Software Development:
Individual Programming

Cause

Error 503 "Service Temporarily Unavailable" means that the website is temporarily offline, does not answer. Websites that return the error code 503 will not lose their rank in search engines because the search engines assume that it is only a temporary problem.

The error can have many reasons:

• Very often, the site was simply locked with the "Lock" link in the web space control panel.
• After the second reminder, the web space was blocked by Bitpalast® until your payment arrives.
• In some other cases, a page cannot be served by the web server because of a PHP script execution error. Very often, a PHP error occurs when using PHP commands that are not (anymore) available in the current PHP version, e.g. the use of the mysql functions, which are only included as mysqli functions in PHP as of version 7.x.
• Other errors that are specifically named in the Apache web server error log.

Solution

If the site was locked in the webspace control panel, it can be unlocked there with the "Activate" link. After you click “Activate”, it may take up to 15 minutes for the site to become available again.

If the site has not been suspended but still responds with a 503 error, check the website's Apache error log. There you will find specific information about execution errors of scripts.

If you cannot access your control panel while your website displays a 503 error, check if you have paid your invoice.

Overview of frequently asked questions