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Modernizing Stanford’s Web Content Management Systems

New program to move content management systems to the cloud
Tuesday, September 17, 2019

University IT (UIT) is on a mission to provide the Stanford web community with more modern, secure, and easily-managed hosting solutions by 2021 through the Web Content Management Program.

The program is comprised of eight significant projects to replace the content management systems that currently rely on the Andrew File System (AFS). AFS is minimally supported and hosts a number of websites created by individuals and other organizations in unsupported, outdated, and insecure versions of web tools.  

“Our goal is to establish new cloud vendor platforms for content management that are secure, scalable, and flexible for our clients’ various needs,” said Sara Worrell-Berg, director of Stanford Web Services and product owner of Stanford Sites Drupal 8 platform. 

Projects in action

Of the eight efforts on the roadmap, UIT is primarily focusing on the following over the next six months:

  • AFS-based Drupal websites
  • Stanford Sites Drupal 8 platform
  • Form Builder replacement

AFS-based Drupal websites

Stanford’s vast web presence is maintained by many distributed groups across campus and includes a wide variety of applications and hosting platforms. UIT has identified more than 800 Drupal websites that are hosted on AFS, and will reach out to those website owners through 2020 with guidance on moving to alternative, more secure and reliable hosting options. Read more about this project.

Stanford Sites Drupal 8 platform

The Drupal 8 (D8) platform will soon be the new framework for Stanford Sites, UIT’s primary cloud service for over 2,000 Drupal websites. To continue to receive security updates and support, Drupal 7 websites will need to move to D8 by 2021. Stanford Web Services (SWS) is currently building and designing D8 on Stanford Sites and is scheduled to deliver the first release by February 2020. Read more about the D8 project.

Form Builder replacement

UIT will replace Form Builder, the Stanford Web Forms service that currently relies on AFS, with a secure, cloud-based vendor in 2020. Form Builder users may still access their current forms but early next year, they will not be able to create new forms. Later in the year, all existing forms will be retired. Stay tuned for more updates on this project.

Learn more

For more about the program, including a roadmap, FAQ, project updates, contact information, and more, visit the Web Content Management Program website

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