Folks, if you are reading this article, it means that you are facing the HTTP 503 Service Unavailable error. In this guide, I will walk you through the steps to fix the error. Keep reading!
The HTTP error 503 the service unavailable means right now the website server is not available. Most of the time, the issue is due to the website. So, you can do nothing much rather than trying again later. There are a few things that you can try from your end to fix 503 service unavailable issues.
What is HTTP 503 Service Unavailable Error?
You can come across HTTP error 503 the service unavailable while accessing a website. The 503 services unavailable issue indicates that the website server is unable to handle the request at the moment. However, the service unavailable error occurs for several reasons. But, the most common two reasons for raising the issue are due to server busy because of too many requests or website is under maintenance.
The HTTP error 503 is different from the 500 server error. The 500 internal issue of server error occurs while something preventing the server to handle your request. Here, the 503 server unavailable showcases that the server is fine – your request can process but throwing an error 503.
Errors like 503 Service Unavailable
As we have already discussed that the 503 Service Unavailable error is a server-side error. There are some other errors also reported by users related to the server such as 500 Internal Server Error, 502 Bad Gateway error. Apart from these server errors, there are some other annoying client-side HTTP status codes such as 404 Not Found error, error code 400, etc.
Why 503 Service Unavailable Error appears?
Though it is very difficult to pinpoint the exact reason behind this issue, however, I have listed some most common reasons behind this error:
- Server under maintenance.
- Too many users browsing at a time is the main reason for the occurrence of the error.
- The server resources are too low to handle the visitors. You have to increase the visitor’s resources to get rid of the issue.
- If the web application is misconfigured due to the incompatibility of plug-in or some other reason causes.
- Website DNS problem.
Note: The website goes through the error because of many reasons but, the webmaster should resolve the issue at the earliest possible to avoid inconvenience to visitors. As well as, if the webmaster didn’t fix the issue soon, there will be a lot of visitors’ loss.
Some Common Examples of HTTP Error 503
The website designers customize the look of the HTTP error 503 as they do for the other error codes. So, you will see the difference from one website to another regarding the error codes display. The websites also use different names for HTTP error 503 the service unavailable issue.
For your reference showing some of the names that you can see on variant websites related to the HTTP error 503.
- Http/1.2 service unavailable
- 503 service unavailable temporarily
- 503 service unavailable
- HTTP error 503 the service unavailable
- Http error 503
- Error 503
- Http 503
- 503 error service unavailable
- HTTP server error 503
- HTTP_STATUS_SERVICE_UNAVAIL Error
- The Service is Temporary Overloaded
How to Fix HTTP 503 Service Unavailable error?
If you are trying to access a website and got a hindrance due to 503 service unavailable error. You can try the below solutions to fix the issue and to view the website with ease.
Refresh The Page
As we all know that the 503 error is temporary, by the information we have known till now. So, you can try reloading the website page to view the page. You have to go to the reload button on your browser to reload the page. You can also complete the action by clicking the F5 button from your keyboard which does the webpage reloading. I Hope, the HTTP error 503 the service unavailable error message is disappeared and able to view the webpage content.
Note: If you are doing the payment and all of a sudden the issue occurred, you need to confirm before repayment. You have to be cautious, check, and do the repayment.
Reboot Device and Internet Modem
Rebooting the system and internet modem also sometimes fixes the issue. In some of the cases, the network settings also cause the issue. So, restart your devices and try to view the webpage that caused the problem.
You need to power cycle your devices as below as it may help to get rid of the 503 services unavailable issue.
- Shut down modem and device.
- Unplug all the cables.
- Wait for some time
- Plug them all in the appropriate places.
- Switch on all the devices
- Now, check whether the issue is resolved.
Check whether others can access it
If you are facing the issue, it may not be obvious that others also should face it. You can ask your friends whether the website is accessible to them. Instead of it, you can also check through some of the online sources like this website to check whether the website is Up or Down. You can go through the site and enter the website, it will display whether the website is working for all or not.
In case, the website is down you have to try sometime later. Otherwise, you can try some other solutions to fix the issue.
Come Back Later
You can come back to the webpage sometime later to check the page is accessible. However, we can’t predict the time, if you are willing to know the time and details contact the website owner directly.
Contact Website Admin
Contacting the website owner directly may help you because the webmaster is unaware of the issue. If you contact them, it may help you to get the information regarding the website uptime instead of checking all the time. You can get the contact details of the website by checking their social media websites.
What is HTTP Error 503 in WordPress?
Apart from the HTTP error 503 Service Unavailable in Windows or Mac users also reported that they have encountered the 503 error in WordPress.
If you are a website owner then there are chances that you can encounter this error on your website. This error indicates that your website is unreachable at the present moment as the server is unavailable.
This could happen due to any of the reasons such as the server is busy or under maintenance, or something other than this which should be analyzed. This error just pops up with a Service temporarily unavailable message.
The 503 error code can also occur if your WordPress website is under maintenance or updating a plugin, theme, or software. This is like a timeout error on the website. Sometimes not even the users lose their access to the website but you will lose access to the admin panel and to fix this you need to go through its files.
Tips For Website Owners (Webmasters)
The suggestions are given below help you to get an idea regarding the occurrence of the issue and how to fix it.
- If the issue occurs to a lot of the website users. The webmaster of the website should troubleshoot the issue and need to fix the issue at the earliest.
- The website owner should schedule updates on the website so that people will not see HTTP error 503 frequently.
- The administrator should monitor whether the issue is causing due to the spike in the visitors. You need to increase the server resources to handle the new visitors.
- If the error is due to the DoS (Denial of Service) attack, you need to contact your hosting provider to fix this issue. You can get an answer like what are the mitigation to place to avoid happening again. One more thing, you need to increase your website security otherwise your website goes offline due to hackers.
How to Fix HTTP Error 503 in WordPress?
There is no such prescribed reason behind this error so you need to go through some troubleshooting steps to fix this error and after application of each method, you have to check your website for the existence of this error. Follow these easy to execute methods to fix this error:
Restart the Server
If you are an administrator for the server and having access to the admin panel then try to restart the server to fix the issue.
Check for the Unexpected Updates
There might be chances that your server or application may be configured for automatic maintenance. As you all are aware that WordPress will automatically download and install updates to its base software. So during this period, the webserver will issue 503 Service Unavailable Errors. You need to access the administration settings of your server and check the configuration options for any automatic maintenance and disable such options to fix the issue. Later you can check for the upcoming updates if any.
Temporary Disable your CDN
If you are using a CDN (Content Delivery Network) then sometimes your CDN might cause this error. To fix this try to disable your CDN temporarily by following these steps:
- Navigate to CDN and disable it under dashboard settings. The process may vary for different CDNs.
- Once disable check for the error and if it has not fixed then enable the CDN again and try the next method to fix the error.
Increase Your Server’s Resources
If you are using some cheap WordPress hosting then the problem might be due to a lack of server resources. You need to upgrade your hosting plan to fix the error.
To do so contact your web hosting support service and report the 503 error along with the steps to fix the error. The support team will help you in finding out the cause and requirement of plan up-gradation if required.
Temporary Disable your WordPress Plugins
One reason for this error might be your WordPress Plugins’ compatibility and your WordPress plugins might be causing this error. Since you have no access to your WordPress admin panel so you can use an FTP client to disable your WordPress Plugins. To do so follow these steps:
- Connect your website through the FTP client and navigate to your WordPress root (public_html) folder.
- Open the folder and navigate to the wp-content directory.
- Go to the folder named plugins. Inside this, you will find the list of installed (active and inactive) plugins.
- Right-click on the folder and rename it (recommended plugins.old or plugins.deactivated for ease). By doing so your WordPress will not be able to find out the plugins and disable those plugins automatically.
- Once you access your admin panel check for the error.
- Navigate to the wp-content directory again and rename the folder as the previous name and disable the plugins one by one and find out the culprit plugin that is causing the error.
Deactivate WordPress Theme
If none of the above methods helped you then try to deactivate the WordPress theme installed on your website to fix this error. To do so follow these steps:
- Login to the WordPress directory using PHPMyAdmin.
- Click on the wp_options table and click on the Search tab.
- Search for template under option_name.
- Search for the theme under option_value. Change this theme with any one of the default themes.
- Now check for the error and if it has gone then the problem is with your theme. Try to reinstall the theme.
Review Your Logs and Enable WP_DEBUG
You can take the help of your error logs to fix this error. This can fix the error easily if it is due to a plugin on your site.
- To add a logging tool add the following code to your wp-config.php file:
define( ‘WP_DEBUG’, true );
define( ‘WP_DEBUG_LOG’, true );
define( ‘WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY’, false );
- Usually, the logs are located in the /wp-content directory. Look for a file called debug.log and open it up.
- The log contains information about all errors that pop up on your site. It will show which file is causing which error and which specific lines of code are responsible.
If all the above-said methods failed then contact your hosting provider if you need further help to fix this error.
Wrapping It Up
Http Error 503 the service unavailable is the common issue anyone faces while accessing the website. I hope, the solutions provided here helped you to get out of the issue. Do you have any more queries or doubts? Please let us know in the comment section which method worked for you? Wanna some more DeviceTricks? Stay tuned to this space to get the latest updates on errors related to Windows, macOS, and Android. We are always happy to hear from you.
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