Going offline

Once you migrate your website from Fiona to FirstSpirit, the previous Fiona website is taken offline.

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Procedure

A website in Fiona is typically taken offline (i.e., made inaccessible to the general public on the Internet) as soon as the new website goes live in FirstSpirit. For more information, see Go-live.

In Fiona itself, the website is still accessible in read-only mode. This allows editors to check whether any individual pieces of content still need to be moved or whether legacy data needs to be archived.

The previous URLs used to access the pages will no longer work (404 error) effective immediately. We therefore recommend that you request redirects for the most important URLs that lead to the new versions of the most important pages.

A few weeks after the Fiona website goes offline, please notify us of the specific Fiona project (please include the project name) that you would like to have permanently deleted from the system.

Special case

Relaunch as a subpage of an existing website

As part of a consolidation process, your previously independent Fiona website may be integrated into an existing website as a subpage. Depending on the status of the main website, there are two possible scenarios:

  • Scenario 1: FirstSpirit website is not yet online

    Your subpage will go online together with the main website. Please coordinate with the project administration to ensure that your old Fiona website is taken offline at the same time.

Tip: Include the Fiona website in the go-live request for the new website.

  • Scenario 2: FirstSpirit website is already online

    You can switch your subpage online yourself at any time. However, taking the Fiona website offline must be coordinated with Department VI.5 Internet Services. As a rule, going offline can be arranged within 4-6 weeks. If you would like a specific changeover date, please specify this in your go-live request.

FAQ

Can I keep the URL of my old Fiona website?

Probably not.

LMU adopts an adapted domain concept when transitioning to FirstSpirit, which means your URL may change. However, through redirects and possibly short URLs, your users can still find your website.

For websites that are operated independently from Fiona or FirstSpirit by individual organizations, the domain guidelines of the LMU Hostmaster apply.

Can I keep old short URLs, or will they be changed?

If you had a short URL set up with the LMU Hostmaster for your previous Fiona site, it can be transferred during the go-live process

Example:

Your old Fiona URL was:
www.meinelehrstuhl.meinefakultaet.uni-muenchen.de/forschung/konferenz/unserekonferenz2025

and you defined the following short URL:
www.lmu.de/unserekonferenz2025

After the new website is live in FirstSpirit, the short URL would no longer function, as the original target URL no longer exists in that form.The new target page the short URL should point to might be, for example:
www.meinefakultaet.lmu.de/meinlehstuhl/forschung/unserekonferenz2025

Thus, the destination of the short URL must be updated when the new website goes live. Inform Department VI.5 Internet Services of any short URLs when you request a go-live date.

Can only part of the website be migrated?

No.

The entire website will go offline as soon as the new website in FirstSpirit is live. It is therefore important that you ensure all content that is still relevant is migrated to the new website.

How can I create a backup of the old Fiona website?

It is a good idea to back up your Fiona pages before they go offline. You can do this yourself:

  1. Choose a date and time—before the website goes offline—to create the backup.
  2. Visit the live pages of your website in your browser.
  3. Use a standard tool such as HTTrack, Wget, or browser plugins like Web Scraper or SingleFile to download a complete backup. of each page.
  4. Make sure your backup storage complies with any applicable legal retention requirements.

When do the old Fiona pages disappear from search and search engines?

Fiona websites that have been taken offline are no longer available on the Internet. If someone tries to access them and no redirect has been set up, a 404 error will appear. However, it may take some time before they are removed from all search engines—especially if the old URLs are still linked elsewhere.

The built-in search on LMU pages is configured to include only FirstSpirit websites. However, since that search relies on Google, it's possible that old Fiona websites might still be found for a while.