What To Do If Your Website Is Down 

Are you experiencing a website that suddenly cannot be accessed? This could be a sign that the web server is down. If this happens, you must fix it immediately. Don’t let visitors move away, which increases the website’s bounce rate!

A website that is down can provide visitors with a less-than-pleasant experience. Of course, this can affect the website’s credibility, mainly if used for business purposes. So, how do you overcome this?

How to Solve a Web Server Problem or Down

There are several ways to overcome a website that is difficult to access or down. What are they? Here is the list:

1. Check Internet Network

Checking the internet connection is an essential effort to overcome the problem of difficulty accessing the website. Ensure you have a smooth connection to connect to the web server. Check for possible physical disturbances. For example, damaged cables or disruptions to the network infrastructure.

Not only that, you also need to analyze the network structure in depth. Check for elements experiencing disruption, such as routers that require reconfiguration. In addition, the readiness of the network source must be checked, and there must be no interference with the data flow. 

2. Check Host Server

Physical hardware on the server can also be one of the causes of downtime. To overcome this, you need to check the host server used. Ensure every server component, such as RAM, CPU, and physical storage, is in prime condition. 

It is recommended that a thorough inspection be carried out so that all components can operate optimally and none require replacement or repair.

3. Check the Status on the Website

To identify the source of the problem on your server, you must check the website’s status. Use server logs and trusted website health monitoring tools. This step lets you see the history of activities that caused the webserver to go down.

This tool monitors the health of a website as a whole. It consists of checking server load, response time, and disruptions that cause the website to go down.

4. Delete the cache in the browser.

This step can be done if some users only experience the server. Usually, this happens because of a problem with their browser cache.

To overcome this, you can provide a tutorial on clearing the cache on their mobile browser manually. However, it would be better if you did it automatically through the server. 

Browser cache is data that is temporarily stored in the browser’s engine storage. To clear the cache on your browser, you can open the browser settings used. If using Chrome, here are the steps that can be used:

– Open the settings menu on the top right side of Chrome.

– Select “ History,” then select “ Clear Browsing .” 

– Select “ Cached Image and Files ” and check the box. 

– Click the “ Clear ” option.

5. Clear DNS Cache

Please note that an outdated or dirty DNS cache can cause problems when accessing a web server. The DNS cache is used by the user’s computer to store website addresses. So, if the cache turns out to contain invalid information, users will have difficulty accessing your website. 

Therefore, clean the DNS cache periodically to ensure that access to the website can be smooth. In addition, you can also do how to flush DNS, namely:

– Type “ command prompt ” in the search field on the taskbar ;

– Once the command box appears, please type “ ipconfig/flushdns ”;

– If this step is successful, please reaccess the website.

6. Use Load Balancer

If you often experience a significant increase in traffic, you should consider using a load balancer. This tool functions to distribute traffic more evenly to several servers. As a result, the risk of server downtime due to excessive traffic load can be overcome. 

Load balancers can help ensure that each server functions at its maximum capacity, ensuring that the website’s quality is more stable and maintained.

7. Contact Your Hosting Service

The last way you can do when the website experiences a server down is to contact the hosting service provider used. They are more experienced in handling problems and analyzing the root cause of the server being difficult to access. 

You should also know eight other common causes of website server downtime besides those explained above.

Reasons Why Your Web Server Is Down

In addition to knowing some ways to overcome server down, you should also recognize what can cause it. The causes are as follows:

1. Server Maintenance 

This is an action taken to maintain the health of the website server so that it can work optimally. However, when this process is carried out, it can cause the server to go down if it is not done with good planning. 

Therefore, you should inform your audience if maintenance will occur at a particular time. This will ensure their comfort when visiting your website.

2. Number of Visiting Traffic at One Time

Servers that suddenly become inaccessible can be caused by a burst of traffic from the website. High traffic causes internet users to access the website together, causing the server to error because the hosting is overloaded.

If the server you are using cannot accommodate the surge in website traffic, this can be a severe problem. Customers cannot visit your website when this happens, and your business will suffer losses.

3. DNS problems

DNS is an acronym for Domain Name Server. DNS functions to facilitate internet communication and run more smoothly by relying on URLs. Do You Know the Difference Between Hosting, Server, and Domain ? You should read the information first.

Problematic DNS can prevent internet users from accessing websites. DNS settings must be set correctly for a site to reach its intended target. 

So, when you type a site address but the word error appears, it could be that the URL used has moved to an inactive site. 

4. Errors in Coding

The following error that can disrupt the website is a coding error. This can disturb the site to the point of deleting all pages. 

Therefore, as a web developer, you must be careful when creating website code so that its structure does not change. Always check the coding results after completion to minimize errors.

After reading the information above, you may have a little understanding of some of the causes of downtime on a web server and how to overcome it.