Addressing concerns about AFS
AFS is minimally supported and hosts a number of web spaces created by individuals and other organizations in unsupported, outdated and vulnerable versions of web tools. In addition to inherent security issues, the decades-old system is costly to maintain and support, lacks modern usability features, and is impacted by delayed open source fix releases.
To address the growing concerns around the security, privacy, and stability of AFS, UIT has focused on advancing the Web Content Management Program — a multi-year initiative to provide modern, secure, and managed cloud-based web alternatives, and reduce the overall footprint of AFS.
Stanford WordPress on AFS community, it’s time to plan your move to a better, more supported neighborhood: Stanford Domains. Finding a suitable cloud-based WordPress hosting platform as an alternative for those sites hosted on the Andrew File System (AFS) has been a top goal in University IT’s multi-year efforts towards modernizing Stanford’s web content management systems.
Stanford Domains, a self-service web publishing platform supported through Reclaim Hosting, is a flexible, secure, and supported solution. Stanford Domains allows Stanford students, faculty, and staff to install open-source applications, like WordPress, to build simple, personal websites for individual and collaborative purposes. Stanford Domains offers a number of features to support simple website builds and hosting, including:
As expected with any move, we’re sure you have questions. How do you make the move from AFS to Stanford Domains? What if you don’t need your site anymore and would rather delete it?
Here are the steps to help get you on your way.
How to move your WordPress site off AFS
First, consider whether or not you still need your current WordPress site. If you do not need your WordPress on AFS website, here are your options:
Option 1: If you no longer need your site, and do not need to keep a copy of it, simply submit a Help request to delete the site and all of its content.
Option 2: If you no longer need your site online, and you do need to keep a copy of it, then:
- Follow these instructions on how to back up and retire your site.
- Submit a Help request for additional support on backing up and/or deleting a WordPress site from AFS.
- If you still need your WordPress site online, you’ll need to prepare to move to another hosting platform. This might involve updating your existing site to the latest version, then backing up the website content, files, and database. Finally, move the site to its new home on Stanford Domains or another WordPress hosting provider of your choice.
Get started
- If you’re new to Stanford Domains, follow these instructions to set up a hosting account.
- Once you’ve signed up, follow these instructions to install a new WordPress site on Stanford Domains, or migrate your existing WordPress site.
- If your AFS-based website uses any vanity URLS, you’ll need to update those to point to your new website location or create and use a custom domain name. Use the new Vanity URL tool to change or add vanity URLs.
Submit a Stanford Domains Help request if you have more questions.
Additional support for AFS-based websites
If you have an AFS-based website — whether it’s WordPress, Drupal, static HTML, or any site with a URL that begins with web.stanford.edu — UIT can help you decide how to remove it from the deprecated AFS platform.
- Submit a Help request to UIT
- Explore all your hosting platform options
- Retire an existing AFS-based WordPress website
