iHost Migration Guide shared LAMP hosting platform

For migrating website from webhost1/2 (Solaris) to shared LAMP hosting platform, technical owners may reference to the following guide. You have to complete the migration before 31 Jan 2018 :

Cybersecurity Policy and Requirements

As a reminder, all websites in HKUST are required to fulfill all requirements under the Cybersecurity Policy which entails risk assessment and classification, minimum security standards, registration in CITARS and web application security health-check.  Website owners need to make sure that their websites satisfy all security requirements and allocate a technical owner (or an external vendor) to resolve all identified security vulnerabilities before releasing their websites for public access and maintain the websites throughout the entire website’s lifetime.

  1. Apply a new iHost account
    • Apply an iHost account with following information:
      • Select the option Migrate from webhost1/ webhost2
      • Suffix the DNS with -dev (e.g. when migrates www.ust.hk, input the DNS name "www-dev.ust.hk")
    • Details of the new iHost account will be sent to you within 2 working days.
       
  2. Files backup and migration 
  3. Modify your php program or .htaccess file if necessary
    • Remove the line "#!/usr/local/bin/php" from php files if necessary.
    • Please note that the LAMP hosting does not support PERL script and you may need to rewrite your application if necessary
       
  4. Modify database setup if necessary
    • If database is used on webhost1, it is required to change the connection setting of database host from webhost1.ust.hk to localhost. e.g. For WordPress users, it is required to modify the 'wp-config.php' and ensure the connecting database is localhost.
       
  5. Test all the web pages
    • Check and test if your new website works or not. Modify the webpages on your local hard disk and upload them to the server again if necessary.
       
  6. Schedule a day for switching
    • When the new site is ready, send an email to cchelp@ust.hk for DNS update
      e.g. changing alias “itsc.ust.hk” from webhost1.ust.hk to webhost5.ust.hk
       
  7. Check the website again after DNS is updated