“The website is down! Now what?” Help Us Help You!

Are you unable to connect to your server to send and receive email, log into cPanel or WHM, or make an FTP or SSH connection?

If you can’t connect to your website there are a few things you can do to help us better diagnose the source of the problem. The more quickly this information is collected, the more quickly we can fix whatever is causing almost any issue. Help us help you!

Can You Access Any Service on Your Server?

Are you able to view your website itself in your web browser? If not, and the connection simply times out, it’s possible that your IP address has been blocked by your server’s firewall. Typically, this is the result of too many failed logins (through cPanel, SSH, FTP, email, etc.) in too short a period of time.

• To confirm whether that may be the case, you can test your site via a service such asDown for Everyone or Just Me (simply enter the URL of your website into the search field) to see whether the site appears down for everyone else, or try to visit your website via another network, such as from a phone or tablet over its cellular connection after disabling wifi on the device.
• If an IP block is suspected, and you have a Dedicated, Storm, or VPS server running the CSF firewall, you can unblock the IP address directly from your Manage dashboard. If not, we can log into the server on your behalf, search the firewall for your IP address and unblock it; if you’re able to confirm that your IP is not blocked, we can search the server logs for any specific errors associated with your connection attempt, or investigate into any possible network issues between your physical location and the server’s that could be preventing you from accessing it.
• To speed up that process, when opening a ticket, calling, or chatting in with your support request, please try to include your public IPV4 IP address so that a support technician can help resolve the issue as quickly as possible. Please also include any error messages displayed in your browser (or email, FTP or SSH client) when attempting to connect.

Are There Any Signs of a Network Issue?

Sometimes traffic congestion, a regional outage or another network issue can be a factor. If you suspect a network issue (or want to try to rule out the possibility), you also may want to provide a traceroute from your computer to the server.

• Traceroute is a very powerful diagnostic tool that provides a visual representation of how traffic is routing from your local computer to the server. Should you see asterisks (“lost packets”) in your traceroute, that would indicate network congestion or outages at the hop where you see the asterisk.
• If you need help running a traceroute, we have a helpful Knowledge Base article.
• Having that information at the time we begin our investigation not only will simplify the process, but also will speed it up by avoiding any unnecessary delays associated with requesting the information later via your support ticket.

Find Detailed Information in Our Knowledge Base

• Learn more about Managing the CSF Firewall in WHM/cPanel.
• For general information on APF, visit How to Manage the APF Firewall.
• Instructions to block or unblock IP addresses via the command line for CSF or APF (which does not have a user interface in WHM) are available at How to Unblock an IP Address in CSF and How to Unblock an IP Address in the APF Firewall.
• And to learn how to open (and close) ports in either firewall, check out our guide to Opening Ports in Your Firewall.