The effort to move all virtual host redirects from Stanford’s Andrew File System (AFS) to a cloud platform is part of University IT's Web Content Management Program. 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is minimally supported and hosts a number of web spaces created by individuals and other organizations in unsupported, outdated and vulnerable versions of web tools.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.
In 2017, the university president, provost, and board of trustees gave the directive to the Stanford CIO to address the growing concerns around the security, privacy, and stability of AFS. To date, 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.
University IT (UIT) recommends using the Vanity URL service to create and manage custom Stanford URLs to redirect your website traffic. Vanity URLs provide a shorter and more descriptive address that is easy to remember, type and share. With your custom Stanford URL, you can also use the service to create short links to direct people to specific pages.
If you have questions about the virtual proxy service, please submit a Help request.
To use a custom website URL that remains constant as a user browses your site, you’ll need to move your site to a Stanford-supported platform:
If you’re hosting your site on another platform, this list of resources can provide information to help you move your domain.
If you wish to move your custom domain on your own, the instructions below will guide you.
When you’re ready to make the move, the owner of the Virtual Proxy Host should submit a Help request.
There are two types of virtual hosts offered within University IT’s virtual host service: redirect and proxy.
See the Virtual Host Details page for more information about virtual host types.
WordPress sites that are currently configured to use a virtual proxy host may experience an infinite redirect loop, making them inaccessible.
For WordPress sites, review the documentation for updating configuration settings for WordPress. You will need admin access to the WordPress site and the AFS file system. The UIT Enterprise Technology team will work with site owners to convert their sites over the next few months.
Drupal sites that are currently configured to use a virtual proxy host may experience an infinite redirect loop, making them inaccessible.
For Drupal sites, review the documentation for updating configuration settings for Drupal. You will need admin access to the Drupal site and the AFS file system. The UIT Enterprise Technology team will work with site owners to convert their sites over the next few months.