App_Offline file...

Chris Wallace - Kilted Coder - App_Offline file...

"If you haven't already seen it Scott Guthrie dropped some news about a unique file called app_offline.htm that when put in the root folder of a web app will cause ASP.NET to block requests to the application and instead serve up the content of the app_offline file. Removing/renaming the file causes ASP.NET to restart your app as normal. This is especially effective for maintenance windows and the like. Anyway, this only works as expected when the app is running in IIS. ..."

Now that's cool. I hate playing the "rename default.bla" game when doing a new web release. This is a nice touch that makes live just a little easier...