Web Hosting - Static Hosting Options (HTML/Javascript/CSS)

DoIT's Web Hosting service offers free hosting of static websites (Bring your own site / HTML-only) to UW-Madison affiliates. Please note: Unless you already have a static site built you may want to review the Campus WiscwebCMS offering, which is based off WordPress and also free of charge. This option is typically less of a burden for one to bring up a site using a UW look and feel (WordPress Theme).

There are two options for Static/HTML only hosting.

Option 1 -- Traditional on premise Apache server hosting:  This would entail a Web Administration Control Panel (Plesk) and Secure FTP access to publish files to a filesystem for the web site.

Option 2 -- AWS Highly Available CDN (Content Delivery Network):  We provide users a GIT repo (access based on NetID) where you would place your static files and assets and once you deploy them from the repo they will be pushed to the CDN automatically via a pipeline we have created.

Technicalities and specifics of each offering:

Option 1 -- Traditional Server Hosting

Offers more tools and flexibility.  Specifically, access to a web based control panel (Plesk), which provides a file manager, Secure FTP access, built in web statistics, support for NetID login, basic auth password protection, GIT integration, .htaccess configuration file support, access logs, and more.  These sites are hosted on individual shared virtual servers.

Option 2 -- AWS CDN (Content Delivery Network)

The AWS/CDN offers fast content delivery, and high availability/capacity in leveraging Amazon's global infrastructure.  

Your NetID will granted access to a GIT Lab repository, whereby you can control access rights and grant other NetID's the ability to publish from the repository.  For publishing, once you commit your site files in GIT they will be deployed to the CDN automatically via a built in CI/CD pipeline. 

This offering is well suited to those making use of a Static Site Generator software, such as Hugo, Gatsby, Jekyll, etc.  You can also integrate third party services to enhance functionality, such as search, forms, analytics, etc.

To request a site please see our new account request form at: https://webhosting.doit.wisc.edu/apply/

Any questions please contact webhosting@doit.wisc.edu