Update of In-house web server cloud service and WordPress CMS service

1. Update of In-house web server cloud service
In-house web server cloud service has been in service for more than 13 years. ITS is going to stop accepting new applications starting from January 2024 and also terminate this legacy service in January 2029. ITS continues to provide alternative web hosting solutions including  Wix and the managed WordPress Content Management System (WPCMS), which provide modern ways of web hosting and creative web editing tools easily without any OS administrative overheads. 

Existing departmental webcloud accounts can continue to host their website on the server until 31^st Dec 2028, ITS will shut down the webcloud server on 1^st January 2029.  As there are 200+ websites hosted on the webcloud server, this provides ample time for users to migrate their websites at their own pace to other hosting solutions offered by ITS, including Wix platform, WPCMS platform and departmental subscription of ITS cloud VM.


2. Update of WordPress CMS service

ITS provides WordPress Content Management System (CMS) based on OpenShift technology since 2020 with more than 150 hosting websites. However, the underlying software and OS will reach the end-of-life next year. To ensure service continuity, ITS adopts a public cloud WordPress CMS hosting provider called Kinsta. The Kinsta servers supporting the WordPress CMS service hosted on Google Cloud Platform in Hong Kong data center, integrated with a global CDN (Content Delivery Network), WAF, DDoS protection, free SSL certificate. Their website performance is enhanced by CDN & edge caching. User experience and developer experience will be further improved after the website migration.

ITS has prepared the tools to help departments to migrate their website to the Kinsta platform. ITS will notify individual webmasters separately starting from January 2024.