Upgrading to Drupal 9

Starting October 2021:

  • All CERN websites will be migrated to the OpenShift (Cloud) infrastructure, and
  • Drupal 8.x websites will be upgraded to Drupal 9.

This process is scheduled for completion before 30 November 2021, due to the end of life of Drupal 8.

All CERN websites will first be moved to the OpenShift cloud infrastructure. Please rest assured that this does not upgrade your website to Drupal 9. Indeed, no action from you is necessary for this process to complete.

What do I need to do?

We kindly ask all website owners to check their website(s) and verify Drupal 9 compatibility.

If your website has been migrated to OpenShift, simply access your website normally and follow our guide.

Do I need a test website?

We always recommend completing changes on a test website first to avoid inadvertently impacting your production website.

You can now make test websites in the OpenShift cloud infrastructure using the newly designed Web Services Portal.

Drupal 9 tutorials and general documentation:

The CERN THEME and all CERN MODULES are Drupal 9 ready!

You may also be interested to watch the recordings of the Drupal 9 Zoom workshops.

Please refer questions, concerns, and comments to the Drupal Community Forum.

Common FAQs

Q1. Why are CERN websites moving to cloud-based servers?

To align with a general transition in CERN’s Web Frameworks towards industry standards.

The new Drupal infrastructure will be served on the same underlying technology as other types of websites at CERN.

Q2. Why are CERN websites moving from Drupal 8 to Drupal 9?

The Drupal community will no longer support Drupal 8 from 2 November 2021 onwards.

This means continuing to use Drupal 8 is a security risk for CERN, so we need to move to Drupal 9.

Q3. Haven’t we only just moved from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8?

CERN’s main website home.cern, moved from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8 in 2018, and CERN’s other Drupal 7 websites followed.

Rest assured that the move from Drupal 8 to Drupal 9 is much easier than the Drupal 7 to Drupal 8 migration. In fact, it is not a migration, but an upgrade.

Q4. Why are you informing me about this now?

Websites can be previewed in the OpenShift cloud-based servers starting the 18th October, allowing you to check whether your website is Drupal 9 compliant. The IT Drupal Infrastructure team and IR Web Team have been working throughout 2021 to prepare CERN themes and modules for Drupal 9. In addition, the Drupal community have made many additional Drupal 8 modules Drupal 9 compliant.

Q5. I need more time! What happens on 2 November?

Please rest assured that we will not migrate any incompatible website to Drupal 9, nor will your website go offline on 2 November if it is not compatible. However, because Drupal 8 reaches end-of-life, no further security updates or patches will be published following this date. This inherently exposes your website, and thereby CERN, to a fast-growing security risk we have to take seriously. As such, any website which remains on Drupal 8 after this date will be moved to Drupal 9 by the end of November Sites that are not Drupal 9 ready may be made inaccessible to the general public as compatibility issues are resolved. Additional communication will be distributed to anyone affected.

Is your question not covered? Do you need help?

Let us know on the Drupal Community Forum!