How to Set Up a "Site Down for Maintenance" Notice with Apache

"Enable .htaccess
There are two ways to make changes to your Apache configuration - editing the Apache configuration directly, or using .htaccess files and storing the configuration along with the website's files. If you are hosted on a shared hosting platform, it is quite likely that the setup required to permit .htaccess files to function as desired has been done. If you are on a dedicated server, open the Apache configuration file httpd.conf in a text editor and look for a section containing the word AllowOverride. Make sure that this is set to allow all over rides by setting it to AllowOverride All. Now you should be able to use .htaccess files.

"Create the Maintenance page
Next up you need to create a maintenance page that you will direct all the traffic to during maintenance periods. You can make it so that it simply says "Site Down for Maintenance. We'll be Back Soon." or you can create something more elaborate with images. I'll leave the decision on how you want to create this page to you. We can proceed with the assumption that a page called maintenance.html has been created with the maintenance notice."

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