{"id":34403,"date":"2021-10-18T17:20:34","date_gmt":"2021-10-18T17:20:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/?post_type=ht_kb&#038;p=34403"},"modified":"2021-10-18T17:20:34","modified_gmt":"2021-10-18T17:20:34","slug":"how-to-fix-the-http-error-503-service-unavailable-in-wordpress","status":"publish","type":"ht_kb","link":"https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/article\/how-to-fix-the-http-error-503-service-unavailable-in-wordpress\/","title":{"rendered":"How to fix the HTTP Error 503 Service Unavailable in WordPress"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The 503 error is amongst the most common errors on the web. This is the server\u2019s way of informing visitors that the service they\u2019re trying to reach isn\u2019t available. This article explains what causes this error and the available solutions for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Method 1: Refresh the page, or restart your device<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>As simple as it may sound, you should refresh the page before trying anything else as it is possible the server was unable to answer the request correctly. If you can still see the error, restart your browser, device and even router. This could fix any potential DNS misconfigurations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Method 2: Temporarily disable your WordPress plugins<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Since you don\u2019t have access to your administrator dashboard,\u00a0 you\u2019ll have to use an FTP client, such as FileZilla, to connect to your account. From here, you can rename your plugins folder. Then check your site again. If it works, then you will need to test each plugin one by one. Rename your plugin folder back to \u201cplugins\u201d and then rename each plugin folder inside of it, one by one, until you find the one that\u2019s causing the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-ht-blocks-messages wp-block-hb-message wp-block-hb-message--withicon is-style-info\">The plugins folder is typically found on \/public_html\/wp-content<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/article\/what-is-filezilla\/\">What is FileZilla? How do I connect to my account using FileZilla?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"606\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/filezilla-plugin-1-1024x606.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-34404\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/filezilla-plugin-1-1024x606.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/filezilla-plugin-1-300x178.png 300w, https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/filezilla-plugin-1-768x455.png 768w, https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/filezilla-plugin-1-50x30.png 50w, https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/filezilla-plugin-1-60x36.png 60w, https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/filezilla-plugin-1-100x59.png 100w, https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/filezilla-plugin-1.png 1035w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Method 3: Disable your CDN<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The 503 error can also be caused by other services. If you\u2019re using a CDN, you can try temporarily disabling it and checking your website again. There should be an option on your dashboard to do so, but the exact process will change depending on the provider you\u2019re using.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you can\u2019t figure out how to or where the disabling settings are, you\u2019ll need to contact your CDN provider or browse their knowledge base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Method 4: Limit the WordPress Heartbeat API<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>There is an API built into WordPress for auto-saving content, showing you plugin notifications, letting you know when someone else is working on a post you\u2019re trying to access, and more. It does all the work in the background, with a high frequency so that it doesn\u2019t miss anything, which takes up server resources. The Heartbeat API doesn\u2019t typically cause any issues, but without enough capacity, it could cause a 503 error.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The quickest way to determine if the Heartbeat API is at the center of your problems is to temporarily disable it. To do that, you&#8217;ll need to connect to your WordPress website via FTP once more and edit a file within yout themes folder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">If you&#8217;re using FileZilla:<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>1. Once connected to your account, navigate to your WordPress Themes folder. This is typically found on \/public_html\/wp-content\/themes<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2. Open the folder for the theme currently active on your website<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"710\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/theme-filezilla-1024x710.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-34405\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/theme-filezilla-1024x710.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/theme-filezilla-300x208.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/theme-filezilla-768x533.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/theme-filezilla-50x35.jpg 50w, https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/theme-filezilla-60x42.jpg 60w, https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/theme-filezilla-100x69.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/theme-filezilla.jpg 1468w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>3. Look for a file named functions.php, right click on it and select View\/Edit<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"998\" height=\"1016\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/functions-filezilla.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-34406\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/functions-filezilla.jpg 998w, https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/functions-filezilla-295x300.jpg 295w, https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/functions-filezilla-768x782.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/functions-filezilla-50x50.jpg 50w, https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/functions-filezilla-60x60.jpg 60w, https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/functions-filezilla-98x100.jpg 98w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 998px) 100vw, 998px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>4. Copy and paste the following code right after the &lt;?php tag:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\">add_action( 'init', 'stop_heartbeat', 1 );\r\nfunction stop_heartbeat() {\r\nwp_deregister_script('heartbeat');\r\n}<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"508\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/php-1024x508.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-34407\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/php-1024x508.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/php-300x149.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/php-768x381.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/php-50x25.jpg 50w, https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/php-60x30.jpg 60w, https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/php-100x50.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/php.jpg 1131w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>4. Save the file and close it. You should see a prompt on FileZilla to reupload the file, select Yes<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Method 5: Increase your account\u2019s resources<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>A common cause for the 503 error is an overloaded server. If you\u2019ve been experiencing spikes in traffic, or receiving more visits than usual, you may want to consider increasing your server&#8217;s resources.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you haven\u2019t contacted your hosting provider yet, notify them of the issue and all the methods you\u2019ve tried so far. Check how your account\u2019s resources are being used, just to be sure upgrading your plan will indeed solve the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-purple-background-color has-purple-color is-style-default\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are a Host Duplex customer and still have questions, please open a ticket in the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/secure.hostduplex.com\/clientarea.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Host Duplex client portal.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 503 error is amongst the most common errors on the web. This is the server\u2019s way of informing visitors that the service they\u2019re trying to reach isn\u2019t available. This article explains what causes this error and the available solutions for it. Method 1: Refresh the page, or restart your&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"ht-kb-category":[163],"ht-kb-tag":[180,173,181,45],"class_list":["post-34403","ht_kb","type-ht_kb","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","ht_kb_category-wordpress","ht_kb_tag-180","ht_kb_tag-error","ht_kb_tag-service-unavailable","ht_kb_tag-wordpress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb\/34403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/ht_kb"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34403"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb\/34403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34408,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb\/34403\/revisions\/34408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"ht_kb_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb-category?post=34403"},{"taxonomy":"ht_kb_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostduplex.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb-tag?post=34403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}