Red Infrastructure Modernization
Enhancing, scaling and improving Red Multisites
Technology Solutions is migrating the infrastructure that supports and maintains Red Multisites from a physical data center to a cloud-based a Website Operations Platform supported by Pantheon.
Quote Heading link
The transition to a Website Operations Platform will not only improve Red’s stability and scalability, it will also help alleviate the obstacles our development teams encounter so we can focus on other enhancements and innovation.
| Director, Software Development and Delivery
Project Goal Heading link
The goal of this project is to migrate Red infrastructure from a physical data center to a cloud-based platform supported by Pantheon, as well as updating our processes, procedures, training, and the development and deployment of workflows to best utilize the various management tools that come with the Pantheon infrastructure.
Benefits Heading link
Benefits
- Improves workflows
- Minimizes Outages
- Enables Scalability
- Enhances DevOps capabilities
- Allows reallocation of staffing resources
Risks
- System failures
- Site downtimes
- Loss of information
- Storage limits
Timeline Heading link
This project was initiated March 2022. The Red infrastructure migration is scheduled to begin on Friday, September 2 at 12:00 AM, and will be completed by Monday, September 5, 2022 at 11:59 PM. Red websites should not experience downtime during the migration.
Frequently Asked Questions Heading link
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What is this happening?
In March 2022, Technology Solutions initiated a project to migrate the Red Multisite infrastructure from an on-campus data center to a cloud-based solution. After careful consideration and review, we have decided to partner with Pantheon, a Website Operations Platform. Technology Solutions and Pantheon will be performing the migration over the upcoming 2022 Labor Day weekend (September 2 – 5, 2022).
During the migration, new data and information entered into Red websites is at high risk of migrating over incorrectly or incompletely. As a result, beginning Friday, September 2, through Monday, September 5, 2022, Red admins and users should not edit existing content; should not add, create, draft or enter new content into Red; and any active site Forms should be temporarily disabled.
This migration will not change the Red user interface or how Red websites are managed.
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Why is this happening?
Since the first Red site launched in November 2016, Red has grown to more than 500 live websites with another 228 in development (as of June 2022). Due to its significant growth, the Red network is at risk of outgrowing its current infrastructure, and our legacy servers lack the ability to properly handle a large influx of traffic. Moreover, staff spends 75+ hours a week on bug fixes, enhancing site performance, and addressing technical debt – leaving no time for innovation or development.
The transition to Pantheon guarantees high stability and scalability for our public-facing sites, offers a more resilient and mature infrastructure than our in-house servers, and has many other benefits including:
- Minimizes Red site outages & downtime
Guaranteed 99.99% operational uptime so Red websites will be able to handle traffic spikes and server reboots without bringing other sites down - Allows staff resource reallocation & optimization
Pantheon is a self-sustaining platform that will enable teams to reallocate resources and focus on other enhancements or projects - Enables automation and agile workflows for fast deployments
Increases ease of software update management and support for maintaining multisite security, reliability and performance - Grants access to data & insights
Provides reporting on web activity related to infrastructure, security and logging. This helps find, debug, and isolate current or potential problems on sites. - Offers collaboration tools
Pantheon has developer-friendly tools and workflows that will help strengthen our growing Red developer community and encourages collaboration - Includes automated backups
A best practice for web management, automated site backups are snapshots of all the files and data on websites and can be recalled if necessary.
- Minimizes Red site outages & downtime
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How will the UIC Community be impacted?
Technology Solutions will begin the Red infrastructure migration on Friday, September 2 at 12:00 AM, and is scheduled to be completed by Monday, September 5, 2022 at 11:59 PM. Downtime is not expected to occur and sites will remain operational and accessible online.
During the Red infrastructure migration, there will be a content freeze period. Red admins and site visitors will not be able to add, edit, delete, draft or update new or existing content on Red websites between September 2 and September 5. During the migration, forms on websites will need to be temporarily disabled.
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Will Red websites still be visible and/or accessible online during the migration?
Yes, Red websites will remain operational and will be accessible online during the migration; however, forms will be disabled.
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Are all UIC Red Websites impacted?
Yes, all Red Websites will be impacted by this change. Downtime is not expected, but may occur.
Any outages or failures can, and will be, reported at the UIC Help Center (help.uic.edu) under the UIC IT Service Notices section. Users can report issues or problems by selecting Report an IT Problem.
The today.uic.edu, emergency.uic.edu and main uic.edu websites will not be impacted.
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I am a Red website admin, what do I need to do and be aware of? How do I disable forms?
Red admins and users should:
- On or before Friday, September 2, 2022 temporarily disable active site Forms; go to docs.gravityforms.com/edit-forms/#h-form-actions for instructions on bulk deactivating and activating forms in Red.
- From Friday, September 2 through Monday, September 5, do not edit existing content, nor add, create, draft, or publish new content in Red.
Links to outside websites and non-Red forms such as Box links, Google forms, or Qualtrics surveys, etc., will not be impacted and do not need to be disabled.
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Will the migration change the Red user interface for Red Admins and users?
This migration will not change the Red user interface or how Red websites are managed.
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Why do Red website forms have to be disabled during the migration period?
During the migration period, Technology Solutions will be transferring all Red Multisite data from our servers to Pantheon’s infrastructure. During this period, new data and information entered in Red will have a very high risk of not being captured properly, migrated accurately, or can fail to transfer over successfully.
As a result, during the migration, Red admins and users should not add, edit, create, draft or enter new content into Red, and site Forms should be temporarily disabled.
Links to outside websites or forms, such as Box links, Google forms or Qualtrics surveys, will not be impacted and do not need to be disabled.
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How can I get support?
To report an outage or ask a question, visit the UIC Help Center and select Report an IT Problem or Ask an IT Question.