What is a 502 bad gateway and how do you fix it?

[tracym]

Among the many server status codes that internet users sporadically run into, a ‘502 bad gateway’ error is one of the most common. Very rarely does an error of this kind indicate an issue with the user or their equipment at home or in the office, although it can be in very rare situations with faults in individual computers or Wi-Fi connections.

More commonly, though, if you’re seeing a ‘502 bad gateway’ error it usually means that there is an issue with the server hosting the website you’re trying to access. Specifically, it is often caused by issues with the gateway, or the proxy server might be encountering communication issues with the upstream or original server.

This is both a good and bad indicator for the user; good because there are no remediating actions to implement or understand, but it’s bad news in the sense that there isn’t much a user can do in order to speed up the connection process. In this case, it’s usually a case of having to wait until whatever issue is affecting the website’s server has been resolved.

What causes a 502 Bad Gateway error?
Server overload: An overloaded server is one of the most common causes of a 502 error. This is where the server has reached its memory capacity, often activated by an unusually high number of visitors trying to access the same website. This can just be a coincidence, or maybe driven by a big event, but it can also be a targeted DDoS attack.