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Question

Easiest Way to Show Warning on Public Forms During Outage

Forms Version 11 Self-Hosted
Updated January 22, 2025
asked on January 16, 2025

Does anyone know any easy tricks for displaying a warning or message about system maintenance on public-facing Forms processes during maintenance windows?

I'll have the the Forms environment running during the maintenance window, but Workflow will be disabled for much of it.  Since many of these forms utilize workflow after submission, these are likely to have delays in their processing, so I would like to display a warning message/notification during the maintenance window.

I know I could just go add some custom HTML to every form - but that's several dozen forms with the need to clean it back up afterwards.  I'm wondering if anyone else has any experience managing maintenance warnings like this to public forms in a more automated manner.

Thank you!

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Answer

SELECTED ANSWER
replied on January 22, 2025

We use the app_offline.htm file for when we put sites into maintenance mode.

check out App Offline file (app_offline.htm) | Microsoft Learn for specifics

we use a Powershell script to put the file in place for all sites during maintenance, and also to remove it afterwards.

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Replies

replied on January 16, 2025 • Show version history

If you are wanting to make it so no one submits any forms and no one can access Forms, you could add a maintenance.html file with a maintenance message and put it in the root of the Forms site. Then in IIS for the site under Default Document, add maintenance.html and move it to the top of the list. When you're done, remove it from the list or just disable it.

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View 2 previous replies
replied on January 16, 2025

Oh, that should be slick and easy.  I'll try this out.  Thank you!

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replied on January 17, 2025

This is the approach we use for broader maintenance that takes down the whole system, like updating the Forms application to a new version.

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replied on January 21, 2025

I've been trying to test this out on my test environment without success.  I feel like I'm missing some obvious step.

I created an HTML page and named it "maintenance.html".  I placed it into the "C:\Program Files\Laserfiche\Laserfiche Forms\Forms" folder on the server.

I went to IIS > Server >Sites > Default Web Site > Forms > Default Document

I added "maintenance.html" to the top of that list.

Then in IIS on Default Web Site, I selected Manage Website > Restart

On my local machine, I browsed to https://SERVERNAME/Forms but it still just goes to Forms, not to the "maintenance.html" page I created.

I've tried several other things, and it just continues to run Forms like normal.

I looked elsewhere online for instructions about using the Default Document functionality in IIS, and those sound like I'm doing it right.

Any suggestions of other things I can try?

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SELECTED ANSWER
replied on January 22, 2025

We use the app_offline.htm file for when we put sites into maintenance mode.

check out App Offline file (app_offline.htm) | Microsoft Learn for specifics

we use a Powershell script to put the file in place for all sites during maintenance, and also to remove it afterwards.

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replied on January 22, 2025

Oh!  That works wonderfully.  I didn't even bother with the Powershell, I just moved the file into the folder path, tested and confirmed I saw the page, then moved it out and confirmed Forms was working again as expected.

That is exactly what I needed and very easy to implement.  Thank you!

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replied on January 16, 2025

You could have the custom HTML as you said but only display it when a field (ie. MaintenanceStatus) contains a certain value (ie. InProgress).  Then load that specific field from a lookup.  This way you only need to change the value in your database/lookup table once and all your forms with this setup will show the customHTML element indicating maintenance.  Cleanup is also simplified as you simply change the value in the table again (ie. Complete). 

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replied on January 16, 2025

That's a really good suggestion.  Does mean I need to implement it on every process I have in use, but then once I have done that, it's easy to maintain.  Thank you!

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replied on January 17, 2025 • Show version history

I do something similar for some of our forms. We have a database for that process and one of the stored values is a boolean for "maintenance mode"

Like Shawn mentioned, we have lookups configured and just flip that switch to disable submission on the associated form(s).

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replied on January 16, 2025

I create a maintenance form on almost every process so I can change the Starting Form in the Message Start Event if I don't want end users to complete it during a time that I might be making updates or I'm about to turn of the routing service, etc.  

@████████has a great suggestion as well, but you would have to set it up on each form.  

At a district I was at a few years ago, I would redirect the URL in IIS.  It's been a while, but I pulled these directions from Copilot and it looks correct.  I haven't tested it here; we have an auto redirect for all of our sites if a system is offline.  I think this should get you what you need.  

 

To create a redirect for a web address in IIS for Laserfiche Forms (self-hosted), you can follow these steps:

  1. Open IIS Manager:

    • Press Windows + R, type inetmgr, and press Enter.

  2. Select Your Site:

    • In the left-hand Connections pane, expand your server’s node and then expand the Sites node.
    • Click on the site where Laserfiche Forms is hosted.

  3. Add a Redirect Rule:

    • In the middle pane, double-click on the URL Rewrite feature.
    • In the Actions pane on the right, click on Add Rule(s)....
    • Select Blank rule and click OK.

  4. Configure the Rule:

    • Name: Give your rule a name (e.g., RedirectToHttps).
    • Requested URL: Choose Matches the Pattern.
    • Using: Select Regular Expressions.
    • Pattern: Enter (.*) to match all URLs.

  5. Set the Redirect Conditions:

    • Click on Add... under the Conditions section.
    • Condition input: Select {HTTPS} from the dropdown.
    • Check if input string: Select Matches the Pattern.
    • Pattern: Enter ^OFF$ to match non-HTTPS requests.
    • Click OK.

  6. Set the Redirect Action:

    • In the Action section, set the following:
      • Action type: Select Redirect.
      • Redirect URL: Enter https://{HTTP_HOST}/{R:1}.
      • Append query string: Select Yes.
      • Redirect type: Choose Permanent (301).

  7. Apply the Rule:

    • Click Apply in the Actions pane on the right.

  8. Test the Redirect:

    • Open a web browser and navigate to the HTTP version of your Laserfiche Forms URL to ensure it redirects to HTTPS.
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replied on January 16, 2025

Both really good suggestions.

I think I would probably go with Shawn's suggestion over the alternate form, since it simplifies the act of turning it on an off.

I'm going to need to play around with the redirect option though - that might best suit my needs for this situation.

Thank you!

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replied on January 16, 2025

I build a separate "Maintenance Form" on almost every process so I can switch out forms form the Message Start Event Activity if I don't want people to complete during certain times...form updates, maintenance, etc.  No rules or lookups to bother with.   @████████suggestion is faster but you would need to go in and set it up in each form.  

However, since you need all of them off pretty quick, I believe you can go into IIS on the form server and use the URL Rewrite to create a rule and redirect your forms url to another page that could just contain a message or image of maintenance.  I did this a few years ago at another district.  I haven't tested these instructions because we have an automatic redirect when for all of our sites when they are not accessible, but I pulled these from Copilot and it looks correct from what I remember.

 

To create a redirect for a web address in IIS for Laserfiche Forms (self-hosted), you can follow these steps:

  1. Open IIS Manager:

    • Press Windows + R, type inetmgr, and press Enter.

  2. Select Your Site:

    • In the left-hand Connections pane, expand your server’s node and then expand the Sites node.
    • Click on the site where Laserfiche Forms is hosted.

  3. Add a Redirect Rule:

    • In the middle pane, double-click on the URL Rewrite feature.
    • In the Actions pane on the right, click on Add Rule(s)....
    • Select Blank rule and click OK.

  4. Configure the Rule:

    • Name: Give your rule a name (e.g., RedirectToHttps).
    • Requested URL: Choose Matches the Pattern.
    • Using: Select Regular Expressions.
    • Pattern: Enter (.*) to match all URLs.

  5. Set the Redirect Conditions:

    • Click on Add... under the Conditions section.
    • Condition input: Select {HTTPS} from the dropdown.
    • Check if input string: Select Matches the Pattern.
    • Pattern: Enter ^OFF$ to match non-HTTPS requests.
    • Click OK.

  6. Set the Redirect Action:

    • In the Action section, set the following:
      • Action type: Select Redirect.
      • Redirect URL: Enter https://{HTTP_HOST}/{R:1}.
      • Append query string: Select Yes.
      • Redirect type: Choose Permanent (301).

  7. Apply the Rule:

    • Click Apply in the Actions pane on the right.

  8. Test the Redirect:

    • Open a web browser and navigate to the HTTP version of your Laserfiche Forms URL to ensure it redirects to HTTPS.
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