7 Ways Your Website Can Go Offline
There are several reasons why your business site could be suffering from an outage…
A Google search for the term “website downtime” currently reveals over 16 million results. Every network manager’s secret dread and the bane of any small business owner, downtime is hugely damaging to a company’s profits and professionalism alike. It’s important to understand what causes websites to go offline, as well as appreciating why this phenomenon should be avoided at all costs…
Websites typically go offline for one of several reasons:
- Programming errors. This can be as simple as a bad weblink in a CMS editor or as complex as a database exception that hasn’t been catered for in every web browser. Before a new website is launched, it’s crucial to click every link and fill every data field to ensure robustness. This should be carried out in all the main web browsers – IE, Edge, Chrome, Firefox, Safari and at least one Android browser.
- Server crashes. While companies like VPS.NET offer backup servers that can take the strain if one (or more) servers go offline or become overloaded, not all web hosting companies are created equal. If a dedicated server falls over in the night and nobody’s there to hear it, hours may pass before remedial action is taken. That’s why any customer-facing website should be managed by a large hosting company with multiple data centres. Dedicated hosting is only recommended for major retailers; smaller companies will be fine with a virtual private server.
- Maintenance. It’s surprisingly common to find a “this site is undergoing maintenance” sign on the homepage of a website. While such maintenance may be necessary, it looks very unprofessional, particularly if your company is online-only. Try to schedule maintenance at times of minimal traffic; there are plenty of statistics providers who can tell you which hours in the week manifest the lowest visitor numbers. Mirror sites are useful for making significant changes since they allow you to work on an offline copy of the main website that isn’t publicly visible.
- Malicious interference. Sometimes hackers decide to target a website to steal data or punish the site’s owners for some perceived transgression. A website may also be hit by huge numbers of visitors in a denial-of-service attack that attempts to crash the hosting server. This is often randomly-targeted (and ultimately pointless) but it can force sites offline. Having a UK web hosting company with international data centres and shared hosting facilities can minimise the risk of being forced offline in this way.
- Traffic overload. If the owner of a small cupcake company gets interviewed on The Great British Bake Off, their website will probably experience a huge spike in visitor numbers for several hours. This can take even high-profile websites offline in a more benign form of the DoS attacks outlined above. It’s possible to display a message apologising for heavy traffic levels, though burstable server bandwidth should prevent such an error message being needed in the first place.
- Money problems. Rather than being a technical issue, this is often an early warning sign that a company is in financial trouble. As failing businesses attempt to stay afloat they may cancel standing orders and direct debits for website or domain name hosting. The disappearance of a site for more than 24 hours should encourage the use of caution in any subsequent dealings with that firm.
- Expiration of hosting package or domain name. This may be related to the money problems outlined above, but it might also involve the deletion of a rebranded company’s former website address or the closure of a defunct brand. For instance, a “this page can’t be displayed” message greets anyone trying to access the former Comet electrical website.
As a VPS.NET customer you’ll receive around-the-clock support from a team of technical experts who specialize in making sure your site stays online where possible. If you’re suffering from an outage, contact technical support here.