to address these gaps by being lightweight, comprehensive, and optimized for both security and performance.
For more other reason currently there is an issue with the available product in the market :
- The available tools is separated
- The available solution take much resource (CPUs, disk space and others) such as in Bitninja that take so much resource in handling the security
- The available tools that is costly to be implemented
- The configuration of those is too cumbersome or too complicated.
After all, we started to think to built the tool by our team. We have a talented group of engineer, then why we don’t create ones ? that the question that arises in our internal discussion.
Meet our exclusive tool OJT Guardian AI
At the core of our mission is the need for a fast, optimized, and properly managed infrastructure to support your OJS platforms. After extensive discussions, we’ve developed OJT Guardian—a powerful tool designed to meet these critical requirements and more.
One of our primary challenges is ensuring the uptime and performance of journal and book sites. Server overloads, unexpected service shutdowns (like Redis, webserver, cache systems, databases, and backups), and malicious activities can disrupt operations. Manually monitoring and resolving these issues across multiple servers is overwhelming and hampers our ability to innovate.
We understand how critical uptime is for journal sites, especially when it comes to maintaining visibility on platforms like Google Scholar. Inactive or frequently down sites can harm your journal’s reputation and indexing, potentially leading to a loss of readership and credibility. To address this, we’ve designed OJT Guardian as an integrated, proactive tool that ensures your site remains active and accessible at all times.
OJT Guardian is equipped with advanced monitoring capabilities that detect and notify our team immediately of any technical issues caused by server problems—whether it’s a service shutdown, server overload, or other disruptions. By providing real-time alerts, the tool allows you to take swift action before downtime impacts your site’s performance or visibility.
This feature is especially crucial for maintaining compliance with platforms like Google Scholar, which prioritize active and reliable sites. With OJT Guardian, you can rest assured that your journal site remains up, running, and optimized, safeguarding your reputation and ensuring uninterrupted access for your readers.
OJT Guardian addresses these challenges head-on. It’s a lightweight, automated tool that:
- Real-Time Monitoring: OJT Guardian continuously tracks the uptime of your sites and servers, ensuring optimal performance and quick detection of any anomalies.
- Malicious Activity Detection: The tool identifies harmful files or activities and takes immediate action, such as quarantining or deleting malicious content, to keep your platform secure.
- Traffic Protection: It shields your site from bad agents and harmful traffic, ensuring a safe and seamless experience for your users.
- Automated Vulnerability Checks: OJT Guardian regularly scans for vulnerabilities and scanning activities, addressing potential threats before they escalate by optimizing the AI.
- Centralized Control: A unified portal allows you to update rules, patterns, and configurations across all agent servers effortlessly, ensuring consistency and efficiency.
With OJT Guardian, we ensure your OJS platforms are secure, optimized, and always running smoothly, so you can focus on managing your workflow in submission, disseminating your publication and others.
Features of OJT Guardian AI
Managing diverse server environments requires a tool that is not only robust and reliable but also intelligent and adaptable. OJT Guardian has been meticulously designed to meet these demands, offering a comprehensive suite of features that ensure seamless server management, enhanced security, and optimal performance. Here’s a detailed look at how OJT Guardian fulfills these requirements:
Core Features of OJT Guardian AI
1. Web-Based Multi-Server Management
A centralized, intuitive web-based platform that allows us to manage and monitor multiple servers (agents) from a single dashboard. This eliminates the complexity of handling diverse servers individually and ensures streamlined operations.
2. Advanced Uptime Monitoring System
– Tracks HTTP/HTTPS availability and site speed in real-time, ensuring your sites are always accessible and performing at their best.
– Detects potential hacked sites by monitoring for suspicious keywords or unusual activity patterns, providing early warnings to mitigate risks.
3. Integrated Malware Scanner with FIM and AI
Combines File Integrity Monitoring (FIM) and AI-driven Malware Detection to identify and neutralize threats before they can cause harm to your OJS system.
4. Smart Malware Scanning with Incremental Rule Updates
– Automatically updates malware scanning rules as new threat patterns emerge, ensuring your system is always protected against the latest vulnerabilities.
– This proactive approach keeps the servers ahead of evolving cyber threats.
5. Web Application Firewall (WAF) built for PKP platform, Eprint and Leconfe
– A powerful firewall that supports OJS/OMP, Eprint and Leconfe with easy configuration and management.
– Protects your web applications from common threats like SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and brute-force attacks.
6. Comprehensive Logging System
Provides detailed logs for all server activities, making it easier to troubleshoot issues or audit system performance.
7. Centralized Monitoring Platform
– A master platform that communicates with all agent servers, offering a unified view of server health, security, and performance.
– Enables real-time monitoring and control, ensuring no server goes unnoticed.
8. Fail2Ban Rules Integration
– Automatically bans malicious IPs and enforces security rules to prevent brute-force attacks and unauthorized access.
– Enhances server security by blocking suspicious activities in real-time.
9. Robust Backup System
– Supports S3-compatible storage and incremental backups, ensuring your data is always safe and recoverable.
– Provides peace of mind by safeguarding critical data against accidental loss or corruption.
10. Periodic Notification System
– Sends regular alerts and reports on server status, uptime, security incidents, and backup completion.
– Keeps you informed and allows you to take timely action when needed.
11. Decentralized Malware Sampling with Centralized AI Training
– Collects malware samples from decentralized agents across your servers.
– Uses a centralized AI system to analyze and train on these samples, continuously improving threat detection and response capabilities.
Why our OJT Guardian become additional value for our managed hosting :
At the heart of our managed hosting service is a commitment to providing more than just server space—we deliver peace of mind. Built specifically for the unique needs of PKP platforms (OJS, OMP) and extended to support additional platforms like Eprints and Leconfe, our service is designed to ensure your site is optimized, secure, and performing at its best.
We understand that hosting is not just about providing a place for your site to live; it’s about taking full responsibility for its performance, security, and reliability. That’s why we’ve developed OJT Guardian, a powerful tool that goes beyond traditional hosting to deliver a seamless, worry-free experience for our clients. Client will get benefit in included upgrade service (the upgrade activity will be handled by our team), security the patching service and the dedicated staff that will provide you hand if you find any issue regarding the use of OJS/OMP.
That’s why our managed hosting provide more value rather than using regular hosting. As oftenly the journal editor getting stuck in using or facing some error and try to ask the hosting support and they cannot help you as they did not have knowledge about the OJS/OMP.
The OJT Guardian boost this as our commitment for providing the high quality OJS hosting. This is some main reason why it will add value for you :
Our managed hosting service, powered by OJT Guardian, offers a seamless, worry-free experience specifically designed for PKP platforms like OJS and OMP, and extended to support Eprints and Leconfe. Unlike regular hosting, which often lacks the expertise needed to address issues with OJS/OMP, our service includes upgrade handling, security patching, and dedicated support from knowledgeable staff. With tailored Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules built for academic publishing platforms, we ensure optimized performance, real-time monitoring, and AI-driven malware protection that proactively identifies and resolves threats. This comprehensive approach makes our managed hosting far superior to general hosting solutions, providing peace of mind and exceptional value.
Our hosting service includes dedicated experts ready to assist you with any technical aspects of your journal. Our team comprises OJS Experts, OJS Developer Experts, and Server Administrators, providing specialized support that sets us apart from generic hosting providers. Unlike standard hosting support, which often lacks the expertise to handle OJS/OMP-specific issues, our experienced professionals ensure your platform runs smoothly and efficiently, offering unmatched reliability and value.
OJT Team, known as the OpenJournalTheme Team, is the trusted development team behind OpenJournalTheme.com. We specialize in providing comprehensive support for Open Journal Systems (OJS), helping academic institutions publish with confidence. Our services include system installation, theme and plugin customization, secure hosting, and technical support tailored to your specific needs. With years of experience and a strong track record, we understand how to turn complex publishing systems into easy-to-manage platforms. When you work with the OJT Team, you gain a reliable partner dedicated to the success of your academic publishing mission.
Choose us for hosting that’s designed for PKP platforms, backed by a team that cares about your success. With OJT Guardian and our expertise, your site will be secure, optimized, and always ready to shine.
