What web hosting options are there for departments and groups?

This article lists and explains several web hosting options available at UIC.

Departments, campus organizations and research lab groups have several options to choose from for web hosting needs. For these options, organizations, research groups, and faculty can request domains in the *.org.uic.edu, *.lab.uic.edu, and *.class.uic.edu domain zones as well. Campus and administrative units can request URLs in the *.uic.edu domain.

red.uic.edu

red.uic.edu is a free WordPress Network hosting option that can be used for academic and administrative units, as well as conference and research groups. Request a UIC Red site.

*Note that the previous generation of UIC's Wordpress hosting, publish.uic.edu, is still supported, but not accepting new site requests.

Features

  • Authentication to manage your site is done via Bluestem once the site is created. 
  • Access via SSH or SFTP is not supported.
  • The UIC theme design can be moderately customized for your site.
  • Plugins and themes are managed by the WordPress Network administrator. 


webhost.uic.edu

webhost.uic.edu is a free shared web hosting service for academic and administrative units, as well as conference and research groups. Contact webservices@uic.edu to request an account.

Features

  • You can manage content using SSH and SFTP clients (like Dreamweaver), or :
  • Group access is supported
  • Each account has a 2 GB maximum disk usage quota.
  • A 2 MB upload_max_filesize limit is enforced on webhost to maintain good performance for the many sites that share this platform - any uploads larger than 2 MB must be performed via SSH, SFTP, or a Network Share as mentioned above.
  • PHP and CGI are supported.
  • Technology Solutions may help you by installing content management systems such as WordPress at your request, but cannot manage your content, or guarantee application support (including plugins you choose to use), or application troubleshooting.
  • You may use SQLite or request an external MySQL database to use along with your webhost.uic.edu site.
  • You may use .htaccess for access control, error pages, and redirects, among other things.
  • Web server logs are available in your site directory (/var/www/sites/yoursite/logs)

Google Sites

Google Sites offers free template-based websites and content management systems for individual faculty, staff, and student pages as well as groups like departments, campus units, student and professional organizations, as well as conference and research groups. Visit Google Sites to create your site. The default URL for a UIC Google Site is https://sites.google.com/a/uic.edu/site where site is the name you give your Google Site. We can set up custom domain mapping for your site. 

Google Sites can only be accessed from the web (SFTP access is not available).

UIC Connection

UIC Connection is a resource exclusively for student organizations and campus events that uses OrgSync, a web service designed as a platform for online campus communities. It features easy-to-use templates for organizations to display standardized information, such as a description, board members, meeting dates, and community service opportunities.

Virtual server

Using a virtual server is recommended for large, complex, or highly-trafficked websites as well as sites hosting content management systems. Depending on which tier of support requested for the virtual server, the Technology Solutions can offer additional support such as software installation and configuration. 

Pricing is based on operating system, memory, disk space, CPU cores and service level desired. To request a virtual server, please use the virtual server request form.

  • Virtual servers are available as Linux (CentOS) or Windows Server installations.
  • Access to your site can can be restricted using Technology Solutions-managed Bluestem or Shibboleth authentication, or your own custom authentication.
  • Your site can be accessed and modified using both SSH and SFTP.
  • Full system restores from once daily backups can be initiated by the virtual server's administrator.
  • The Technology Solutions will perform backups of the server at regular intervals. 

Microsoft IIS

Microsoft IIS is shared web hosting on Windows Server 2008 that is available to departments and campus units that have specific needs for using technologies such as .NET and ASP. A one-time fee of $300 is required for setup. Contact webservices@uic.edu to inquire about setting up a website with Microsoft IIS.

  • Microsoft IIS sites can be accessed with both SFTP and Windows File Sharing.