Merging Two Tracks: Supporting Drupal 5.x and 7.x in Parallel

University of Calgary

Dan FitzsimmonsDeb Huartson

Merging Two Tracks

• University of Calgary has been running Drupal 5.x since 2008

• The university is now working on migrating all of its Drupal sites to 7.x by the end of 2013

• How do we support two versions?

Agenda

• A little about the U of C

• Track 1 (where we were) (5.x)/ Track 2 (where we are going) (7.x)

• How did we get here?

• Support Model– Initial– Maintenance– Moving Forward

• Lessons Learned

A little about the U of C

• 8th largest Universityin Canada

• 29,000 FTE students

• 5,300 faculty and staff

• 14 Faculties, ~55 Depts., ~36 Institutes

Where we WERE (5.x)

• 1400 sites use Drupal 5.x

• Running some complex configurations including: views, panels, cck, contemplate.

• Largely decentralized distribution (similar but different configurations)

• Pushed 5.x configurations to their limit

Where we ARE GOING (7.x)• Centralized distribution model (based on

Features and custom modules)• Merging of custom content / templates• Reintroducing best practices in Drupal 7.x

How did we get here?

• A wonderful technical team, but also…

SUPPORTSUPPORTSUPPORT

Support ModelInitial Steps

Approached with a “Whatever it takes” mindset• Maintaining two different versions of Drupal with

very different configurations• Advise clients on best practices and assisting

them with migration of content• Work with technical team to script most complex

configuration changes between 5.x and 7.x so that sites can migrate to the new version

Support ModelMaintenance• Build training materials for both versions

• Teach Intro Classes in both environments

• Support Team is very accessible, there are only 4 of us for 1400 sites and counting.

• Ears always open to new modules.

Samples

• www.schulich.ucalgary.ca

• www.vanhorne.info

• www.vet.ucalgary.ca

• www.ucalgary.ca/legalservices

• www.grad.ucalgary.ca

• www.haskayne.ucalgary.ca

Support ModelMoving Forward• Weekly Meetings Support/Technical• Work closely with technical team to script

migrations between versions• Encourage 5.x sites to move to 7.x

through presentations and communication with our clients.

• Meet with University Relations monthly to discuss campus wide initiatives

• Advanced Training on Views, Panels

Lessons Learned

• There were a lot of major changes in approach between 5.x and 7.x

• Lots of work was needed to develop a support model that could accommodate two versions running in parallel

• Reconceived best practices / simplifying our distribution

Lessons Learned

• Phased deployment based on complexity

• Style guide very helpful

• Some units were relieved that our websites would be getting new functionality

Questions?

Dan Fitzsimmons (dpfitzsi@ucalgary.ca)

Deb Huartson (huartson@ucalgary.ca)