Last updated: 2026-03-03
If your website “is down”, your brain usually goes straight to panic → reboot → pray.
Don’t.
In most cases, what looks like downtime is one of these:
- your local network or DNS cache
- a regional routing issue
- a temporary spike or timeout
- a misconfigured SSL/TLS setup
- the site is actually down (yes, that also happens)
This guide helps you confirm the truth in under 2 minutes, with a clear next step either way.
Is my website really down?
Not always.
A website can be:
- down globally (real outage)
- down only from your region (routing / ISP issue)
- “down” only for your device (DNS cache / local network issue)
- up, but returning errors (500/502/503) for real users
Your goal is simple: verify from multiple perspectives before you touch production.
Step 1: Try from another network (30 seconds)
Do this first. It is the fastest sanity check.
- Open the site on mobile data (disable Wi‑Fi)
- Try another device (phone vs laptop)
- Try another browser or Incognito/Private mode
- If you can, try a VPN endpoint in another country
If it works on mobile data but not on Wi‑Fi, the site is probably fine. Your network or DNS is the likely culprit.
Step 2: Check from another location (30 seconds)
If your site is down only for one region, you need a global viewpoint.
Use any multi-location checker you trust, or check from:
- a server in another region
- a colleague in another country
- a VPN endpoint
If you already run monitoring, check whether failures are coming from one location or multiple.
If you want continuous validation instead of manual checks, you can configure monitoring regions to require confirmation from multiple locations.
If you want a clearer understanding of why this matters, read:
- How to Reduce False Downtime Alerts (2026 Guide)
- Status Page vs Uptime Monitoring - What’s the Difference?
Step 3: Check DNS (30–60 seconds)
DNS issues are the #1 reason a site “looks down” while servers are fine.
Quick check: does the domain resolve?
Run:
dig +short yourdomain.com
dig +short www.yourdomain.com
If you get an IP (or a CNAME that makes sense), DNS resolution is working.
If you get nothing, check your authoritative records or propagation.
Check authoritative nameservers
dig NS yourdomain.com +short
Then query a specific resolver (Google / Cloudflare) to compare:
dig @8.8.8.8 yourdomain.com +short
dig @1.1.1.1 yourdomain.com +short
If different resolvers show different answers, you are likely in propagation or misconfiguration territory.
Step 4: Check the HTTP response (30–60 seconds)
Even if DNS resolves, your server may still be failing.
Check status code and headers
curl -I https://yourdomain.com
Look for:
- 200/301/302: site is responding
- 500: application error
- 502/503/504: upstream / proxy / load balancer trouble
- 429: rate limiting
- 000 / timeout: network path or TLS handshake failure
Check from IPv4 vs IPv6 (common gotcha)
curl -4 -I https://yourdomain.com
curl -6 -I https://yourdomain.com
If IPv6 fails but IPv4 works (or vice versa), you have a DNS record or network routing issue.
Step 5: Check TLS/SSL quickly (optional, but useful)
If browsers show certificate errors or “connection not secure”, verify the handshake:
openssl s_client -connect yourdomain.com:443 -servername yourdomain.com </dev/null 2>/dev/null | openssl x509 -noout -issuer -subject -dates
Common causes:
- certificate expired
- wrong certificate served (SNI / proxy)
- redirect loop http↔https
- strict firewall rules blocking 443
What to do if it’s actually down
If you confirmed real downtime from multiple locations:
- Stop guessing and collect facts (status codes, timestamps, regions affected)
- Communicate early (even if you don’t know the cause yet)
- Avoid “we think it’s fixed” until you have confirmation
This is where a public status page pays for itself.
StatusPage.me exists for exactly this moment: to keep incident communication and history visible when users need it most.
If you are new to status pages, start here:
And if you want the fast setup path:
What to do if it’s not actually down
If it works from other networks/regions, you are dealing with an access problem, not an outage.
Typical fixes:
- flush local DNS cache
- switch resolvers (temporarily)
- verify DNS records and TTLs
- check ISP-level filtering or routing
- check region-specific firewall rules
If this happens repeatedly, implement multi-region monitoring and require confirmation from multiple regions before you page someone.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Restarting servers before confirming the scope
- Treating a single failed check as an outage
- Monitoring only a cached homepage
- Ignoring IPv6 record problems
- Using aggressive timeouts that do not match real production latency
Related reading
- How to Reduce False Downtime Alerts (2026 Guide)
- Status Page vs Uptime Monitoring - What’s the Difference?
- What Is a Status Page? (Complete Guide)
FAQ
Why does my site load for me but not for others?
This is often DNS cache or routing. Your device may be using cached DNS records, a different resolver, or a different network path than other users.
How can a website be down only in one country or region?
Regional routing failures, ISP filtering, DNS resolver differences, or CDN edge issues can make a site unreachable from one region while it remains accessible elsewhere.
How long does DNS propagation take?
Typically minutes to hours, but in practice it can take up to 24–48 hours due to caching, resolver behavior, and TTL values.
What’s the fastest way to confirm real downtime?
Check from another network (mobile data) and another location (different region). If both fail and curl -I times out or returns 5xx consistently, treat it as real downtime.
Should I restart my server immediately?
Not unless you confirmed the outage is real and you have evidence the issue is local to your infrastructure. Blind restarts can erase logs and make root cause harder to find.
Tags: website down, downtime, troubleshooting, dns, uptime monitoring, status page
