Turn your apps to maintenance mode using environment variables

If there is a planned maintainence, a site must go into maintenance mode and the end user should be made aware of the event. A notice something like - Our site is under maintenance, please come back after sometime should be conveyed. To avoid hardcoding the site routes every time if it goes under maintenance, environment variables can be employed.

For rails apps

1. Set an environment variable as MAINTENANCE = true in cloud66.

2. Check for this variable in the routes file of your application for redirecting to a /maintenance page.

    Note: Always place your maintenance page routes at the top of all other routes
   

   Examples:

   • For a monolith application

       if ENV["MAINTENANCE"] == true
           get '/', to: redirect('/maintenance_page'), via: :get
           get '/maintenance_page', to: 'application#maintenance_page'
           get '*path', to: redirect('/maintenance_page'), via: :get
       end
     
     

   Create an action inside application_controller.rb example def maintenance_page end

   Then create a template under views/application/maintenance_page.html

   • For an API the routes should be

       if ENV["MAINTENANCE"] == true
           get '/', to: 'application#maintenance_page', via: :get
           get '*path', to: 'application#maintenance_page', via: :get
           post '/', to: 'application#maintenance_page', via: :post
           post '*path', to: 'application#maintenance_page', via: :post
       end
     
       def maintenance_page
           render json: { error: "Under Maintenance Site will be back in few hours"}, status: 503
       end
     
     

     The status code 503 will allow a front-end client to understand the application is under maintainence and they can convey it to the user.

   Example template in a monolith app.

    <div style="position: absolute; top: 50%; left: 50%; transform: translate(-50%,-50%); text-align: center;">
        <div>
            <img src="/w3images/forestbridge.jpg" />
        </div>
        <p style="text-transform: none; color: #31383D; font-weight: bold; font-size: 36px; padding: 20px 20px 0px 20px; line-height: 49px;">
            <br />
            Sorry, our site is under maintenance.
        </p>
        <p style="color: #31383d; font-family: &#39;Source Sans Pro&#39;; font-size: 18px; padding: 20px; line-height: 28px;">
            Thank you for being patient. You can get back to our site in a few hours.
            <br />
            Contact us on
            <a href="mailto:info@address.in" style="color:blue"> info@address.in </a> for any queries.
        </p>
     </div>
   

   *An industry standard practise is to keep the maintenance page colour scheme and design consistent with your application.