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Providing faster, scalable, and more secure hosting solutions for Drupal websites

Stanford Sites Drupal 8 Platform

Stanford Sites, UIT’s primary Drupal cloud service, currently hosts 2,000+ sites and hosts only Drupal 7. To continue receiving security updates and community support, the Drupal service must be advanced to the latest version by 2021. Stanford Web Services (SWS) will build and implement Drupal 8 on Stanford Sites, with rollout planned for February 2020.

Project timeline

View Stanford Sites Release Notes

Stanford Sites D8 guides

D8 Adoption & Website Rebuild Guide: From assessing your current site to rebuilding and launching your new D8 site, this guide gives you the tips and tools you'll need for a successful transition.

Stanford Sites D8 user guide: Once you start using D8, refer to this guide to learn about the new platform, how to build content, launch your website, and more. 

View D8 adoption guideView user guide

D8 blog

Visit the UIT blog to get an inside look from the Stanford Web Services team as they build and release Drupal 8 features on Stanford Sites. 

Read the blog

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, including the legacy AFS platform. AFS is minimally supported and hosts a number of websites created by individuals and other organizations in unsupported, outdated and vulnerable versions of web tools. 

Timeline

  • May to August 2019
     
    Identify all active and inactive Drupal websites and owning individuals and/or organizations
  • Fall 2019 through Spring 2020
     
    Notify Drupal website web owners of the need to move to alternative hosting platforms

How to delete AFS website

If you have a website on web.stanford.edu (AFS) that is no longer needed, you can submit a request with your website information. 

Submit request to delete site

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the features and benefits of Drupal 8?
Why is Drupal 7 support going away?
Drupal 7 is built on frameworks that will be deprecated and no longer supported by their open source communities with security releases and enhancements. Drupal 7 websites must advance to Drupal 8 so that they remain secure and functional. Once on Drupal 8, websites will automatically receive upgrades to Drupal 9 and future versions. (Learn more about why on Drupal.org.)
When will support for Drupal 7 go away?
Open source community Drupal 7 support is scheduled to end in November 2021. Our goal is to move websites hosted on Stanford Sites to Drupal 8 by November 2021. If your custom website is hosted on the Acquia Cloud platform, then long-term support will be offered by the vendor through November 2024. Support for Drupal 7 websites hosted on other platforms may vary.
What happens if I do not move to Drupal 8 by then?
Websites in an earlier version of Drupal will no longer receive necessary security patches and upgrades and would be at risk for increasing security vulnerabilities over time. In addition, hosting environments will eventually no longer support outdated versions of PHP and other libraries critical to the function of Drupal websites. So while the website will not immediately stop working in November 2021, it is best to take steps now to plan and launch an upgraded website.
Which of my websites will be impacted by this initiative?
Ownership is difficult to narrow because there are overlapping individual, workgroup, and PTS group owners. Because of this, individuals should be responsible for their own websites. UIT is working with Campus IT leaders and CIO Council members to review lists of websites that appear to be affiliated with major schools and units.
Will current Drupal 7 Stanford Sites be migrated or converted to D8 automatically?
Drupal 7 Stanford Sites cannot be automatically migrated or converted to D8. The two versions have fundamentally different architectures built around brand new technologies. These technologies make Drupal 8 more scalable, flexible, and reliable and would not be easily adaptable for the D7 framework.
What can I do to start preparing my website to move to Drupal 8?

The best way to start preparing is to spend time reviewing and evaluating the content on your webpages to determine what you want to retain, revise, and remove. Consider the structure of your website (information architecture) and think about ways to improve the organization of pages, and prepare a project timeline, plan and budget. These tips and templates to help you get started are on our Drupal 8 Adoption and Rebuild Guide. 

Read more about website content auditing in this blog post.

How do I move my Drupal 7 site to Drupal 8?
Stanford units (groups and departments) on Drupal 7 can start by filling out our D8 Adoption Assessment form. SWS will be in touch to assess your current website and provide information on training and support. Or you can review the preparation guide and get started now - simply request your new Drupal 8 website on Stanford Sites.

More information on Drupal 8 for individual or personal sites is coming soon.
How much will it cost to move my site from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8?
Stanford units can build their websites on the university’s centrally-managed Stanford Sites Drupal 8 CMS at no cost. Alternatively, they can contract Stanford Web Services for fee-based design and development services. Security upgrades and monitoring is managed by University IT at no cost for all websites on the service.
When will ‘X’ feature be available (e.g., intranets)?
Stanford Sites Drupal 8 CMS will be continuously improved over 2020-2021. For example, the ability to build an intranet is not yet available on Stanford Sites Drupal 8 (but it is still available and supported on Stanford Sites Drupal 7.) For updates on the feature roadmap and what is coming up next, visit https://uit.stanford.edu/sws/drupal-projects, or catch up on what is available in each new release by visiting the Stanford Sites Drupal 8 User Guide.
I am a non-technical user. Will I be able to assemble a site with no coding experience?
Yes! The new service is designed to be far more user-friendly than any version of Stanford Sites Drupal to date. Also, Stanford Web Services will help you get started with a user guide and our usual friendly support team. UIT's Tech Training options are planned and coming soon.
What flexibility do we have on branding/design?
Stanford websites should follow the university’s identity guidelines. These guidelines for websites make the Stanford web experience consistent while providing the flexibility needed to communicate unique messages. We have two essential web branding elements – the Stanford Brand Bar and Global Footer – that should be included in all Stanford websites. Further information on the guidelines and flexibility can be reviewed on the identity website.

Web Content Management Program

These Drupal projects are two of the eight collective efforts to modernize Stanford's web content management systems.

Learn more