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Hello All,

How can one be redirected to a friendly page when web server is down for
maintenance or daily builds?

One technique I tried was reading from a configuration file and redirecting
the users to a different page. But since the configuration file and the
webform which reads it are both part of application , this technique would
fail to redirect when web server is down.

Any pointers on how to accomplish this with no failover or redundant
server(no hardware upgrade)?

Thanks!!

On Wed, 06 Jul 2005 11:07:03 -0700, Diffident wrote:

> Hello All,
>
> How can one be redirected to a friendly page when web server is down for
> maintenance or daily builds?
>
> One technique I tried was reading from a configuration file and redirecting
> the users to a different page. But since the configuration file and the
> webform which reads it are both part of application , this technique would
> fail to redirect when web server is down.
>
> Any pointers on how to accomplish this with no failover or redundant
> server(no hardware upgrade)?
>
> Thanks!!
The best that I have done about this problem is to detect via javascript
that the response indicates that the server is down and replace the entire
body with your own at the client

We keep a second web site configured just for maintenance. It has our
maintenance message, and some of the static portions of the site. When
it comes time to deploy, we stop production and start the maintenance
site. Once the deploy is finished, we just flip back to production.

Good luck!

Jason Kester
Expat Software Consulting Services
http://www.expatsoftware.com/

Define "web server down"?

If the server is really down, how would you expect
any option to work?

--
2004 and 2005 Microsoft MVP C#
Robbe Morris
http://www.masterado.net

Earn $$$ money answering .NET Framework
messageboard posts at EggHeadCafe.com.
http://www.eggheadcafe.com/forums/merit.asp



"Diffident" <> wrote in message
news:29B9D216-EC2B-46A2-8E80-...
> Hello All,
>
> How can one be redirected to a friendly page when web server is down for
> maintenance or daily builds?
>
> One technique I tried was reading from a configuration file and
> redirecting
> the users to a different page. But since the configuration file and the
> webform which reads it are both part of application , this technique would
> fail to redirect when web server is down.
>
> Any pointers on how to accomplish this with no failover or redundant
> server(no hardware upgrade)?
>
> Thanks!!

Diffident shared this with us in
microsoft.public.dotnet.framework.aspnet:

> Hello All,
>
> How can one be redirected to a friendly page when web server is down
> for maintenance or daily builds?
>
> One technique I tried was reading from a configuration file and
> redirecting the users to a different page. But since the
> configuration file and the webform which reads it are both part of
> application , this technique would fail to redirect when web server
> is down.
>
> Any pointers on how to accomplish this with no failover or redundant
> server(no hardware upgrade)?
>
> Thanks!!

With no redundant server? When the webserver is really down? Can pigs
fly?

Your spare server can be a really cheap box with a static page that
only says "sorry we're closed for maintenance". Hey, you can even run a
few static web pages on those home broadband routers from Linksys! They
come for less than 80€ or cheaper.

When it is maintenance time, you simply change the dns entry from your
real web server to your cheapo spare box.

--
Amedee Van Gasse