Rewrite rules for maintenance

Here is the minimal (and the ultimate) rewrite rules to put a website in maintenance mode, works for Apache 2.x:

Options FollowSymLinks

AllowOverride All

RewriteEngine On

RewriteEngine on

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !\.gif$ [NC]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !/maintenance.html$

RewriteRule $ /maintenance.html [R=307,L]

If you have anothers ressources in the maintenance.html page, like a css or js files, add more RewriteCond conditions:

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !\.css$ [NC]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !\.js$ [NC]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !\.png$ [NC]

Also, you can add a RewriteCond conditions to bypass the maintenance mode from a specific IP (or subnet …):

RewirteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} !xxx\.xxx\.xxx\.xxx

Don’t forget to activate the rewrite module in Apache2, on a Debian:

# a2enmod rewrite

# apache2ctl configtest

# /etc/init.d/apache2 reload

Externals resources:

• Apache 2.2 mod_rewrite