You try to access your site and it won't come up. There may or may not be a warning or notice in your browser.
You frantically open a ticket saying, "My site is down!" Well, it just might not be down after all.
We have so much redundancy and backups that our annual downtime is mere minutes AND, we notify you before we take the system down for anything.
So, how can you quickly tell if your site is really down?
Does some other site like ESPN work? Some ISPs will put various high-use sites on a different box to prevent overload. If ESPN works and your site doesn't then go to https://downfor.io and enter https://YOUR_SITE.com into the search field. (You'll be amazed at how many big names are down while you look.) If your site show down for everyone, open a ticket.
Helpful Steps You Can Take To Assist Us
In Windows, you can use DOS Command Prompt (or the newer Windows PowerShell) and run the tracert command for your site. Use the Windows key + the X key to access the menu. Then choose either Command Prompt (Admin) or Windows PowerShell (Admin). When the window opens, type tracert, a space, and the URL to your site (tracert mysite.com). Press enter and the command should show Tracing route to mysite.com [###.###.###.17#] with the last number being 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4.
On a Mac, you can use the Terminal app or the Network Utility app. Mac uses traceroute versus the tracert of Windows. Just as with Windows, you should see the URL resolved to an IP address like the tracert command.
What should the correct result be?
- The URL for your site should resolve to an IP address ending in 170-174.
- The test lines should continue with the last line having host.myzencarthost.com [###.###.###.17#] in the IP address area of the test.
How do I know there is a problem?
If the command does not resolve to an IP address, that tells us that some router or switch is incorrectly identifying your site. If this is the case, open a ticket with your ISP and be sure to include your IP address. With your IP address we can more accurately troubleshoot from our end.
If the command resolves to an IP address, it will start showing each step to our servers with a line number, three time-results, and the IP address for that step. You may see that one of the lines has an asterisk (*) in the time slot and Request timed out. instead of an IP address. If this is the last line of the test, open a ticket with us and be sure to include BOTH your IP address and the last IP address listed in the test.
We've made a simple, one-page check sheet that you can print out and place next to your computer. You can find it in our downloads section.
