Custom Maintenance Content for Your NetSuite Store

When your website goes offline for maintenance or becomes unavailable, it redirects to a specific URL on your web store domain, such as https://<web store domain>/website-temporarily-unavailable. Custom maintenance content can be created and uploaded to maintain communication with your customers during various downtimes, like routine updates or NetSuite scheduled maintenance periods. Without custom content, NetSuite will show a generic maintenance page.

By setting up a maintenance folder in your File Cabinet, you can designate specific content to be displayed during site downtime. Here’s how you can configure your maintenance folder and content:

Setting Up a Maintenance Folder and Content

1. Navigate to Documents > Files > File Cabinet in NetSuite.

2. In the navigation pane, go to Web Site Hosting Files > Live Hosting Files.

3. Click New Folder to create a folder specifically for your maintenance content.

4. Label this folder with a recognizable name.

5. Add any pertinent information if needed.

6. Click Save.

7. Upload your maintenance page assets by selecting Add File or Advanced Add; please note there is a 10 MB size limit for this folder.

   Important: Your maintenance folder must include a file called index.html. All files within your maintenance folder will be publicly accessible via the site maintenance URL. However, keep in mind that SSP files and touch points are not supported, and SuiteScript will not function on these files.

8. Designate your maintenance folder:

   1. Go to Commerce > Hosting > Domains (Administrator role).
   2. Select Edit next to the domain you are managing and navigate to the Advanced area of the Domain page.
   3. From the Maintenance Content Folder dropdown, select your newly created folder.
   4. Click Save.

If you run multiple websites, you can establish different maintenance content folders for each domain. After setting everything up, expect a slight delay of 5 to 30 minutes before the changes reflect online. To preview your maintenance page, directly access the maintenance URL (e.g., https://example.com/website-temporarily-unavailable).

Changing Your Maintenance Content Folder

To update or change your maintenance folder:

1. Create a new folder following the same initial steps outlined above.
2. Access Commerce > Hosting > Domains.
3. Click Edit next to your domain and revisit the Advanced section.
4. Choose the newly created folder from the Maintenance Content Folder options.
5. Click Save.

Note: Modifications to your maintenance content folder or its contents lead to a brief delay in seeing changes, around five minutes.

This process ensures that even during downtime, you can keep your brand's message in front of your customers, helping to mitigate potential frustration.

Key Takeaways

• Custom maintenance content enables brands to maintain communication during website outages.
• Set up a designated folder in the NetSuite File Cabinet for your maintenance content.
• All assets must include an index.html; other file types may not behave as expected.
• Changes to maintenance settings might take a few minutes to propagate online, so plan accordingly.

Source: This article is based on Oracle's official NetSuite documentation.