A 5xx Server Error is when a server can’t successfully complete a client’s request. 5xx usually means any HTTP status code that starts with 5 among others. This includes 500, 502 and 503 errors. A server error (5xx) is often referred to as a “5xx server error.”
These errors happen when the server realizes it has come across a problem and is unable to fulfill a request.
Generally, this error suggests that the problem does not identify with the website, internet connection or computer.
The most common 5xx server errors are:
500, 502 – Bad Gateway, 503 – Service Unavailable, 504 – Gateway Timeout, 509 – Bandwidth Limit Exceeded, 524 – A timeout occurred.
Context:
Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram faced an outage on Monday night, starting 9.15pm IST. The outage was reported by users all over the globe, forcing them to flock to Twitter in search of answers.
Commenting on the outage, Facebook said: “We’re aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience.”
Whatsapp also dished out a similar message: “We’re aware that some people are experiencing issues with WhatsApp at the moment. We’re working to get things back to normal and will send an update here as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience!”
“Instagram and friends are having a little bit of a hard time right now, and you may be having issues using them. Bear with us, we’re on it!” Instagram said.
As per reports, DownDetector witnessed a climb in the number of cases of WhatsApp not working for users. The same issue was observed with Instagram, as well. The outage happened at roughly 9.15 pm IST.
For Facebook users, they were redirected to an error page with a message reading that their browser could be connected. WhatsApp Web dished out a message saying “this site can’t be reached”. Incoming or outgoing messages on Whatsapp and Instagram were also blocked due to the outage.
Facebook is often cryptic about the cause of the outages. Even though they fix their bug, they do not tend to explain the reason behind it.
In 2019, for instance, it suffered its biggest outage in years – and said only that it had “triggered an issue” during “routine maintenance operations”.
At the time of writing this article, the servers continued to remain down.
Facebook is going through a major crisis after the whistleblower who was the source of The Wall Street Journal’s series of stories exposing the company’s awareness of internal research into the negative effects of its products and decisions went public on “60 Minutes” on Sunday.
