Hi,

When you upgrade a website (e.g. the version of silverstripe) do you do something like add an index.php in the root or change the htaccess temporarily to link to a static page indicating you are carrying out maintenance? Is there a simple way to do this with silverstripe?

I use this code in .htaccess file :

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !/maintenance.html$
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_HOST} !^91\.192\.248\.32   // your ip here
RewriteRule $ /maintenance.html [R=302,L]

I created a maintenance.html in the root folder, and put in my ip in the code above. Now all visitors are redirected to the maintenance page, and only me can access to the website.

Many thanks that is the answer I was expecting :)

I've used a similar tactic and it works well, but is a little clunkier to set up than I'd like.

There's also the Holding Page module: http://www.silverstripe.org/holding-page-module/

Does anyone know if this module is suitable to be used while the SilverStripe core is being upgraded?

You shouldn't really upgrade the core on the live site. I also think relying on a module may not work as if core breaks then it'll bring all SilverStripe specific code down with it. You are best using your own maintanence.html file and .htaccess rule (as shown above) than a module.