Having internet connectivity issues especially when you are working from home can get quite frustrating. If you are not techy, you may get into difficult situations. These internet errors may get confusing at times. But when you get one, don’t panic. We are here to explain what is a 502 error is, and what are the possible things you can do to resolve it.
Whenever you plug in a URL, your request goes through a gateway. In case of a 502 bad gateway error, the server that acts as a gateway received an invalid response from that main service. In simple words, there is a communication problem. Now, errors like these are out of your hand. There is little you can do to resolve them. We came up with a few things you can try to resolve this issue.
What does 502 bad gateway mean?
There are many reasons why Error 502 occurs. If you get 502 Bad Gateway, this means that the server acting as a proxy or the edge server is not able to get a valid response from the upstream or the origin server. One of the reasons why this 502 proxy error occurs is when your KeyCDN’s edge server receives a 502 Bad Gateway response from the upstream. Consequently, the KeyCDN responds with a 500 Origin Not Reachable page.
What are the reasons for error 502 bad gateway?
Although we have discussed one of the reasons why this error occurs, there are multiple others as well. The other three culprits are as follows:
- Firewall blockage: Firewalls are an integral part of your system’s security. They act as a barrier against all the potential malware and viruses. This firewall can block the communication between the origin and edge servers. This can happen due to the security plugins of your CMS. Moreover, DDoS mitigation and protection systems might become too overactive and start to block requests from the content delivery servers.
- Domain name: If your domain name is not resolving to the correct IP and in many cases does not resolve to any IP address, this error can occur. However, it is important to understand that the DNS changes may take some time to get fully active and propagated. This is entirely dependent on the time to live as defined per record.
- Upstream servers are down: If the origin server is either down or unreachable, then an HTTP 502 error might occur since there is no connection to the server.
How to resolve Error 502 Bad Gateway?
In many cases, the 502 error has nothing to do with the visitor. There are some of the things you can try just to make sure that the error is not by your side. Therefore, you can try these troubleshooting ideas to fix the issue:
Change your web browser
The most simple solution to this issue is by changing your web browser. Close all the browser windows and open another browser and see if the issue is resolved.
Refresh the page
You can refresh your page by pressing F5 on your keyboard. If you are lucky, the error will go away and you can resume your work.
Restart your system
This is a magic trick that works for almost all sorts of errors. The simplest way to get rid of an error is by starting your system.
Reboot your Internet Equipment
Sometimes, your router or modem needs a refresh for all the strenuous work they do. Therefore, reboot your modem or router to fix the issue.
Clear cache and cookies
Cookies and caches are the files that your browser saves with time for your own convenience. By clearing all the cookies and cache files is a smart move. They keep track of the sites you have been to and clearing them while enhancing your browsing experience.
Change the DNS servers
Your internet service provider assigns you to default DNS servers. You can change that by opting for open DNS servers.
Contact your Provider
If nothing works for you, the best possible solution is to let the experts handle the issue. In this case, the experts are the customer support people of your provider. You can report the issue to them directly and they can fix it.
Ways 502 Bad Gateway manifests
The 502 Bad Gateway can manifest in many different ways. They all mean exactly the same thing but differ according to the naming conventions. Here are some of the examples:
- 502 Bad Gateway
- Error 502
- 502 Proxy Error
- 502 Bad Gateway NGINX
- 502 Service Temporarily Overloaded
