Overview

The Enterprise Web Infrastructure consists of the hardware and software that is central to the University's presence on the internet. This architecture offers a robust foundation for University websites. All official University websites must be hosted on the Enterprise Web infrastructure. Pitt IT provides support to departments in order to meet preliminary requirements necessary to properly and securely host sites within the EWI. This includes identifying security vulnerabilities that need to be remediated. There is optional hosting for web databases (SQL server). The Enterprise Web Infrastructure is located in Pitt IT's Network Operations Center (NOC), which manages the service 24 hours a day. The NOC provides exceptional bandwidth, redundancy, and security.

As part of the Enterprise Web Infrastructure, the University provides a search engine capability for sites that are in the University domain. This search engine from Google analyzes website traffic and provides reports on visitors–where they come from, how they use a website, and more.

The University's centralized approach for web hosting, which is required by the Enterprise Security Controls Policy, ensures high availability and security. This infrastructure provides robust server hosting to departments, business units, individual faculty, research labs, and other University-affiliated groups. Personal website hosting is also available.

Pitt IT does not provide website design and development services. If you are interested in these services, please contact the Office of University Communications and Marketing for more information.

Web Hosting + Content Management

Departments and faculty maintain control of all content hosted on EWI through a number of third-party content management systems or through Secure FTP.

Pitt SecureWeb

Departments at the University of Pittsburgh must submit EWI websites to web vulnerability scans before these sites are accessible from the internet. Web vulnerability scans thoroughly analyze web applications from development through production for security vulnerabilities.

SecureWeb is a self-service application that offers users the ability to request ad-hoc scans at their convenience.

Scans are scheduled, deployed, and have results validated by Security Analysts at Pitt Information Technology (Pitt IT). The results are then made available to you through the SecureWeb interface at secureweb.pitt.edu. Departments must remediate any critical or high vulnerabilities for a site, then resubmit it for an additional scan before the site can go live.

Once a site has been deployed, it is placed in a routine schedule for scans. You will receive additional reports when routine scans discover new Critical or High vulnerabilities. As a SecureWeb user you also have the ability to initiate scans at any time.

As an authorized SecureWeb user, you can access a self-service interface through secureweb.pitt.edu to:

• Create custom site settings for your website project.
• Request Security Scans for your sites.
• View, verify, and organize your scan results.
• Request a rescan for any of your sites that require corrective actions.

Databases

Many websites provide dynamic content through databases. EWI supports centralized Microsoft SQL Server databases. EWI can also link to MySQL or other individual department databases that are protected behind Enterprise Network Firewalls.

Website Search and Traffic Analysis

Websites hosted on EWI have access to the University's Google search tools. These tools allow you to create searches within your own site. They also enable results from your website to be displayed in the results of University-wide searches conducted from www.pitt.edu. Units may work with University Marketing Communications (UMC) to optimize their ranking in searches.

Website traffic can be analyzed with Urchin software from Google, another tool provided by the EWI service. Urchin software from Google analyzes traffic for websites and provides easy-to-understand reports on your visitors. These include information such as where they come from and how they use your site.

For More Information

To host a website on EWI, contact the 24/7 IT Help Desk at 412-624-HELP (4357) or submit a request online.