Clarify status codes returned in maintenance mode (#37609)

content/admin/configuration/configuring-your-enterprise/enabling-and-scheduling-maintenance-mode.md

@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ Some types of operations require that you take {% data variables.location.produc
 
 We recommend that you schedule a maintenance window for at least 30 minutes in the future to give users time to prepare. When a maintenance window is scheduled, all users will see a banner when accessing the site.
 
-When the instance is in maintenance mode, all normal HTTP and Git access is refused. Git fetch, clone, and push operations are also rejected with an error message indicating that the site is temporarily unavailable. In high availability configurations, Git replication will be paused. GitHub Actions jobs will not be executed. Visiting the site in a browser results in a maintenance page.
+When the instance is in maintenance mode, all normal HTTP and Git access is refused. This includes web and API requests, for which the appliance responds with status code `503` (Service Unavailable). Git fetch, clone, and push operations are also rejected with an error message indicating that the site is temporarily unavailable. In high availability configurations, Git replication will be paused. GitHub Actions jobs will not be executed. Visiting the site in a browser results in a maintenance page.
 
 {% ifversion ip-exception-list %}
 

data/reusables/enterprise_installation/monitoring-replicas.md

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-You can monitor the availability of {% data variables.product.prodname_ghe_server %} by checking the status code that is returned for the `https://HOSTNAME/status` URL. An appliance that can service user traffic will return status code `200` (OK). An appliance may return a `503` (Service Unavailable) for a few reasons:
+You can monitor the availability of {% data variables.product.prodname_ghe_server %} by checking the status code that is returned for the `https://HOSTNAME/status` URL. An appliance that can service user traffic will return status code `200` (OK). An appliance may return `503` (Service Unavailable) for this URL and other web or API requests for a few reasons:
 - The appliance is a passive replica, such as the replica in a two-node high availability configuration.
 - The appliance is in maintenance mode.
 - The appliance is part of a geo-replication configuration, but is an inactive replica.