Create a New Site

In order for your account to be associated with the UC Berkeley organization on Pantheon, you must first login to dashboard.getpantheon.com using a Pantheon account associated with an @berkeley.edu email address (on Pantheon your email address is your username). This will ensure that your site is eligible for UC Berkeley-specific pricing and other benefits. Once logged in to the Pantheon dashboard you will see a button to Create New Site at the top of the page.

When you log in to the Pantheon dashboard, you will see a list of sites that you own or have access to. The initial creator of a new site becomes the site's "User in Charge." Berkeley users may create up to 10 sites for development. Once a site is upgraded to a paid hosting plan (or deleted), it frees up its slot for a new dev site.

Whichever method you choose below, you must associate your site with the UC Berkeley organization in order to pay via campus chart string and use our discount and other benefits. 

From Scratch

Choose this if you want to start with a bare-bones WordPress or Drupal site. You can install your own modules, plugins, and themes as you need, including UC Berkeley-specific Drupal modules such as UC Berkeley CAS.

From a Distribution

Distributions are sets of modules, features, and configuration that you can use as a starting point for your site. Most are developed for specific purposes such as intranets, music sites, government agencies, etc. There are a few general-purpose distributions such as Panopoly.

You can still install your own modules, plugins, and themes if you choose a distribution, including UC Berkeley-specific Drupal modules such as UC Berkeley CAS.

Import an existing site

If you are moving your site from another host, or have developed it on a temporary environment such as your own computer, you can import it into Pantheon.

When a site is created outside of the UC Berkeley organization on Pantheon

On Pantheon, your email address is your username. If you have a Pantheon account where your username does not end in "berkeley.edu" and you create a site with that account, this site will not be part of the UC Berkeley organization on Pantheon. This means that you will not be able to pay for this site with a campus chartstring (you will need to use a credit card directly through Pantheon's system, not through our Upgrade to Paid Plan form) and you will not receive the price discounts and features available to UC Berkeley sites.

If you have a site spun up outside of the UC Berkeley organization, you have two options for proceeding.

  • Option 1: Spin up a new site in the UC Berkeley organization.This must be be done by the appropriate person in your department (with a berkeley.edu email address as the username)! Push up your code base via Git or SFTP. Import your database and files via Pantheon's "Workflow" tab
  • Option 2: Import the site into the organization by following Pantheon's "Migrate Existing Site" option and importing the site using a Drush archive file.

Either option can be done in consultation with an external vendor (i.e., if you have hired an external vendor to work on the site; you must be the person who creates a new site on Pantheon, and your external vendor can walk you through the other steps). 

Pantheon Help Pages

Details

Available OptionsInstructions
Option 1: Manual Site Import
  1. The appropriate person in your department with a berkeley.edu email address as the username spins up a new site in the UC Berkeley organization (and selects the appropriate distribution)
  2. This person can then push up the code base of the existing site via Git or SFTP and import the DB/files via the "Workflow" tab
Option 1: Manual Site Import with External Vendor
  1. The appropriate person in your department with a berkeley.edu email address as the username spins up a new site in the UC Berkeley organization (and selects the appropriate distribution)
  2. This person then adds the external vendor as team members on the new site dashboard (see Add Collaborators)
  3. From there, the external vendor team members can push up the code base and import the DB/files
Option 2: Site Import using Drush
  1. The appropriate person in your department with a berkeley.edu email address as the username signs in to Pantheon
  2. This person selects Pantheon's "Migrate Existing Site" option and follows the steps for creating and importing a Drush archive 
Option 2: Site Import using Drush with External Vendor
  1. The external vendor provides a Drush archive of the site that needs to be imported to the person who will be signing in to Pantheon
  2. The appropriate person in your department with a berkeley.edu email address as the username signs in to Pantheon
  3.  This person selects Pantheon's "Migrate Existing Site" option and imports the file provided by the vendor in step 1