Work out which layer has failed first, because each has a different fix: the domain (expired, or pointing somewhere else), the hosting account (unpaid, suspended, or the provider is gone), the server (crashed or overloaded), or the app itself. What you see is the clue. "This site can't be reached" points at the domain. A hosting company's page points at the account. A numbered error such as 500, 502 or 503 points at the server or the app.
What's the problem
It was working. Now customers see an error, a warning, or nothing at all. If the person who set it up has moved on, you may not even know where it's hosted or who holds the logins.
Why it happens
- The domain expired. When a domain's registration lapses, the registrar is required to cut the link between the name and your site. The hosting can be perfectly fine and nobody can reach it.
- The domain points somewhere else. DNS is the internet's address book: it maps your domain to the server your site runs on. If someone changed those records, or the server's address changed, visitors are sent to the wrong place or nowhere.
- The hosting account stopped. A card expired, a free tier ended, or the provider closed down. Hosts usually suspend the account rather than warn your visitors.
- The server or the app fell over. Out of memory, out of disk, a crash on start, or overloaded. These usually show as a 5xx error.
- The certificate expired. HTTPS certificates are short-lived (90 days for the most common free ones) and renew automatically. If renewal breaks, browsers show a full-page warning instead of your site.
How to fix it
- Check it's down for everyone. Try your phone on mobile data, not your office Wi-Fi.
- Write down exactly what you see: the message, any error number, and the address in the browser bar.
- Check the domain. Log in to the registrar where the domain was bought. If it has expired, renew it. There is usually a window after expiry where you can still renew. See my domain expired.
- Check the hosting account. Log in, and look for billing problems, suspension notices, or the provider's status page.
- Check the server and the app. Read the logs on your host's dashboard and restart the app. The error number tells you where to look: 500, 502, 503.
- If the browser warns about the connection, see my website says "Not secure".
- If you can't log in to the domain or hosting because your developer holds the accounts, start with your developer is gone.
When to call Preventionlabs
If it's a renewal or a bill, you can fix it today. Call us when the app itself won't come back: it crashes on start, the server it ran on is gone, or nobody knows how it was deployed. Getting it running again, deployed in your own hosting account so you hold the keys this time, is the first thing a resurrection delivers.
Submit your project for a free assessmentFree assessment. $10,000 AUD flat to get it live, only if we take it on and you go ahead.
Sources
- ICANN: Expired Registration Recovery Policydomain name policy
The existing DNS resolution path specified by the RAE must be interrupted by the registrar from expiration of the registration until its deletion, to the extent the applicable registry permits such interruptions.
- MDN Web Docs: DNSweb reference
DNS maintains a list of domain names along with the resources, such as IP addresses, that are associated with them.
- MDN Web Docs: 503 Service Unavailableweb reference
Common causes are that a server is down for maintenance or overloaded.
- Let's Encrypt: FAQcertificate authority
Our default certificates are valid for 90 days.