How to handle SharePoint deployment of wsp? Take site offline?

Question

What is the recommended approach to handle a SharePoint deployment via a WSP? During the deployment of the WSP the web site returns an HTTP 503 Service Unavailable response. I am doing the WSP deployment with a series of stsadm.exe commands from a bat file.

I know I can probably drop an app_offline.htm file in the virtual directory folder and put up a customized HTTP 503 error code page, but is there a better way to take a SharePoint application offline during a deployment? Do I even need an app_offline.htm file or just a custom HTTP 503 error code page?

Answer 1

Deploying the WSP causes an IISReset. Depending on your hardware, this doesn't usually last longer than a minute or two, so i'm not sure if it'll be much of an issue.

If, however you're in a mission critical production environment however, i'd recommend installing the wsp from central admin; and scheduling the actuall deployment for a late hour to avoid service interruption.