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Drupal Migration

This page is dedicated for those who own or manage a CERN Drupal website today.

WordPress has officially been adopted as CERN's content management system. As supporting two distinct content management systems is not feasible, Drupal will eventually be decommissioned with the creation of new Drupal websites already disabled. It will not be possible to continue using Drupal at CERN.

As the CERN Drupal Distribution upon which all CERN Drupal websites rely is highly customised, it is also not possible to host a CERN Drupal website outside of the CERN infrastructure without substantial investment far exceeding that which would be required to migrate to WordPress. We do not recommend, and cannot support, hosting CERN Drupal websites outside of CERN.

Accordingly, if you manage a CERN Drupal website today, and do not wish to start from scratch in WordPress, you need to prepare your website to ensure conformance with the CERN Drupal Distribution to benefit from the automated Drupal to WordPress migration. Such a review may also present an opportunity to verify the content and the structure of your website to ensure everything is up-to-date and aligned with the current goals of your website. This is especially applicable to older websites with a lot of aged content.

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All Drupal websites owners have been contacted by e-mail to inform them of the status of their website(s). If a website conforms to the CERN Drupal Distribution, no further action is necessary. Owners will automatically be contacted once a copy on WordPress is ready for review.

The automated migration from Drupal to WordPress is comparable to prior Drupal to Drupal migrations, e.g. Drupal 8 to 9 and Drupal 9 to 10, in terms of workload insofar that website owners would need to browse through their website to confirm that everything continues to operate and look as expected. Similarly, if you own a customised Drupal website, the migration to WordPress will require a number of actions on you. These range from merely disabling a single module on your Drupal website to re-creating several pages using WordPress components. It is important to get started on this work as soon as possible.

Continue reading this article to understand your next steps.

✅ Actions on Website Owners​

All Drupal websites fall into one of two categories: customised or non-customised.

A website is customised if it contains functionality (i.e. modules, embeddings, or a custom theme) not supported by the CERN Drupal Distribution. You may find a complete list of what is included in the centralised distribution here. In addition to customised modules, any website using the CERN Override Theme, and thus accepted the responsibility of future maintenance, is also considered customised.

As of April 2025, all websites administrators have received direct e-mail communication explaining whether their website is customised or not. All non-customised websites will be migrated in a fully automated manner without any action necessary on the website owner(s).

The automated migration will commence in a batched manner starting July 2025 and run throughout the rest of the year. Once a copy on WordPress has been generated, website owners will receive an e-mail inviting them to check and verify the WordPress version. Only once this copy has been checked and verified will it be promoted to production. In order to ensure parity between the content on the migrated WordPress website and the Drupal website, we encourage website owners to prioritise the review step once it becomes available.

If Drupal website uses custom modules, action is necessary:

🔍 Identify and Remove Custom Modules​

In short, custom modules must be uninstalled for your site to become eligible for the automated migration.

We understand that it may not be obvious which modules are custom nor how they are used. In such instances, we recommend referring to prior e-mail communication as well as cloning the Drupal website to safely test removal. Please see the article Cloning Websites Guide on the Drupal Documenation for more information.

If the cloned site functions normally after module removal, it is safe to repeat the process on the production site. If issues are encountered attempting to remove a module, please do not hesitate to reach out. If you require assistance in uninstalling modoules, please refer to the Uninstalling Custom Modules Guide article on the Drupal Documentation.

We recommend starting this work as soon as possible.

⚙ī¸ How the Migration Will Work​

In short:

  • Automated migrations begin July 2025 and continue in batches through the rest of the year.
  • Migration priority:
    1. non-customised, conformant websites;
    2. minimally customised websites; and
    3. customised websites (case-by-case basis in collaboration with website owners).
  • When your site is ready in WordPress:
    • You will receive an email to review and verify the migrated version.
    • Your original Drupal site remains active and will continue receiving traffic.
    • Only once you approve the new WordPress version will it be promoted.
    • Your Drupal website is retired.
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Heavily customised Drupal sites that cannot be migrated automatically will be reviewed individually.

If you believe you own a heavily customised Drupal website, please get in touch today.

🔔 Important Notes​

  • Drupal will remain active during the transition period.
  • Switch to WordPress happens only after your approval.
  • If your site does not use custom modules, no further action is needed.

ℹī¸ More Information​

📝 Summary Checklist​

  • Check if your Drupal site uses custom modules
  • If yes, clone your site and test removing custom modules
  • If successful, uninstall modules from the live site
  • Await automated migration (starts July 2025)
  • Review and approve your WordPress version when notified
  • Drupal site stays online until you approve the switch

Should you have any questions, please submit a ticket.