A website going down is fact of life due to hardware issues or several other factors mostly out of a web provider’s control. When your site goes down your first reaction may be to freak out. But today, we will be going over some common errors you may see on your site, and the steps you can take to fix them. If you are needing additional help, you can contact Lee Media Group today by sending us a contact request or calling us at (316) 239-6466.
If you think your site may be down, but are not sure if its just for you or for everyone, you can go to https://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/ and run a quick report.
Coding Errors
Coding is a very detail oriented line of work. Even the best coders can make a mistake. A developer may forget to close line of code or comment out something that makes your site work. This is a very easy fix. All it usually involves is your developer to go back in and take a second look at their code to find and correct the error. There are two main types of errors a coder can make. These errors will most commonly show up as an HTTP Error 500 or just a blank screen when you go to your site.
- Syntax Errors: These are basically like spelling errors in your code that cause your site not to run. As long as your coder is familiar with how the site is built and knows what the errors mean, they can usually fix these easily.
- Logic Errors: There are errors where the code is technically all correct, but it is not what the coder intended it to be, meaning the site runs incorrectly. These errors are often harder to fix than syntax errors, as there is no error message to direct you to the source of the problem.
Server Maintenance
These errors are usually rare. But, on occasion the server where your site is hosted could go down for a period of time to work on maintenance or for any updates/upgrades that may need to be made to the system. In all cases, your server provider will inform you ahead of time so you can let your clients know your site will be down. For these errors you will just need to wait until the server techs finish the maintenance and the servers are up again.
Hardware Malfunctions
Unlike Server Maintenance, Hardware Malfunctions are not planned. Servers are machines, and just like all machines they are susceptible to damage. For example, fans can bust or circuits can fry. Replacing malfunctioning parts is usually a simple process. But during this time your site may be down. Just like with Server Maintenance, you will just need to wait for the issue to be resolved.
Expiration of DNS
Domain names are typically handled from a third party. When you created your site you most likely had to go to a business to register what you wanted your website URL to be. For the most part, domain names are bought at a yearly basis. Meaning, you will own the domain name for whatever amount of time you paid for it. If you do not have your payments set to auto-renew or if you forget to make your payments before the expiration date, you will loose ownership of that name. This will result in your entire site going down. To resolve this, just go to wherever you registered your domain name from and renew it immediately. You will have a 45 day grace period to pay for your domain before you will not be able to renew your domain name. Your domain name will be released for registration by third parties.
Server Overload
If your site is experiencing higher volumes of users than your server can handle, it can crash the site. A good way to help prevent this is to talk to your server provider about setting up backup servers for your site. This way, your site will be able to handle a much larger number of users without fear that the site will crash. You can also submit a support ticket to your server techs to increase the bandwidth of your site. This will allow for more users to access the site at one time.
HTTP Errors
Accoring to Google, here are some of the most common HTTP errors that can occur on your site.
- HTTP ERROR 401 (UNAUTHORIZED) – This error most commonly occurs when a user tries to access a restricted web page but isn’t authorized to do so, usually because of a failed login attempt.
- HTTP ERROR 400 (BAD REQUEST) – This is basically an error message from the web server telling you that the application you are using (e.g. your web browser) accessed it incorrectly or that the request was somehow corrupted on the way.
- HTTP ERROR 403 (FORBIDDEN) – This error is similar to the 401 error, but note the difference between unauthorized and forbidden. In this case no login opportunity was available. This can for example happen if you try to access a (forbidden) directory on a website.
- HTTP ERROR 404 (NOT FOUND) – Most people are bound to recognize this one. A 404 error happens when you try to access a resource on a web server (usually a web page) that doesn’t exist. Some reasons for this happening can for example be a broken link, a mistyped URL, or that the webmaster has moved the requested page somewhere else (or deleted it). http://www.brokenlinkcheck.com/ will allow you to run a report of all links on your site to make sure they are all working correctly.