2017 Pubweb Updates
Pubweb, an option for hosting Web content at NDSU, will be updated during 2017. The timeline below offers details for each upcoming phase of the project to help Pubweb site authors prepare for the updates. Contact the IT Help Desk at 701-231-8685 or ndsu.helpdesk@ndsu.edu if you have questions or need assistance.
Information about completed updates is also listed.
Upcoming Updates
Basic and Enhanced site PHP 5.1 to PHP 5.4 upgrade
All Pubweb Basic sites and most PubWeb Enhanced sites are currently using PHP 5.1. All PHP 5.1 sites will be upgraded to PHP 5.4. Please review the list of deprecated and obsolete features for the PHP 5.2, PHP 5.3 and PHP 5.4 releases to ensure your site continues to work after this update.
Pubweb server upgrade
The updates and changes listed on this page are primarily to prepare all Pubweb sites for an updated Pubweb server. The Information Technology Division will upgrade Pubweb to a more powerful system and a newer version of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system.
Sites that have been through the other upgrades outlined on this page will be fully prepared for the updated Pubweb system.
Completed Updates
October 13, 2016: Webdb upgrade
Webdb was upgraded from MySQL version 5.1 to MariaDB 5.5. Managers of Enhanced sites that have a database hosted on webdb.ndsu.nodak.edu should ensure their site is compatible with version 5.5.
MariaDB is a successor to MySQL created by the original MySQL developer. Most modern Linux distributions have begun shipping MariaDB as a replacement for MySQL because of license changes in MySQL. MariaDB is a drop in replacement for MySQL.
October 13, 2016: Database format conversion from MyISAM to InnoDB
As part of the Webdb upgrade scheduled for October 13, Enhanced Pubweb sites using a MySQL database with the MyISAM database format were converted to the newer, more reliable InnoDB database format. InnoDB is the default database format in modern versions of MySQL and MariaDB. Going forward, database performance on webdb.ndsu.nodak.edu will be optimized for InnoDB databases. Managers of Enhanced sites using a MySQL database should review their sites after the conversion to MyISAM to ensure the site continues to function as expected.
June 2015: HTTPS enabled for all NDSU TYPO3 and Pubweb sites
On June 24, all NDSU TYPO3 websites, Enhanced Pubweb sites and Basic Pubweb sites were made available via HTTPS.
All Pubweb site owners and editors were encouraged to review how content was linked to prevent mixed content warnings in Web browsers post-upgrade to HTTPS.
More information on the upgrade and the steps needed to avoid mixed content warnings is available on the Securing NDSU Websites page.
May 21, 2015: Pubweb Enhanced Sites PHP 5.3 to PHP 5.4 upgrade
A small number of Enhanced Pubweb sites using PHP 5.3 were upgraded to PHP 5.4 on May 21, 2015. Owners and group members for Enhanced sites that were using PHP 5.3 were notified via email about the change to PHP 5.4. If you did not receive email from the NDSU IT Help Desk regarding the 5.3 to 5.4 upgrade, then your site was not using PHP 5.3 and was not impacted by this upgrade. Upgrades later in the summer may still affect your site, so please review the other planned upgrades.
Please review the list of deprecated and obsolete features for the PHP 5.4 release to ensure your site continues to work after this update.