Help Desk Support (HDS)
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UGA Web Hosting Standard Service Changes


The Web Hosting Standard service will be decommissioned in 2024. Over the next year, EITS will work with users of the Web Hosting Standard service to determine next steps. Current website owners will receive an announcement and questionnaire from EITS regarding the decommissioning of the Web Hosting Standard service.  If you need additional information or have questions, please submit a ticket to us and an EITS team member will be in contact with you.

What is the UGA Web Standard Hosting Service?

Web standard hosting is a free web hosting service to UGA affiliated departments and student organizations. 


How Do I Request a Web Standard Hosting Account?

Any University-affiliated department or student organization can request a UGA Web Standard Hosting account by completing a Web Standard Hosting account form. 

  • A valid UGA MyID is required to access the form
  • Requestors must read and agree to the terms and conditions outlined in the form
  • The approval/creation process can take 2-3 business days.

How Do I Change Owners for a Web Standard Hosting Account?

A request to change the individual owners of a web standard hosting account may be submitted to the EITS Help Desk. Accounts may have multiple owners, all of whom must have a valid MyID. 

Features of Service

  • Apache 2.4.x
  • Perl 5.8.8 CGI
  • PHP 7.3 running in FastCGI mode
  • Virtual Shared Hosting
  • sqlite 3.3.6
  • MySQL 5.5.68
  • Distinct dev, staging, and production environments
  • 256-bit SSL encryption (https://), using a wildcard certificate (*.uga.edu sites only, if needing to secure a different/longer URL, please contact the help desk).

Not Included in Service

UGA's web standard hosting service is a free service that enables UGA students, faculty and department to have space for their sites. Due to service limitation, this service does not include:

  • ASP and .NET
  • Programming support
  • Installing scripts
  • Web design
  • Site content imports/moves from third party hosting providers. 

Security Overview

All sites using UGA's web standard hosting service must follow UGA's policies for information security. Site owners and content creators are advised to know and understand UGA polices and guidelines. Users, including students, with access to sites on this service should also complete SecureUGA security awareness training.

EITS reserves the right to disable accounts that are compromised or not following UGA policies. 

Accounts that are inactive may also be deleted.

Note: Effective February 25, 2017, authorized web standard hosting clients will be required to login with the VPN, which requires ArchPass Duo, prior to logging in to their web standard hosting accounts.

How Do I Request MySQL Database Access?

Hosted websites can have a limited amount of storage for their database. If your site needs a MySQL database, submit an online request to the EITS Help Desk. Specify in your request the nature of request.

If you have already requested a MySQL database, you can find the credentials at : /usr/www/dev/accountName/db.info

How Do I Get a Specific URL or Redirect Another URL?

If you want a specific URL for your site within the .uga domain, you may submit a request for a vanity URL or domain redirect. 

How Do I Log in to the Web Standard Hosting Service?

The basic settings below will allow you access to the web standard hosting server using the software of your choice.

Production Server:

  • Connection Type: SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP)
  • Host Name: ugawebhosting.uga.edu
  • Username: As assigned
  • Password: As assigned
  • Port: 22

Dev and Stage Server:

  • Note: A combined dev and stage server will be available, effective February 25, 2017. 
  • Host Name: dev.ugawebhosting.uga.edu
  • Username: As assigned
  • Password: As assigned
  • Port: 22


Note: Effective February 25, 2017, authorized web standard hosting clients will be required to login with the VPN, which requires ArchPass Duo, prior to logging in to their web standard hosting accounts.

Access to the web standard hosting service requires a valid MyID. For issues with your MyID, visit the MyID page.

What are the Different Environments for the Web Standard Hosting Service?

The UGA web standard hosting service offers webmasters and content creators the option of using one or more environments. They are:

  • Development: This is where you can write new code and test it. For example, if you wanted to write a new script that generates content for a visitor, but want to avoid affecting your live website, the development environment would be the best option.
  • Stage: After you have completed coding in the development environment, you can move the changes to Stage. The stage environment should be an identical copy of the live production site. Its purpose is to incorporate untested coding changes developed in the dev environment into your existing site. This is where you could resolve possible bugs from your new code without negative impact to the live/production website.
  • Production: This is where the live website is housed. When visitors navigate to your website, they will see your index file. Any changes to files in this environment will affect your public-facing website.

Your home directory (starting folder) lies outside of these environments in the /usr/www directory. The path to each environment is listed below (replace "example" with your username--e.g. /var/www/prod/helpdesk-web):

  • /var/www/dev/example
  • /var/www/prod/example
  • /var/www/stage/example

All files designed to be visible from the web (e.g. images, HTML documents) should be uploaded to the public_html folder.

How Do I Upload Files?

Web content ready for the public should be placed in the public_html folder under the prod environment:

  • /var/www/prod/example/public_html

You must have an "index" file (that is: index.html, etc.), in all lower case, in your public_html folder. This file will be the initial page visitors will see when navigating to your public-facing site.

If you plan to use only the production environment, you can define your "root folder" or "host directory" in your client as:

  • /var/www/prod/example/public_html

How Do I Get Permission to Access Files on the Web Server Through FTP?

Users of the web server only have access to their particular folders. They have to specify their directory path in the FTP program to connect. These paths are:

  • /var/www/dev/accountnamehere
  • /var/www/stage/accountnamehere
  • /var/www/prod/accountnamehere

These folders correspond to web addresses as such: dev.accountname.uga.edu, stage.accountname.uga.edu, and then the prod folder is the actual live site at accountname.uga.edu.

Different FTP clients specify directory paths in different ways, however in most cases it will be labeled simply as "Path" or "Directory" or "Directory Path" when putting in the connection credentials. 

What limits are in place for file and database storage?

Users are limited to 5GB of file storage on the content server, and 5GB of storage on the database server. If storage beyond these limits is required, please contact the help desk. 

How Do I Install a Content Management System?

A Content Management System, such as Drupal or WordPress, require a MySQL database, which can be requested with the instructions below. When a MySQL database is created, a file will be placed in their dev folder on the web server called db.info which contains their connection credentials. They will need to use one of the corresponding MySQL servers to configure their platform:

Where Do I Get Information for MySQL Database Hosting?

Additional information about MySQL database hosting is outlined on a subsequent page.


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