Isn’t it frustrating to see an error 503 service unavailable on a website like Joomla?

This is one of the most common error which we encounter on the Joomla website. This error can occur due to many reasons that include heavy web traffic, bad PHP scripts, corrupted modules and so on.

Here at Bobcares, we often receive requests to fix such errors as a part of our Server Management Services for web hosts and online service providers.

Today, let’s see a few common causes for this joomla 503 service unavailable error and how our Support Engineers fix it.

Why does Joomla 503 service unavailable error occur

There are many reasons for this error to occur in joomla. Let’s take a deep look into a few of those reasons:

1. Web traffic

A heavy web traffic is one of the reasons. In most of the web hosting servers, there will be a fixed amount of resources allocated to each server. The allocated resources can lower if the account is a shared hosting plan.

Also, few cyber attacks will create artificial traffic which will overload the website server.

2. PHP scripts

A little scripts will be definitely used in almost all of the servers. Most developers make use of these scripts to provide better features in the website.

Sometimes, these scripts can create trouble for the website.

3. Bad modules

Modules are the simplest part of joomla. These modules can be placed anywhere on the page providing a special appearance on the website.

However, if these modules are not properly compatible with the website or the server then they will create problems.

These are also one of the reasons for displaying an error on the joomla website.

How we fix Joomla 503 service unavailable error?

There can be many reasons for this error to occur on the website. Fortunately, we have many good ways to fix this error as well.

Recently, one of our customers came up with the error message ‘Joomla 503 service unavailable’

Here’s how our Support Engineers fix this error.

Initially, we started troubleshooting this error by checking the load on the server. We used the below command to check the load on the server

top -c

As a result of this command, we found that the load was fine.

Later, we started disabling the modules one by one from the website. As a result, we found that one of the module “Community Builder” was causing the error.

This error was a result of the timeout when joomla tries to load the back office of these modules.

Deactivating this module fixed the error.

[Need any further assistance with Joomla errors? – We’ll help you]

Conclusion

In short, Joomla 503 service unavailable mainly occurs due to web traffic or bad PHP scripts or corrupted modules. Today, we saw a few of its causes and how our Support Engineers fix this error.