Special Topics

Using SSH Keys

Using an SSH key is more convenient than typing your dashboard password every time you issue a Git command on a Pantheon site. If you have multiple SSH keys for different purposes and want to tell all of your Pantheon sites to use a specific key, you can configure your local ssh setup to use one key for all Pantheon servers.

In your user account's home directory, there should be an .ssh directory where your keys are stored. There is also a config file. Assuming you have created at least two keys, one named github_rsa and one named pantheon_rsa, the following sample config file will...

Moving your Domain from one Pantheon Site to Another

If you plan to move any production domains (hostnames/URLs) to a different site that is also hosted on Pantheon, here is the recommended workflow.

Step 1: Upgrade to a Paid Plan and Contact DNS Administrator

If you are moving a domain from one Pantheon site to another:

You do not need to register for CalNet or fill out the...

Redirecting a Domain to a Sub-Site of an Existing Pantheon Drupal site

If you have a domain that you want to point to a subdirectory of another Pantheon site - for example, if you have an existing site at site1.berkeley.edu and want to serve it instead from site2.berkeley.edu/site1 - this can be done on Pantheon.

Pantheon help pages: Domains and Redirects

Redirecting Multiple Domains to the same Pantheon Drupal site

Many websites are available at more than one domain. If you want to point multiple domains to your Pantheon site, we recommend choosing one primary domain and redirecting the rest to it. This will improve your search engine rankings, as Google et al. penalize you for duplicate content at different addresses.

Pantheon help page: Domains and Redirects

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Giving Vendors and Collaborators Access to Your Site

Web Platform Services strongly recommends using CalNet authentication for all sites. If you are working with a third-party vendor or collaborator who needs to be able to log in to your site, they can get an Affiliate or Guest account. Once the account is set up, they will be able to log in using CalNet authentication.

Unpaid collaborators qualify for Guest accounts. See CalNet Guest Accounts for more information. Any UC Berkeley employee can sponsor a guest account...

Special Topics for Pantheon Sites

The pages in this section outline various Special Topics related to hosting a site on Pantheon's infrastructure. See the links in the side menu for more information.

Working within Security Restrictions on your Computer

Site managers who work in highly-sensitive campus units may not be able to connect via Git, SSH, drush, or SFTP to outside services due to security restrictions. Pantheon is unable to provide fixed IP addresses, so it is not possible to add firewall exceptions for individual sites.

Other site managers may not be able to install the required software clients on their computers.

In either case, you can still accomplish the most common development tasks using the Pantheon dashboard and the Drupal site interface in your browser....

Creating a New Release of your Site

At some point you may wish to redevelop your Pantheon site. You can take advantage of Pantheon's multiple environments by doing your new work in the dev environment. However, you will not be able to apply updates to your live site without also pushing up all of your new code.

You can also create a new dev site and do all of your development independently. You can start from scratch or start by exporting your old site and importing it to create the new one.

Experienced developers might be interested in Pantheon's multidev feature, which allows multiple development branches....

Email from your Site

Both CalMail and bMail may block email messages originating from sites hosted on Pantheon. This is because Pantheon does not run a mail server, instead using a free SMTP service. CalMail and bMail will mark it as spam and block it even before it reaches the recipient's spam folder. Other mail providers may accept it.

If you need your site to send email to berkeley.edu email addresses, install and configure the SMTP module.

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