Who is impacted?
AFS users who:
- Are responsible for a Class or Group AFS volume (Unit IT, Faculty, Staff, Students)
- Since 1992, admin users and user groups have requested and been assigned admin privileges to AFS Classes and Groups.
- An AFS Class or Group volume can include a website and/or files/folder structures.
- Have an AFS user home directory with a personal website (Unit IT, Faculty, Staff, Students)
- All U-M students, faculty, and staff were automatically provisioned an AFS User Home Directory until 2018. Since 2018, only users who requested an AFS User Home Directory were provisioned.
- Users could host static websites in their home directories.
What are some alternatives?
- Web hosting (classes, groups, user home directories)
- Drupal and WordPress websites – U-M Pantheon can be used as an alternative, but there is a cost involved or pursue general alternatives below.
- Static websites for Personal, Group, and Class volumes – ITS will lift and shift to a new solution in May 2026.
- All websites will be automatically moved when the new solution is available. No intervention needed by the customer or Unit IT.
- All websites whose owners are no longer eligible for ITS services (sites whose owners have lost affiliation) will be archived out of the new solution.
- Departments can keep a website active by providing a Shortcode, a contact MCommunity group, and taking on responsibility for maintaining the site.
- Archived websites will be kept for six months.
- Web applications (non-Drupal/WordPress websites in Group and Class volumes) – A new solution is being developed and is expected to be available in the near term, but this is not guaranteed.
- The ITS Container Service is available for those who do not want to wait
- General alternatives – Google Sites, GitHub Pages, Canvas, ITS Container Service, external providers
- Classes and Groups non-web content