Changes to University-Hosted Web Services

IT Services has begun a process to retire the Comp and Cavern web servers. Beginning Tuesday, May 17, no new Cavern accounts will be created, and beginning June 15, Comp accounts will no longer be automatically generated for new university accounts. In addition, empty Comp directories with no history of the user logging in will be deleted. A survey will be sent to Cavern account holders next week to assess what migration services will be required.

These changes come as part of the Achieve IT: Campus Web Services project. Project teams are working toward new personal content publishing strategies and implementing best practices to address system vulnerabilities associated with an aging web services delivery model.

In the 1990s when the web was in its infancy, the University of Arkansas began offering every faculty, staff and student account holder web space on Comp, and the university's web presence was hosted on Cavern. Today, with increased growth and emphasis on social media, cloud storage and services, and mobile apps, demand for traditional university-hosted web spaces for faculty and student use has declined, and the university's web presence is no longer hosted on Cavern.

Over time, Comp and Cavern have become security risks for the university. "The location of Comp and Cavern on the network creates vulnerabilities for other systems," Don Faulkner, chief security information officer, said. "The university has outgrown what was once a legitimate data model, and changes in the way we manage data require that we transition away from these older models."

The Comp and Cavern retirement will progress in stages. In the first stage, IT Services is assessing how Cavern accounts are being used and will delete accounts that users report are no longer required. Migration assistance can be requested by responding to the survey that will be sent to all Cavern account holders. Active Comp and Cavern users are encouraged to start migrating files and processes to other systems.

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