Server is down

Any server, even the most reliable one, can stop responding to user and system administrator requests under certain circumstances. There can be many reasons for this behavior, but it makes sense to take a few simple steps before starting a diagnosis.

Check local internet connection

Servers installed in data centers can lose network connectivity much less often than a typical home computer. First, check that the computer from which the problem was noticed is not experiencing any difficulties connecting to the internet. For this purpose, almost all operating systems provide a universal PING command.

Here’s how it works: your computer sends special echo packets to a device with a specific IP address. If the packets are successfully delivered, the device should send a response. Upon receiving it, your computer will inform you about the number of packets sent, the number of responses received, and the time it took. The simplest way to test internet connectivity is by sending packets to public DNS servers.

The most popular ones are:

• 1.1.1.1 (CloudFlare),
• 8.8.8.8 (Google Primary DNS),
• 8.8.4.4 (Google Secondary DNS).

For Windows, click on the Start menu, type cmd and confirm with the Enter key. Then, type the following command:

ping 8.8.8.8

If you see a result like this, it means that your device is connected to the internet, and you can move on to the next step:

Pinging 8.8.8.8 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=44ms TTL=57
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=44ms TTL=57
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=44ms TTL=57
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=43ms TTL=57
Ping statistics for 8.8.8.8:
  Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
  Minimum = 43ms, Maximum = 44ms, Average = 43ms

In all other cases, particularly when there are packet losses (the Lost indicator is not zero), you should check your internet connection either independently or with your internet service provider’s technical support.

Check server availability from your PC

The same PING command can be used to check the server’s availability. Simply enter the server’s IP address and examine the statistics of sent requests and received responses.

Example:

ping XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX

Pinging XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX: bytes=32 time=44ms TTL=57
Request timed out
Reply from XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX: bytes=32 time=44ms TTL=57
Reply from XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX: bytes=32 time=43ms TTL=57
Ping statistics for XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX:
  Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 3, Lost = 1 (25% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
  Minimum = 43ms, Maximum = 44ms, Average = 43ms

Check server availability from online services

Another method to check availability is by using free monitoring services. These services can ping your server from different countries, providing a more comprehensive understanding of any potential issues. We recommend the following services:

• IP Pinger
• Ping.EU
• PingTool.org

Traceroute (optional)

Let’s examine at which stage of the route packet loss is occurring. To accomplish this, utilize the WinMTR program, which is open-source and available for free. Unzip the archive, choose the x32 or x64 version, based on your computer’s operating system, and double-click on WinMTR.exe. Type the server’s IP address in the Host field and click the Start button:

Wait a few minutes to collect statistics, for example, 100 packages, and then click the Stop button:

We don’t recommend interpreting the results yourself. Save the collected data in a text file by pressing the Export TEXT button. This data may be required if a technical support employee requests it.

See also:

• Read-only filesystem
• Permission denied
• Contact technical support