With the release of Drupal 8 expected within the next year, Drupal community support for Drupal 6 is expected to end soon. The Drupal community has notified users that support for Drupal 6 will end about three months after the release of Drupal 8.
While University IT will not take down any existing Drupal 6 sites, University IT strongly recommends migrating Drupal 6 sites to Drupal 7 as soon as possible for security reasons and not waiting until after Drupal 8 is released.
Note that migrating your site to Drupal 7 will be a large process that could take up to several weeks or months, depending on the size of your site. As a general rule of thumb, many professional Drupal development teams approach a major Drupal version upgrade as a new site development project, and estimate anywhere from 60 to 80 percent of the original development resources (time, money) for the upgrade.
Options for moving to Drupal 7
| Criteria | Stanford Sites | Jumpstart | Jumpstart Plus | Contractors | Drupal on www Servers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | $2,000 | $4,000 | Varies by contractor | Free |
| Custom theme allowed | Not appropriate | Not appropriate | Not appropriate | Recommended | Recommended |
| Custom Drupal modules allowed | Not appropriate | Not appropriate | Not appropriate | Recommended | Recommended |
| Skill level | Beginner to intermediate | Beginner | Beginner | Beginner | Advanced |
| Self-service | Recommended | Not appropriate | Not appropriate | Not appropriate | Recommended |
| Learn more | Request | Request | Request | Details coming soon | Request |
- The categories below list various resources for how you can migrate your site to Drupal 7.
Your department IT
A good place to start is by talking to your school's or department's IT staff, as they may have their own set of recommendations. For instance, if you are staff, faculty, or a student in Stanford's School of Humanities & Sciences, you should contact IT staff in the School of Humanities & Sciences.
Stanford Web Services
If your site was originally developed by Stanford Web Services, feel free to contact Stanford Web Services.
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Option 1: Stanford Sites
Stanford faculty, staff, and students who are interested in starting a new Drupal site are encouraged to use Stanford Sites, a free self-service tool for building Drupal 7 websites. Instructional videos and guides are available on the Stanford Sites website, and assistance is available at below-market rates. University IT tests and performs all updates for all sites on Stanford Sites, but custom themes and modules are not allowed.
- See Stanford Web Services' blog post "Getting Started on Sites"
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Option 2: Stanford Sites Jumpstart and Jumpstart Plus
Jumpstart websites are Drupal 7 sites pre-built with commonly used pages and easy-to-use functionality, so that you can receive a starter website quickly after you request one. For a one-time fee of $2,000, you get a Stanford-themed website along with 10 hours of training and support from Stanford Web Services, which can be used to migrate your content from your old Drupal 6 site. Jumpstart is great for small, static websites.
If you are looking for a more advanced pre-built website that can have dynamic news and events features, then Jumpstart Plus is the better option. Jumpstart Plus, also available from Stanford Web Services, is available for a one-time fee of $4,000. Note that Jumpstart and Jumpstart Plus cannot have custom themes or modules, but offer many theme options for creating a unique look and feel.
Contractors
You can:
- hire a contractor through Stanford Web Services to do the migration. (Companies' names and prices will be available in spring 2015.)
- contact Stanford Web Services for a recommendation on contractors based on campus.
- hire your own private contractor or the original developer of your site to do the migration. (Note: Contractors can build on Stanford Sites to ensure that your site receives ongoing upgrades.)
Do-it-yourself
If you're happy with the custom look and feel of your website or your hosting environment, there are other options available for migrating your Drupal 6 site to Drupal 7. Note that Drupal 6 themes will still need to be redeveloped in Drupal 7.
- Drupal on the WWW servers: This is an option if you want a custom look and feel on your site without Stanford theming or if you want specific Drupal modules that Stanford Sites does not support. Users on the WWW servers are responsible for all patches and updates, migrating to Drupal 7 on their own, and running CGI and MySQL. Also note that the WWW servers are not optimized for Drupal sites, and site load time may be slower. As of now, there are no concrete plans for Drupal 7 on the Collaboration Tools Installer.
- Request 1.5- or 3-hour individualized training sessions on specific aspects of the Drupal migration process through Stanford Technology Training.
