Deactivating Wordpress site and being able to install it again in the future

_Kaz_ · 16-03-2011 12:34AM #1

Hi all,

I did a Wordpress site for a friend's small business a while back but the business needs to be stopped now for a while and they can't have the website online.

From reading up online, I've found what I think I need to do: download a Wordpress export file (.xml) and a MySQL database backup (.gz). Is this right; is it all I need? Or have I missed something completely?

Between reams and reams of text on how to backup Wordpress sites etc I can't find info on what I need to do to what I specifically need - deactivate the site totally, but have copies of everything I need to just be able to upload it all again when it's time for the site to go back up.

Thanks in advance (and sorry if it's a dim question!)

pixelburp · 16-03-2011 01:19AM

Hmmm, well a quick way of turning off a wordpress site would be to replace the index.php in the root directory of the wordpress installation. It's a small file with just a few WP functions to kickstart the blog, so replacing it (with a blank index.php for instance, or putting in some HTML for flavour) would remove the site.
Anyone also trying to open a link/post/page directly would also just get a blank page.

Least that way the DB's still intact, along with the rest of the site; it's just the gateway through which the users see it is gone.

Freemancon · 16-03-2011 09:52AM

There are two questions that I would ask...

1. If you want to keep the website hosting/domain, and just want to prevent access by the public.
- I would suggest just putting up a static holding page (like a construction page)
- Otherwise you could deactivate your "A" records in the DNS records (your host will have documentation on how to do this)

**********In this option you will not lose any of your data or domain.

2. If you want to drop the hosting and the domain.
- Then I would take a backup of your FTP (files) and your Database. Put these on your local computer. Then if you want to open the website again all you have to do is get a new domain and hosting package and upload the files and DB.

************In this option you will have the content but may lose the domain, especially if it is a .com

Abelloid · 16-03-2011 03:08PM

Check with the host to see what services are on the control panel, you might be able to backup the entire site and replace it with a holding page, then restore when ready.

dahayeser · 31-03-2011 12:40PM

There's two part to what you want to do -

1) Back up the latest version of the wordpress that is online. Use an ftp client such as Filezilla to pull down the files to yopur local PC. Once this is done you can remove the online files and add a static index.htm file on the root directory.

2) Do a "Dump" or export of your MySQL database. Your hosting package probably has phpmyadmin installed. Use this to select your database and then click the export tab. Tick the box at the end of the page that says - Save to file. This will save and download your database in an .sql file.

If you want to reopen the site in the future you can just upload the files and reload the .sql database dump file and you are back in business!

cormee · 31-03-2011 01:41PM

Install the Lock Out plugin, activate it, you're done.

Deactivating Wordpress site and being able to install it again in the future

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