It's sometimes needed to (temporarily) take your website offline. Reasons for this could be outdated content, an inactive company or project, or maybe you're working on a new website design.
There are several options to unpublish a web space or page temporarily, meanwhile, your subscription and other services keep active. For permanent deletion there is the option to terminate the entire subscription and the domain name, meaning all data will be immediately deleted.
Check out the different options and choose which one applies to your situation.
- Rename the index file
- Change DNS settings
- Use a plugin or password protection
- Terminate the subscription
Rename the index file
By renaming the index file, the default start page will be unavailable. However, other (sub)pages on the web space remain available when using the associated URL.
After following the steps below, changes will be active immediately after saving. Rename the index file to its original name to make the start page available again.
- Log in to the one.com control panel.
- Click File Manager on the Files & Security tile. File Manager will open on a new screen.
- Select the file called index.php or index.html, by checking the check box in front of the file.
- Choose Rename in the pane on the top right, pencil icon.
- Enter the new name, for example: index-1.php or index-old.html.
Don't use spaces and note that the file extension .php or .html is already prefilled. - Press return / enter on your keyboard to save the file.
Change DNS settings
A more technical solution for deactivating a website (temporarily) is by changing the DNS settings.
- Log in to the one.com control panel.
- Click DNS settings on the tile Advanced Settings at the bottom of the page.
- Select DNS Records in the menu at the top.
- Scroll down to Standard DNS settings and click Show all.
- Deactivate the first six settings by clicking on the sliders on the far right of the six settings.
It's the A - and AAAA records for:
one-example.com
*.one-example.com
www.one-example.com
one-example.com is used here as example. - If the sliders of these settings have turned grey, instead of green, you have successfully deactivated some DNS settings. After 90 minutes the DNS changes will be active, and visitors will not be able to access your website anymore.
If you deactivate more than just the first six settings, you might also deactivate other services, like, for example, emails and FTP access. You risk losing new emails, so please follow our instructions closely.
To revert this process, to make your website visible again, simply click the sliders again so they will turn green. It also takes 90 minutes to reactivate the DNS settings.
Tip: To keep a website online, another possibility via DNS settings is, to redirect visitors from one domain to another. Get to know more about this setting in our guide: How do I redirect a domain?
Use a plugin or password protection
-
WordPress: When your website is made with WordPress, you can choose to use our one.com Maintenance Mode plugin. Your website will be private when editing, it tells the visitors that your website is under construction. With the Pro version, you get even more options to customize the notification.
- Website Builder: Using Website Builder, we recommend using password protection to deactivate your website temporarily. The advantage: you will still be able to access your website and edit it. Plus, you can activate and deactivate password protection immediately.
Terminate the subscription
We can also delete the complete subscription, including all the files, and the domain name for you. For this, we need a completed and signed Termination form.
Note: Please note that upon receipt of the form, the entire content of the web space will be deleted - and can't be restored. We recommend before sending the form, you have backed-up all content on your web space that you wish to keep, including email that is stored on our server.
If this option is for you, read carefully our specialized guide and find the Termination form here: Terminate domain and web space.
Related articles: