I would like to completely disable a Wordpress website. I'd like it to be completely inaccessible to visitors, and have no activity taking place on the server (no updates, cron jobs, etc.) I'd like to do this in a non-destructive manner, so that I can access the files if I need to (via FTP), or even re-enable the site at a future date.
In other words, "put it in mothballs."
I've tried searching but only come up with "maintenance mode" solutions, in which there is still activity on the server.
Can I do something simple, for example: rename index.php in the root folder, to index-disabled.php? Are there any other options, besides deleting the entire contents of the site? What is the best and safest way to do this?
(SEO is of no concern.)
I would like to completely disable a Wordpress website. I'd like it to be completely inaccessible to visitors, and have no activity taking place on the server (no updates, cron jobs, etc.) I'd like to do this in a non-destructive manner, so that I can access the files if I need to (via FTP), or even re-enable the site at a future date.
In other words, "put it in mothballs."
I've tried searching but only come up with "maintenance mode" solutions, in which there is still activity on the server.
Can I do something simple, for example: rename index.php in the root folder, to index-disabled.php? Are there any other options, besides deleting the entire contents of the site? What is the best and safest way to do this?
(SEO is of no concern.)
Share Improve this question asked Feb 26, 2022 at 1:07 hommealonehommealone 851 silver badge10 bronze badges1 Answer
Reset to default 1You could move the files to a non-web-accessible directory and change the password on the database user.
eg, if your site's root directory is /var/www/html, you could create a directory elswhere on the server (say /home/me/site-archive) and move the files from /var/www/html into /home/me/site-archive.
If you ever want to re-activate the site, you can move the files from /home/me/site-archive back to /var/www/html, and set the database user's password back to what you find in wp-config.php (or update wp-config.php to use the new password).