Is there an api call to check if the website is under maintenance?

[mntgoat]

I've noticed the site goes under maintenance often around 8pm CST which is probably prime viewing time for some of my app users. Is there an API call I can make to check if the site is under maintenance so I can tell the users it is under maintenance instead of showing a generic error?

Thanks.

[oss]

well, not really. The problem is, sometimes we can not handle errors on the way. So in general, show the users the site is under maintenance, or temporary problem, so they can try later.

[MarcoTC]

You should get response code 503 when doing the login.

[oss]

sure, check for http response codes, if from 5xx family, it is down...

[mntgoat]

Good idea, that makes sense.

[pulpy]

Good Luck ...

[vankasteelj]

But, 503 happens too when not on maintainence, but only heavy load. I've encounered 503 codes that were resolved if I retried the call.

[oss]

But, 503 happens too when not on maintainence, but only heavy load. I've encounered 503 codes that were resolved if I retried the call.

this is true. Maybe correct would be retry request in 1 second three times, and then show msg to user to try later.

[MarcoTC]

You can check the 503 description string.

[mntgoat]

What is the 503 description when the site is undergoing maintenance?

[vankasteelj]

Well I don't know what it IS, but I know what it's NOT:

"Guru Meditation" should be displayed in html's body when it's a crash

[oss]

503 guru meditation is classic varnish error, when there is some real big problem, such as restarting server, error in code, high load etc. I can not really control it.

But the thing is, I can add in xml-rpc some message when site is down for maintenance (it doesn't mean you will not get these 503 errors)

[oss]

I added new status for xml-rpc '506 Server under maintenance',

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0"?> <methodResponse> <params> <param> <value> <struct> <member> <name>status</name> <value><string>506 Server under maintenance</string></value> </member> </struct> </value> </param> </params> </methodResponse>

it will come together with http 503 status code.

[mntgoat]

Thank you so much, that is very helpful.