How can I completely disable a WordPress installation?

I would like to completely disable a Wordpress website. I'd like it to be completely inaccessible to visitors, and have no activity taking place on the server (no updates, cron jobs, etc.) I'd like to do this in a non-destructive manner, so that I can access the files if I need to (via FTP), or even re-enable the site at a future date.

In other words, put it in mothballs.

I've tried searching but only come up with maintenance mode solutions, in which there is still activity on the server.

Can I do something simple, for example: rename index.php in the root folder, to index-disabled.php? Are there any other options, besides deleting the entire contents of the site? What is the best and safest way to do this?

(SEO is of no concern.)

Topic uninstallation installation Wordpress

Category Web

1
answered at

You could move the files to a non-web-accessible directory and change the password on the database user.

eg, if your site's root directory is /var/www/html, you could create a directory elswhere on the server (say /home/me/site-archive) and move the files from /var/www/html into /home/me/site-archive.

If you ever want to re-activate the site, you can move the files from /home/me/site-archive back to /var/www/html, and set the database user's password back to what you find in wp-config.php (or update wp-config.php to use the new password).

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