Drupal on the Stanford Web Service
On this page:
Drupal is an open source content management system for web publishing and collaboration. IT Services provides easy-to-install, centrally supported Drupal instances, at no charge, to Stanford departments and officially-recognized groups for use in www.stanford.edu web space.
Features and Benefits
Drupal is a widely-adopted, community-built application that allows Stanford site administrators and contributors to organize and simplify their publishing workflow. Drupal makes it easy to write, format, publish, and revise web pages. When implemented on the Stanford Web Service by way of the Stanford Collaboration Tools Installer, Drupal provides the following added benefits:
- Easy installation via a web-based form.
Install as many as 20 separate Drupal sites in your organization’s AFS web space, depending on the number of other web applications installed there. (Each Drupal installation automatically creates one MySQL database and organizations are allowed up to a total of 20 databases.) - Database backups, application maintenance/upgrades, and up-to-date Stanford look-and-feel are provided by IT Services.
- A WebAuth Drupal module allows users to login with their SUNetIDs and have a Drupal account set up under their name automatically (via LDAP integration).
- Visit CMSMatrix.org to see a full list of Drupal features and to compare it with other content management systems.
Examples — Drupal in Use at Stanford
- Stanford Tech Commons Page: Stanford sites using Drupal
(Note: techcommons.stanford.edu is a Drupal site.)
Compare: Centrally Installed vs. D-I-Y
Initializing a Drupal site with the Collaboration Tools Installer requires a few minutes of filling out a web-based form as opposed to a do-it-yourself install (configured properly for the Stanford environment) which requires over 50 steps, command-line expertise, and takes more than 30 minutes.
Centrally installed Drupal sites come with a “Stanford Modern” theme — selectable immediately after the site is initialized — that matches the University’s current look-and-feel for official department web sites. Do-it-yourselfers are welcome to install the themes that IT Services maintains and distributes, but the installation and updates will always be D-I-Y.
For centrally installed sites, IT Services keeps the Drupal software working and up-to-date. With independently installed Drupal sites, the site owner is responsible for maintenance and upgrades of their particular Drupal instance.
Does it cost anything?
There is no charge for installing and running an instance of Drupal on the Stanford Web Service.
Support Resources
Support is available on all Drupal topics from the members of the Drupallers email list (see below) and also via HelpSU for issues involving the proper function of Drupal application instances installed via the Collaboration Tools Installer — and the installer itself. IT Services does not provide HelpSU support or comprehensive documentation on how to use the applications (however, training courses are already available from IT Services and other providers on Drupal).
Note: Because Drupal is a popular application that has been in use at Stanford for several years, there is community support available for the pieces not provided by IT Services.
- Drupallers Email List
- Tech Commons Topic Page
- HelpSU Request (for problems with application and installer only)
Get Drupal
If you belong to the “-admin” group for your department’s or group’s AFS space, you can use the Collaboration Tools Installer to install Drupal:
→ Collaboration Tools Installer
To request membership in an “-admin” group, submit a HelpSU request.
Details about the requirements and default configuration of the centrally installed Drupal service are available on the University Web Services Wiki: Drupal Service Details page.
