ACE and the app_offline.htm ASP File

Question

We are using the app_offline.htm file to take servers down for maintainence.  I know we can manually take the RSERVER out of service, but the actuall objective is to keep the server up, and let the ASP page return the message to user. 
So the app_offline.htm file causes IIS to shut down the website and only return the content of the app_offline.htm.
Here is a blog post I found about the app_offline.htm file.
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2005/10/06/426755.aspx
Is there some way the ACE can handle this error better?

Answer 1

so here is a copy of the TCL Script I wrote, now I need to add HTTP functionality to it...
any ideas...
#!name = HTTP_PROBE_SCRIPT
# Description :
#    This script checks 3 user defined URLS.
#    Should any one of the 3 reture a http code 200-203, or 300-303
#    the ACE will put the RSERVER into an operational STATE
# Pamapaters :
#           The first URL to check
#           The second URL to check
#           The third URL to check
#           file type expected e.g text
#          [debug]          optional debug flag
# Example config :
#   probe httpProbe script
#         script HTTP_PROBE_SCRIPT ping1.htm ping2.htm ping3.htm html 0
# Version 0.01B
# Copyright (c) 2012 by CUST NAME
# debug procedure
# set the EXIT_MSG environment varaible to help debug
# also print the debug message when debug flag is on
proc set_exit_msg { msg } {
    global debug ip port EXIT_MSG
    set EXIT_MSG $msg
    if { [ info exists ip ] && [ info exists port ] } {
set EXIT_MSG "[ info script ]:$ip:$port: $EXIT_MSG "
    if { [ info exists debug ] && $debug } {
puts $EXIT_MSG
proc http_probe { ip port Header FileType debug } {
    if { $debug == "" } {
set debug 0
    set rc [catch {set sock [ socket $ip $port ]} ]
    fconfigure $sock -buffering none -eofchar {}
    if {$rc == 0} \
        set_exit_msg "SOCKET OPEN"
fconfigure $sock -buffering none -eofchar {}
#  send http requeset to server
set_exit_msg "sending request : $Header"
puts -nonewline $sock "$Header\n\n"
flush $sock
#  read string back from server
set_exit_msg "receiving response"
set lines [ read $sock ]
#  close connection
set_exit_msg "closing socket"
close $sock
return $lines
    } else {
        set_exit_msg "probe fail : can't find status code"
exit 30002
    # This is the last line in the proc http_probe
# main
# parse cmd line args and initialize variables
set_exit_msg "initializing varaible"
if { $argc <  4 } {
    set_exit_msg "[ info script ] parameters : "
    exit 30002
###  Vars change to test script locally
set ip $scriptprobe_env(realIP)
set port $scriptprobe_env(realPort)
# if port is zero the use well known http port 80
if { $port == 0} {
    set port 80
#set requestHeader [ lindex $argv 0 ]
set url1 [ lindex $argv 0 ]
set url2 [ lindex $argv 1 ]
set url3 [ lindex $argv 2 ]
set expectFileType [ lindex $argv 3 ]
set debug [ lindex $argv 4 ]
set test_num 1
set url $url1
set requestHeader "GET /$url1 HTTP/1.0"
puts "starting to run program\n"
puts "$requestHeader \n"
set url1_lines [http_probe $ip $port $requestHeader $expectFileType $debug ]
#  parsing http  response to decide if probe success or failed
#  all the following condition casing probe faile. should return exit 30002
puts "test$test_num\n - TESTING $url"
incr test_num 1
if { ![ regexp -nocase "^HTTP/1\.\[0-9\] (\[0-9\]\[0-9\]\[0-9\])" $url1_lines match url1_statuscode ] } {
    puts "probe fail : can't find status code"
    exit 30002
} elseif { ![ regexp {(20[0-3])|(30[0-3])} $url1_statuscode ]} {
    puts "test$test_num - $url $url1_statuscode\n"
    incr test_num 1  
    set_exit_msg "$url probe fail : status code is $url1_statuscode"   
    set url "$url2"
    set requestHeader "GET /$url HTTP/1.0"
    set url_lines [http_probe $ip $port $requestHeader $expectFileType $debug ]
    if { ![ regexp -nocase "^HTTP/1\.\[0-9\] (\[0-9\]\[0-9\]\[0-9\])" $url_lines match url_statuscode ] } {
set_exit_msg "probe fail : can't find status code"
exit 30002
    } elseif { ![ regexp {(20[0-3])|(30[0-3])} $url_statuscode ]} {
incr test_num 1
# "url fail - try next URL
set_exit_msg "$url probe fail : status code is $url_statuscode"
unset url_statuscode
unset url_lines
# START 2ND DETAIL PROBE
set url "$url3"
set requestHeader "GET /$url HTTP/1.0"
set url_lines [http_probe $ip $port $requestHeader $expectFileType $debug ]
if { ![ regexp -nocase "^HTTP/1\.\[0-9\] (\[0-9\]\[0-9\]\[0-9\])" $url_lines match url_statuscode ] } {
    set_exit_msg "probe fail : can't find status code"
    exit 30002
} elseif { ![ regexp {(20[0-3])|(30[0-3])} $url_statuscode ]} {
    # "test$test_num - $url $url_statuscode\n"
    set_exit_msg "$url fail - THIS IS THE END"
    exit 30002
} else {
    set_exit_msg "test$test_num - $url $url_statuscode\n"
    incr test_num 1
    #  Everything went fine. probe exit with success exit_code 30001
    puts "probe to $url passed\n"
    exit 30001   
# End of double nested test
    } else {
incr test_num 1
#  Everything went fine. probe exit with success exit_code 30001
set_exit_msg "probe to $url passed\n"
exit 30001   
} else {
    #  Everything went fine. probe exit with success exit_code 30001
    puts "probe to $url passed\n"
    exit 30001