Changes to UTORinfo Service / Introducing SITES.utoronto.ca

Website-End-of-Life-Process2

MEMO

Date:  May 27, 2014

From:  Strategic Communications and Information Technology Services

Re:      Changes to UTORinfo Service / Introducing SITES.utoronto.ca

 

For the past year we (Strat Comm and ITS) have been working to bring improvements to the infrastructure and software used to host the “www.utoronto.ca” webspace.

For the past 15 years, we’ve been managing the “UTORinfo Website Hosting Service” (http://www.utoronto.ca/ns/utorinfo/), but the time has come to bring our services into the 21st Century.

If your website currently has a URL that begins with www.utoronto.ca (eg, http://www.utoronto.ca/yoursite), then your domain will expire as of July 2014.

The good news is – your website won’t disappear. Instead, your site has already been migrated to a new service called “SITES.utoronto.ca” and your URL will be very similar to your old one (eg http://sites.utoronto.ca/yoursite).

But there is some work that website owners will have to do. You may have other websites that link to the old www.utoronto.ca/yoursite URL, or your readers may have bookmarked your old URL. You may also be publishing other documents that reference your URL (eg, a newsletter).

Links to www.utoronto.ca/yoursite will NOT be automatically redirected after July 2014, so please consider replacing links or references that use the “www” prefix to “sites” (eg, sites.utoronto.ca/yoursite) as soon as possible. We also recommend you put a notice up on your own website letting your readers know that they should update any bookmarks as well.

Why is this change happening? We are in the midst of upgrading the infrastructure and software for the main www.utoronto.ca website (look for some great improvements in the Fall). In order to make those changes, we will need to shut down the old infrastructure. Rather than just turning off all the old UTORinfo sites, we’ve provisioned SITES.utoronto.ca to help ensure they have a home going forward.

If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to let us know at webservices@utoronto.ca.

Steps to login to WordPress from external IP addresses

A security measure is now in place to limit WordPress login to only within University of Toronto IP addresses.  To login to any WordPress website hosted by ITS, you will need a set of UTORid credentials and one of two methods of accessing our VPN (virtual private network).  A VPN allows you to connect to a network as if you are accessing from within.

For University Community Members

If you don’t have a UTORid and need access to a WordPress website, please contact your manager to have them issue a UTORid.

The first method for VPN is the UTORvpn service (https://vpn.utoronto.ca/).  Please follow the instructions on that page.  This service is generally available to all faculty and staff members of the University.

The second method for VPN access is via WebVPN.  This method is only available to groups of undergraduate students and should not be used for other websites at the University.  To request access via WebVPN, please ask your divisional IT unit to send us an email at webservices@utoronto.ca and we will have the domain whitelisted for your access.

For External Contractors

External contractors will need their contact at the University of Toronto to arrange for a Long-Term Guest UTORid to be issued.

External contractors will need to VPN via UTORvpn service (https://vpn.utoronto.ca/).  Please follow the instructions on that page.

For assistance with UTORid setup for external contractors please email the Reader Registration Desk at reader.reg@utoronto.ca

Resources

How do I get a UTORid?

Long-Term Guest UTORids

UTORvpn