Finalsite Google Cloud Platform Migration

This article answers frequently asked questions about Finalsite's hosting migration to Google Cloud Platform, including what IT teams need to whitelist and whether sites stay accessible during migration.

As Finalsite works to migrate hosting to Google Cloud, here are some frequently asked questions to help inform you about this transition.

Why is Finalsite making this change?

When will my website be migrated?

What do I need to do?

Will my site be accessible during the migration?

Will my website be blocked in China?

What should I do if I notice a problem?

Why is Finalsite making this change?

Google Cloud offers many benefits that will allow us to better serve you, including: ground-breaking technology, greater flexibility, scalability, and increased security to reduce the number of risk points that keep any good network administrator up at night. This is the same  infrastructure that powers products used by a billion active daily users today— Google Search, Gmail, Maps and YouTube, to name a few. In addition to Finalsite, Google Cloud Platform is the choice of companies big and small, including: Goldman Sachs, HSBC, PayPal, Shopify, Snapchat, and Spotify.  

Google Cloud Platform provides numerous benefits for your school, including:

Single Tenant Deployments

Each client website will be compartmentalized in their own environment, running on their own instance of Finalsite’s software with their own database, separate from other clients. 

This containerization also means that issues on one website should not affect others. With existing technology hosting (which is currently used by all other website-hosting technology companies), a problem on one site can reverberate to others.

Additionally, containerization allows us to be nimble for you: if your site were to experience a significant spike in traffic, we will be able to quickly adapt and scale up the computing resources for your site to accommodate your immediate needs.

Single-tenant deployments are very unique in SaaS companies — and while it sounds very technical, you should know that this is really a big deal! We hope it gives you even more comfort and confidence to know that with Finalsite, you are set up for success.

Network maintenance and updates will be timezone agnostic! 

Software and network updates will happen during off-hours in your timezone. For 20 years we’ve tried to find the best window to perform updates for all our clients. With schools in more than 75 countries and nearly every timezone, this has become impossible. We’re thrilled that Google Cloud will enable us to roll out updates based on your geographic location and at an hour when it’s least disruptive to you and your families. 

Regional distribution with “planet scale infrastructure” 

Location matters—with Google Cloud hosting locations around the world, we will now be able to serve your website in a location closer to where your school actually is. 

This will speed up the website experience even more for anyone who is close by. 

As demand shifts from your users who are looking at your site all over the world, Finalsite can leverage Google's "planet-scale infrastructure," which includes 20 regions, 61 zones, and 134 network edge locations in over 200 countries!  

In the future, this shift to Google Cloud will also allow us to offer hosting with more geographic redundancy and improved disaster recovery options. 

When will my website be migrated?

The week before we migrate your website, we will post an admin notification on your website dashboard informing you of the exact date and time of your scheduled migration. If your scheduled date presents any conflicts, we may be able to reschedule your migration. Submit a support ticket or email us at help@finalsite.com to explore your options.

What do I need to do?

IMPORTANT:  Please consult with your IT team to determine if you have whitelisted our server IP range 162.216.55.0/24 – This is the old IP block for the Finalsite servers.  If so, please add the following IP ranges.

34.69.242.64/29
34.73.130.72/29
34.84.234.80/29
35.233.147.232/29
35.242.139.240/29

SPF records will not need to change as our email service is not impacted by this move. 

Will my site be accessible during the migration?

Yes, your website's front end should be accessible during this time. There will be an estimated 10-minute period where all logins will be disabled and no forms can be filled out to ensure the integrity of your site data. You may see this message on the login page.

Will my website be blocked in China?

Your website should not be blocked in China when it's migrated to Google Cloud Platform. China's government firewall does block access to some Google services, but this should exclude website hosting from Google Cloud.

What should I do if I notice a problem?

Please submit a support request should you need assistance!