www3 Web Hosting Retirement
What is www3?
The www3 platform is a web hosting environment that Notre Dame launched in the mid-1990s to provide a place for faculty, students, staff, and departments to host websites. These websites typically appear as www3.nd.edu/~netid and allow site owners to upload HTML, CSS, and other files to the server using FTP.
Why is www3 being retired?
The www3 platform has been deprecated since 2017 as it does not meet current University standards. In that time, the number of websites on the platform has dwindled from over 1,700 to about 400 websites. Most of these websites have not been updated in more than a year. These sites are often hand-coded and require technical skills to maintain. Outdated or abandoned websites present security risks to the University.
Modern websites are usually developed in a web Content Management System (CMS), making it easier to update content while adhering to the University's brand standards.
Due to the ready availability of supported CMSes and approved web hosting vendors, the University will no longer offer this type of traditional web hosting service.
What are my options?
If you still need your website, you have until February 1, 2026 to move your site to a supported platform or approved web hosting environment. Learn more about these options at websites.nd.edu.
Start with this question: Do you want to build a new site (using a platform such as Conductor or WordPress) or do you prefer to “lift and shift” your site to a different hosting provider, continuing to maintain your content by editing the files and code directly?
| Content Management Systems | Approved Web Hosting Providers | Need more help? |
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Conductor is the University's CMS, powering 600+ websites from colleges and schools to student clubs and faculty websites. Price: Free. WordPress (sites.nd.edu) is ND's offering of WordPress, ideal for individual sites, course sites, events, and more. Price: Free. |
Netlify is a hosting platform which offers a free tier that is ideal for static websites (most of www3). Good for basic needs without a ton of technical expertise. Dreamhost offers both shared and dedicated hosting plans with a wide range of associated services. Great for moderate to advanced users who want more control over their hosting or need server-side functionality. AWS is a full Infrastructure-as-a-Service provider that can do pretty much anything you'd need. For advanced users only. |
ND has partnered with local digital marketing firm Digital Hill Multimedia to assist website owners who need help migrating their site to a new hosting platform or even building a brand new site from scratch. |