In this post (it is going to be very short for a change) I would like to show you how to take your ASP.Net application offline.

We have to place a file named app_offline.htm into your root directory.By doing that we stop any ASP.Net processing. If you wonder what is going to be displayed instead,

are the contents of the  app_offline.htm. If we remove the app_offline.htm  or rename it, then the ASP.Net application will start again.

1) Launch Visual Studio and create a new ASP.Net web application.Give it an appropriate name.

2) Add a new app_offline.htm file to the root of your application. I have added some markup in this file

<p>We apologise for the inconvenience but our site is down for maintenance!!!

 We  expect this to last for a couple more hours. Please try again later </p>

<p>If you want to have a look at our company's profile have a 

look at some <a href="#">videos</a> in YouTube</p> 

3) Run your application and you will see the contents of the app_offline.htm file

4)  Rename the app_offline.htm file to something else and you will see your application up and running. You can delete the file if you want.

So  I think this is a great way to take your application off and bring it back on with minimum effort.

Hope it helps!!!