Downtime
Downtime means your site stops answering visitors. It often happens at night or at the weekend, and you only hear about it when a customer tells you. Every minute down can mean lost orders and a small dent in how search engines see your site.
- At a glance
- Group
- Availability
- Mellonbot
- Can fix it
- What it does
- Finds out why and restarts whatever crashed.
- Approval
- Always with your OK
What you’ll notice
- 01The browser says “This site can’t be reached” or keeps loading
- 02Visitors see “502 Bad Gateway” or “503 Service Unavailable”
- 03Customers email or call to say the site is broken
- 04Uptime alerts or search console warnings about server errors
Why it usually happens
- 01The web server or the app behind it has crashed
- 02The server ran out of disk space or memory
- 03A settings change broke something on the next restart
- 04The database stopped, so every page fails
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
Check the site from outside
Confirm it’s really down and see what the server answers.
curl -I https://example.com - 02
Look for stopped services
List anything that has failed on the server.
systemctl --failed - 03
Read the web server’s recent logs
The last lines usually say why it stopped.
sudo journalctl -u nginx --since "1 hour ago" --no-pager - 04
Check disk and memory
A full disk or no free memory is a common hidden cause.
df -h && free -h - 05
Restart what crashed
Once you know the cause, restart the service and check the site again.
sudo systemctl restart nginx && systemctl status nginx --no-pager
With Mellonbot
How Mellonbot fixes it
- Checks whether your site answers and, if not, finds which service on the server has stopped.
- Explains the cause in plain English, with the technical details one click away.
- Offers to restart what crashed — with a backup, a re-check first and a verify after.
- Scheduled checks email you when your site goes down, so you hear before your customers do.
Not sure this is your problem? Ask us →
FAQ
Downtime: common questions
Why is my website down but my server is on?
Usually one program has stopped — the web server, PHP or the database — while the server itself keeps running. Restarting the right service often brings the site back.
How do I know when my site goes down?
You need something checking it regularly. Mellonbot’s scheduled checks email you when your site is down, instead of waiting for a customer to notice.
Still have a question?
Every message goes straight to the founder.
Free plan · 100 credits to start
Let Mellonbot look after your website
Create a free account and connect your first site in a few minutes. Upgrade only when you need more.
- No card needed
- Leave any time
Prefer to talk first? Get in touch →
mellonbot — startfree- ✓ 100 credits to start
- ✓ No card needed
- ✓ One command to connect your site
Already have an account? Sign in