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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

 Drupal and Webspark

Drupal is a worldwide, open-source, community-driven content management system - available to anybody anywhere who would like to make use of it to build websites and applications. Drupal is neither owned nor administered by ASU. To learn more, please visit: https://www.drupal.org/about

Webspark is ASU’s easy-to-spin-up platform for building websites and web applications that are compliant with the ASU Web Standards out-of-the-box. Webspark leverages services that provide data on academic programs, university directory, events, news, and web searches and makes them available for use as content. Webspark 2.0, built on Drupal 9, is now available. To learn more about Webspark, please visit: https://webspark.asu.edu/

ASU's Enterprise Marketing Hub manages the university's brand and web standards.

A department that sponsors and pays for the hosting of a website is accountable for ensuring that the website complies with ASU's web standards. Every department is strongly encouraged to appoint a website steward or technical site contact who will be responsible for:

  • Attending monthly Web Community meetings
  • Joining and contributing to ASU’s Web Community #general channel
  • Being accountable for security updates and other website maintenance tasks related to ASU Web Standards

The UTO has released Webspark 2 (Drupal 9) to the ASU Web Community. Learn more about Webspark 2.

Webspark 1 was built using Drupal 7, which is scheduled for end-of-life November 2023. Although Drupal 7 ends its support later in the year, ASU's Webspark 1 support will cease after March 2022. Webspark 2 will be using Drupal 9, the most updated version of Drupal. Transition from Drupal 7 to 9 will involve an extensive development effort because the system’s new and improved architecture and modules will warrant extensive planning. Your migration will be driven by the complexity, configuration and uniqueness of your site.

If this work cannot be completed in-house within your department, we recommend that you outsource the work.

Every site is different; however, the transition for every site at the very least should entail:

  1. Content audit: highly recommended so that your team can determine what content will need to be updated and migrated into the new framework. The new web design standards require a more strict information architecture, so content planning is key to the success of your transition.
  2. Design: design considerations will be driven by content, your UI/UX needs, and ASU Web Standards.
  3. Migration: this will entail planning the actual movement of your content and other related components to the new framework.
  • Drupal 7 is scheduled for end-of-life November 2023.
  • Webspark 1 will no longer be supported by ASU's University Technology office after March 2022.
  • Drupal 9 will be the only platform supported by the ASU’s University Technology office.
  • The president and provost of the university have mandated this upgrade.
  • ASU Slack Channel #general: web community assistance on any Web Standard issues or concerns.
  • Marketing Academy Sessions: Web Standards, SEO, Analytics, Design, etc.
  • ASU Accessibility (ASU A11y Guild): Accessibility best practices and information for digital content, design, development, and more.
  • Web Consulting Services: Assistance is available for ASU affiliates working with Drupal Webspark 1.0 sites or with questions regarding ASU web standards. The purpose of this service is to empower the ASU community.

No. A Drupal 7 based Webspark 1 website is no longer compliant with ASU's latest web standards. We advise you to begin your new website on Webspark 2.0 (Drupal 9) in order to be web standard compliant.

ASU has identified a list of approved vendors that can assist you with such custom development needs.

As a subdomain of asu.edu:

  • ASU manages the DNS hosting of your URL (no work for you). With another type of URL, you have to manage the account (including payment).
  • You get free secure (HTTPS) web connections to your website through the asu.edu. This brings your organization into alignment with ASU technology security standards, and you will save money and the headaches of managing it on your own with a third party provider.
  • Your SEO will be stronger/higher using the widely-used domain (mysite.asu.edu) vs. a standalone URL (mysite.org).

UTO is required to secure websites in compliance with ASU IT Governance policies. Your site needs to be reviewed because it is hosted on a server that is out of date, no longer secure, or is being decommissioned

Faculty websites that reside on unsecure servers will be migrated, archived or deleted. 

Note: Lack of response to email communications will be considered permission to delete a site.

If your site is listed as “Migrate” it means you have confirmed with us that you are still using the site and intend to continue to use and maintain the site. It will be moved to a new location, and continue to function as it currently does.


If your site is listed as “Archive” it means we are shutting your site down, and providing you with a copy of the site in a .zip file. Sites will be archived if we have been informed by you that you would like to shut the site down, and you want a copy of the files on that site.


If your site is listed as “Delete” it means we are shutting your site down, and NOT providing you with a copy of the site. This may be a result of either non-response, or we have been informed by you that you do not need that site anymore.

Legacy Hosting Migrations

If your site is being migrated, you should experience little to no interruption in access to your site. We will be migrating sites from one location to another, and there will be no change to your site, your current url, or your files. If your site is migrated, you are expected to QA the site and request assistance from either a vendor or your unit head/school head if needed.

You should be able to access your site the same way you did before it was migrated. Most sites, or sites that are just HTML and CSS will be accessible via DirectAdmin dashboard at <yourdomain>.faculty.asu.edu:2222 .

If you have a site that runs on Wordpress, you can access your site via <yourdomain>.faculty.asu.edu/wp-admin .

If you have a site that runs on Drupal, you can access your site via <yourdomain>.faculty.asu.edu/admin .

Connect with your unit IT department to see if they can offer assistance in making updates, rehosting your site in another location, or identifying a vendor or free resource.


Some free resources available to faculty members:

Legacy Hosting Archives

Inside of your .zip archive will be all the files hosted on your site. Depending on what type of content management system you are using, your files will be organized differently inside of the .zip archive. The most common content management systems are as follows:

  • Drupal

  • Wordpress

  • Basic HTML/CSS

Sites that are drupal or wordpress, will include a copy of the site structure, along with a copy of the database. Basic HTML/CSS sites will contain your entire site, that can be deployed without a database. 

This will include all images, text, templates, etc. It is a complete copy of your site, that can be used to establish the site with another hosting service.

Contract with a website company or consult with your unit IT department. There are many free and paid services that may meet your needs. If you prefer a custom solution, secure a website hosting company to host your site.

Archive files will be put on dropbox and you’ll be provided a link to download the .zip archive of your site.

The size of some webhosting sites dictates extra compression so we can keep these backups reasonably sized and able to be accessed/downloaded relatively quickly. This means that the zip file will come in the format <yourdomain>.tar.gz. This will require you to extract the file twice, and inside you’ll see a series of folders. The folder domains will contain all sites included in the backup, and inside each individual domain, will reside your sites files. Most core code can be located under the public_html folder.

Structure example:

  • Backup (backups maintained by the system, config files, domain info, etc)

  • Domains

    • <yourdomains>

      • Public_html

        • <your sites core files, html, CSS, images, etc>

      • Public_ftp (no longer applicable)

      • <any other folders you’ve added to house images, text, pdfs, etc>

      • Logs (developer logs)

      • .htpasswd (config files)

  • Imap (email settings)