I have a website on AFS. How do I delete or move the site to another platform?
If you have a website on web.stanford.edu (AFS) that is no longer needed, you can submit a Help request to delete the site.
On the request form, you’ll be asked to provide the website URL and the AFS space or volume where your website is located. If you’re unsure about the location, you can find it within the website URL (e.g., /afs/ir/group/foo/cgi-bin/drupal), or you can use the AFS Archive Management tool to see all of your AFS spaces.
Additionally, on the form, choose how and when you would like to retire your website and its content. The options include:
- Delete the website and all of its content now.
- Create an offline archive and then delete the website and all of its content.
- Set the website offline for a period of time, then archive and delete.
After submitting the request, a member of University IT (UIT) will be in touch with you to walk you through the details.
Moving a site to a new platform
If your AFS-based website needs to stay online, it will require a new hosting environment, and you should begin to make plans to move your website. Depending on the complexity of your website, and your need for ongoing maintenance and support, one of these three options may suit your needs.
Stanford Sites
Interested in building a new Drupal website on a free, centrally-supported content management platform? Check out Stanford Sites — a self-service tool for building and managing websites for university work.
Stanford Sites Drupal is available for department, group, and personal websites. If you’re interested in moving your current website to the latest Drupal platform, follow this guide to help navigate the process.
Acquia Hosting for Drupal
If you built and maintain your own custom Drupal website on AFS and need a hosting platform, the Acquia Cloud platform is a flexible, scalable, and secure hosting infrastructure solution for your Drupal website. UIT is available to consult with you on how to move to this dedicated environment. For more information, submit a Help request.
Stanford Domains for WordPress Hosting
University IT recommends using Stanford Domains as your hosting platform to install WordPress for personal use. WordPress on Stanford Domains is good for small, low-traffic personal websites, portfolios, and more.
Not sure if one of the above solutions meets your needs? Explore all the options for where to build and maintain your website at Stanford.
Through a multi-year program to modernize Stanford’s web content management systems, UIT is working towards reducing website instances on Andrew File Storage (AFS). This includes all sites whose URL begins with web.stanford.edu.
Learn more
- Get more information about the AFS-based Drupal websites project.
- Learn about consulting and website building services through Stanford Web Services.
- Learn more about website hosting with Stanford Domains.
- Learn about UIT’s effort to annually expire AFS spaces.
- UIT can help you retire your AFS-based site or move it to another hosting platform. Submit a Help request.
DISCLAIMER: UIT News is accurate on the publication date. We do not update information in past news items. We do make every effort to keep our service information pages up-to-date. Please search our service pages at uit.stanford.edu/search.
