Archiving or Decommissioning a Site

Archiving or deactivating/decommissioning a site makes it inaccessible to the public. Performing this action does not delete any of your content or configurations, and you can unarchive the site at a later date if  you so choose. 

Reasons for archiving a site 

In the short term, you may wish to archive your site during a major redesign or while maintenance is being performed. In the long term, sites may be archived indefinitely for a few different reasons:

• When the project or organization associated with it has come to an end.
  • For example, if a lab has been shut down, the lab website would most likely be archived.
• When a faculty member has left the university.  
• When a site has been permanently moved or merged with another website.

How to archive a site

1. Determine if you want your site to redirect, and if so, where you’d like it to redirect to. 
2. Contact Sites support:
   • For Med School users: Fill out the Subdomain Request Form and select “I am archiving or decommissioning a site and need to forward the subdomain.” Include any redirect requests in the details of this form, why you are choosing to archive the site, and any timeline requirements. 
   • For all other users: email sites@wustl.edu.
3. A member of sites support will then reach out to you to complete the archiving process.

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