University of California, Riverside
Client Info
Ranking among the top 15 best public universities in the nation, and second for social mobility, the University of California, Riverside serves as a model for what a great public research university can achieve.
The region’s diverse geography is home to more than 26,000 students and 1,100 faculty who find new ways of thinking, doing, achieving, and making a difference in an increasingly multicultural and interconnected global society.
Industry
Top challenge
Top solution
The ability to effect site migrations in bulk—up to 25 at a time—allowed for unprecedented levels of efficiency and accuracy. The process resulted in a tool that is uniquely positioned to drive efficient migrations in the future.
What We Did
We developed a custom PHP application running on an Apache web server that automated the entire migration process. Our solution used terminus commands and source platform API calls to perform web hosting migration tasks, enabling site-by-site backups, data extraction, and deployment.
The system alerted when site archives were ready, minimized required hard drive space, and handled everything from spinning up new hosting sites to pushing files and databases to all environments (dev, test, and live), running cleanup procedures, uninstalling redundant modules, updating configurations, and deploying code updates.
Unprecedented Migration Efficiency
The custom migration tool our team built revolutionized the hosting migration process by enabling bulk deployments at scale.
Sites were assigned to specific group IDs within the tool, allowing for concurrent migrations based on their grouping. This intelligent sequencing meant that as backups were completed for one group, immediate deployment could begin on the next.
With automation handling the heavy lifting, the system could process 15-25 site migrations per hour, depending on size—creating efficiency levels previously unattainable in web hosting migrations.
Error-Free Quality Assurance
Visual regression testing proved critical to maintaining quality throughout this large-scale project. The automated testing system performed pixel-by-pixel screenshot comparisons as sites were migrated, immediately flagging any visual discrepancies or failures.
Color-coded statuses within a comprehensive dashboard interface made potential issues instantly visible, with red indicators serving as clickable links to quickly address problems. This proactive approach to quality control ensured that despite the massive volume of simultaneous migrations, no issues went undetected or unresolved.
End-to-End Process Automation
The migration tool automated every step of the process, eliminating manual intervention and drastically reducing human error.
From initial site backups to post-migration cleanup, the system handled it all: Alerting when archives were ready, extracting necessary data, spinning up new hosting sites, pushing files and databases, deploying to all environments, uninstalling redundant modules, updating configurations, and running final verification tests.
This comprehensive automation framework, executed through cron jobs with a refreshing dashboard UI, transformed what would have been weeks of manual work into a streamlined, largely self-running operation.
The Result
The success of this project went beyond simply migrating 525 websites on time and under budget—we created a groundbreaking tool that fundamentally changes the approach to hosting migrations.
This innovation not only solved an immediate client need but established a new benchmark for web hosting migrations that delivers remarkable time and cost savings while maintaining exceptional quality control.
The project demonstrates how we bring what's new and next on the technology horizon to solve complex challenges that others consider impossible.
Custom App Development
- PHP application creation on Apache web server
- Terminus command and API integration
- User interface and dashboard development
- Automation framework construction
Hosting Migration Services
- Site backup and archiving
- Database migration
- File system transfers
- Environment deployment (dev, test, live)
Quality Assurance Testing
- Visual regression testing
- Pixel-by-pixel screenshot comparisons
- Real-time error flagging
- Automated failure detection
DevOps Automation
- Cron job implementation
- Sequenced deployment processes
- Redundant module handling
- Configuration updates and code deployment
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