Unless Grad Center policy changes, we anticipate being able to offer hosting for your project on the NML server indefinitely. However, if you prefer to move your content to another hosting service, we can help prepare your data for site migration. If we continue to host your project, it can remain online as either (a) an active CMS using up to date version(s) or your CMS, theme, plugins, and other tools or (b) a static HTML site. Differences between these options are described below.
Continued NML Hosting
We anticipate that, if you continue to host your site on the NML server, our hosting capabilities will remain roughly as they are. We don’t have explicit limits on server space, bandwidth, or processing time, so we should be able to continue to host your site with almost any content you like. NML staff support our server and sites on it, and we are available during regular business hours in the unlikely case your site has server-related problems. Most third party hosting plans offer 24/7 support—though not necessarily quick response times—but have explicit limits on server use, requiring you to pay more per month as your content and/or site usage grows. Third party hosting requires that you have or are willing to move to a custom domain name, i.e. something that does not end in cuny.edu, but you will be allowed email addresses at that domain, something we are not able to offer. Many third party hosts also offer technical options we don’t currently support. However, unless you already know you want features such as support for multiple versions of PHP and direct control of other host settings though tools such as cPanel, you probably don’t have use for those features and would prefer not to have to deal with them.
Active CMS on NML’s server
If you’d like your site to remain on NML’s server with all of the functionality of your content management system (such as ease of content updates, advanced search features, and commenting functions), this option will be best. However, this will require your continued attention to your site. Several times a year, NML staff will check that all the sites we host use recent versions of software. Keeping your CMS, them, plugins, and other such software up to date is important for avoiding hacking and also decreases the chance of any conflicts between your site and up-to-date server software. If you elect to keep your CMS active but are not able to maintain it, we will contact you. In particularly problematic cases or if we cannot reach you, we may have to take your site offline until you are able to update it.
Static HTML on NML’s server
If you prefer not to be responsible for site upkeep, we can help you to archive your site as static HTML. This will allow your site to remain online indefinitely without requiring any maintenance on your part, but it will effectively freeze your site content. It will also disable search features built into your CMS, comments, and other interactive tools; basically, anything that accepts input, such as web forms, will stop working. Third party searches, such as Google site-specific searches can be used to replace general searches, but advanced search features will be disabled. Before your site is converted to static HTML, we will help create a backup of your current files and database(s).