Top 10 Reasons a Website Might Be Down
1
Coding Errors
This type of problem is normally the fault of the website owner working directly on their website. The average website contains thousands of lines of code. Mistakes are bound to happen. A bad line of code can break a single page or take down an entire website.
2
DNS Problems
DNS stands for Domain Name System. It’s basically a directory for the Internet that matches up domain names with IP addresses. DNS problems can be a headache, even if you’re experienced with web hosting. The website owner, the registrar, and the web host all have to work together to ensure that DNS servers point visitors to the right place.
3
Datacenter Issues
Datacenters that stores web servers can run into all kinds of issues. The most common being power outages. If a data center loses power, any website stored on those servers will go down. Most datacenters nowadays fight this problem by using backup generators that run 24/7.
4
Server Overload
A web server will accept every request that it can, and because there is a resource cost to each open connection, it will eventually exhaust all of it’s RAM. This leaves no resources to actually handle the requests, and everything slows down to a grinding halt.
5
Hardware Failures
Just like any other piece of equipment in this world, sometimes web servers break. How long you can expect the downtime to be really depends on how long it takes your web hosting company to install and configure a new part or an entirely new web server.
6
Server Maintenance
Just like your computer at home, the servers that host your website need to be maintained. Every so often, your web hosting provider will need to update software, install security patches and upgrade the hardware. A lot of this can be done while the server is still running, but occasionally the server may need to be shut down or rebooted.
7
Hacked Website
When a hacker has access to a website they can do all kinds of things. In some cases, they will have access to the database and core website files. Deleting information from a database or tampering with the code of core files will most certainly bring a website down.
8
Malware
Website malware attacks are very common and lead to serious security issues. Hackers can utilize these infected websites for carrying out various cyber crimes such as stealing banking credentials, spamming, and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.
9
DDoS Attacks
A denial of service (DDoS) attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt normal traffic of a targeted server, service or network by overwhelming the target or its surrounding infrastructure with a flood of Internet traffic. This normally overloads and crashes the server, therefore, taking your website offline.
10
IP Blocked
When a webmaster notices that a user attached to a specific IP address is breaking the website’s Terms of Service, they can block that IP from being able to access the website. In this particular situation, the website would only be down for you. Using a tool like the one provided above will help determine if this is the problem.