I’m afraid that won’t be possible. Jetpack communicates with WordPress.com via the xmlrpc.php file, and WordPress.com expects the file to be at that location. You won’t be able to rename the file without breaking the connection with WordPress.com.
In general, if your hosting provider blocks access to xmlrpc.php but isn’t able to detect and block XML-RPC requests made to another file, I’d recommend switching to another hosting provider. Most popular hosting providers have developed security measures that will allow you to use XML-RPC without being too vulnerable to spammers.
Thread Starter
zmin
(@zmin)
It’s a shame the rename workaround doesn’t work. I’m sure many other users are constrained by their hosting providers’ rash decisions.
Thanks for the great plugin.
I am also facing this issue.
Just “switching to another hosting provider” is not always easy or convenient. In my case (as a reseller with my particular host, with over 30 sites, a billing system, etc., all tied into that host) changing hosts would be a mammoth task.
I would like to suggest the Jetpack developers add an option for the user to specify their API Endpoint URL on each blog they use WordPress.com app with. I suspect adding such as option would be a relatively simple thing to do, and it would make it possible for those of us who can’t directly access xmlrpc.php (without renaming it) to still make use of the WordPress.com app.
That’s not on our roadmap right now. Instead, I would recommend contacting your hosting provider and working with them to find better ways to protect XML-RPC, like with Mod Security as you’ve mentioned in this other thread.
