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www2 upgrade

On Sunday January 9, the www2 servers were replaced and the operating system changed from AIX to Linux. This was intended to improve performance, user experience, and security.

While the server upgrade is the most significant change, the user interface was also modernized, making it easier to find colleagues who have sites on the server. In addition, the connection process switched from SFTP to WebDav.

What is being upgraded? Why?

The servers are being upgraded from AIX to Linux. Upgrading to a more modern operating system will help keep these servers secure and accessible 24x7.

While the server upgrade is the most significant change, the user interface will also be modernized, making it easier to find colleagues who have sites on the server.

When is this happening?

On December 22th, following the final day of classes for the fall semester, BC ITS will be switching over to a new www2 server.

How will it affect me?

If you maintain a web site on www2.bc.edu there are a few important changes you shoud be aware of:

  • Connecting to the server will be change to use WebDAV.
    When editing your site, you'll connect using WebDAV instead of SFTP.
    WebDAV is a common technology used to connect to web servers. It's easy to set up and works well on both Macs and PC's.
    Using WebDrive on a PC.
    Seeting up WebDAV on a Mac.

  • Your URL will change.
    The security team has suggested we make a change to the URLs of all BC users on the personal web server.

    If you have a site on www2 now, your URL is:
    www2.bc.edu/~username.

    Moving to the new server, your URL will become
    www2.bc.edu/firstname-lastname

    It's important to note that links to your site will NOT break.

    We've put in redirects for all www2 web sites. If someone has your URL bookmarked and they visit the old URL, they'll be shown a message informing them that the link has changed, then they will be redirected to the new site.

    Example:  Visit this site and you'll see the redirects in actions. When this is moved to production "bing" will change to "www2".

    We plan to keep these redirects in for 6 months, which should give site owners and site visitors enough time to adjust to the new URLs.

The new user setup process will no longer be done in Agora Portal. To create an account, users will visit www2.bc.edu and click the "Create account" button.

What do I need to do?
Your site content was migrated to the new server by the Web Tech Group.

If you maintain a web site on www2.bc.edu, there are a few important changes you should be aware of:

1. Connecting to the server changed to use WebDAV.
When editing your site, you'll connect using WebDAV instead of SFTP. WebDAV is a common technology used to connect to web servers. Instructions for connecting using WebDAV:



2. Your personal web site URL will change.
In order to enhance security, usernames are no longer be the the directory name or included in the URL.

If you have a site on www2 now, your URL is:  www2.bc.edu/~username
Example: http://www2.bc.edu/~smithj

Moving to the new server, your URL will become: www2.bc.edu/firstname-lastname
Example: http://www2.bc.edu/john-smith

We've put in redirects for all www2 web sites so no links will break. No further action is required at this time.


3. The new account setup process is no longer done in Agora Portal.To create an account, users will visit www2.bc.edu and click the "Create account" button. Help document on creating a new account.


For more information
For questions on this upgrade contact websupport@bc.edu or call 552-HELP (617-552-4357)

Updates - Feb. 2, 2011
After this upgrade, several issues were reported that impacted www2 users. We believe these issues have now been resolved and no further action is required by users, but if you have any questions or need further assistance, please contact x2-HELP. Known issues and their current status are:

1. Broken links were reported due to the change in directory names. Accessing any web page using the old address format (/~username) will now display the correct page.

2. Missing files. Some files that were added or modified from Dec. 23 to Jan. 8 were not migrated to the new server. These files have been identified, migrated, and are now working correctly.

3. Quotas are restrictions on how much disk space your account is allotted. For www2 accounts, quotas have been removed.

4. Some users have had problems connecting to WebDAV. Please contact x2-HELP for assistance in setting up this connection.

5. The need to manually remove references to usernames as part of the address path is currently under review. No action is required at this time. Whether you use the /~username or the /first-last reference, you will be taken to the same page. So, we recommend that when you publish new pages, and give out links to existing pages, you use the /first-last name link.

 


Timeline

Nov 17: Communication sent to all www2 site owners.

Nov 1-Jan 4, 2011: Web Tech Group will be testing www2 site content migration and connections to the new server.

Jan 4, 2011 @ 5PM: Web Tech copies latest data to new server. FTP access to www2 will be shut off during this process. All www2 web pages will be available for viewing, but no content updates will be permitted.

Jan 9, 2011 @ 9am: www2 server will be down.

Jan 9, 2011 @ 10am: www2 server will come back online. Connection process and URL structure will change. (See 'How will it affect me?' section to the left).