502 Bad Gateway
502 Bad Gateway
Apache Restarts
Apache restarts happen every 2 hours on the shared hosting servers. During the restarts on the Tommy and Johnny servers, your site may display a 502 error to visitors. On the Morty server, a 504 error may display. These errors typically last no longer than a couple of minutes and are resolved once Apache has finished restarting.
The difference in error messages (502 vs. 504) is because of different restart methods used. A hard restart interrupts Apache abruptly, leading to a 502 (Bad Gateway), and a graceful restart will give the 504 (Gateway Timeout). The restart approach on Tommy and Johnny is different in order to minimize downtime and address user concerns about longer wait times for their sites to come back up after server restarts. Because the wait time for restarts on Morty was already minimal, the graceful approach is preferred for this server.
To check the status of our servers, please visit the visit the HelioHost Services Status Page. The status page provides a real-time overview of your server’s status and includes a history of past incidents.
How to Get Rid of 502 Errors
If you see frequent 502 errors on your website, the best way to fix the issue and get better uptime, is to upgrade your hosting plan.
| Plan | Average Restart | Min Restart | Max Restart |
|---|---|---|---|
| Johnny | 7.65 minutes | 1.59 minutes | 15.21 minutes |
| Tommy | 4.63 minutes | 0.87 minutes | 6.22 minutes |
| Morty | 9.37 seconds | 4.30 seconds | 11.62 seconds |
If the Apache restarts take less than 30 seconds no error messages are displayed, and it counts as 100% uptime. Tommy is a little better than Johnny, but we recommend switching to Morty if you want to get rid of the 502 errors entirely. You can upgrade your existing account to the Morty plan at heliohost.org/dashboard/move.
You can also upgrade to a VPS Plan to fix the 502 errors. On a VPS Plan there are no other users sharing the server with you, so Apache only restarts when you restart it yourself. You can leave it running without a restart for months if you want to. We offer a range of VPS Plans, and a 10% discount when you pay for 6 months upfront.