Crashed services
Your site depends on several programs running in the background — a web server like nginx or Apache, often PHP, and a database. When one of them stops, parts of your site or all of it stop working, even though the server is still on.
- At a glance
- Group
- Availability
- Mellonbot
- Can fix it
- What it does
- Restarts it and checks it stays up.
- Approval
- Always with your OK
What you’ll notice
- 01“502 Bad Gateway” or a blank white page
- 02The site loads but forms, logins or checkout fail
- 03A service shows as “failed” or “inactive” on the server
- 04Pages load again after someone restarts the server
Why it usually happens
- 01The program ran out of memory and was stopped
- 02A settings mistake stops it from starting
- 03An update restarted it and something went wrong
- 04It crashed after too many requests at once
Fix it yourself
How to fix it by hand
Comfortable with a terminal? Here’s what an experienced admin would do. Start with the read-only commands.
- 01
Find failed services
See which programs have stopped.
systemctl --failed - 02
Check one service’s status
Replace nginx with the service you’re looking at.
systemctl status nginx --no-pager - 03
Read why it stopped
The recent logs show the error that caused it.
sudo journalctl -u nginx -n 50 --no-pager - 04
Restart it
Restart the service, then check it stays running.
sudo systemctl restart nginx && systemctl is-active nginx
With Mellonbot
How Mellonbot fixes it
- Spots services that have stopped or keep failing, and reads their logs for the reason.
- Tells you what the service does for your site and why it stopped, in plain English.
- Offers to restart it and checks it stays up — every step is on the record.
- If the same service keeps crashing, it looks for the root cause instead of restarting forever.
Not sure this is your problem? Ask us →
FAQ
Crashed services: common questions
Why does my site say 502 Bad Gateway?
The web server is running but the program behind it, often PHP or your app, isn’t answering. Restarting that program usually fixes it; its logs show why it stopped.
Is it safe to restart a service?
Usually yes — it causes a few seconds of interruption at most. Check its settings first, though: if they’re broken, it may not start again.
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