Errors — processing and debugging 403, 404 errors

Contents

• Methods of processing and debugging of errors
• The most common web server return error codes

Methods of processing and debugging of errors

Sometimes errors occur during working with website. To fix these errors you should know their origin.

As per HTTP protocol specification all server responses, in our case — Apache are divided into below groups:

• 1xx: Information
• 2xx: Positive — Request is processed and the document is given to the client
• 3xx: Redirection — notification about redirection of user request to another server, url, etc.
• 4xx: Client request processing errors associated with incorrectly requested url, absence of required authorization, absence of access rights, etc.
• 5xx: Request processing errors associated with user script errors on the server, network operation failure, etc.

More detailed information via HTTP protocol and web server response codes is available at http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2616.txt

The most common web server return error codes

Probable causes of error 403 Forbidden:

• Name of your index file does not match described names of index files in server configuration, in this case Indexes option prohibits display of the current directory contents.

  For example: Your index file has name default.html, in server configuration the following index files are described:

  DirectoryIndex index.html index.php index.shtml index.htm

  In this case in server configuration (or in .htaccess file) there is a rule set for the directory prohibiting display of directory contents:

  Options -Indexes

  Solution: the best way is to enter name default.html into the list of index file names.

  List editing is made through the hosting control panel / Web server/ Websites / [YOU WEBSITE NAME] / Directory indexes

• Absence of rights for file execution in cgi directory.

  For example: You downloaded into directory / home/ [IDENT] / [YOUR WEBSITE NAME] / cgi/ file test.cgi, but forgot to assign execution rights (u+x). When referring to address http:// [YOUR WEBSITE NAME] / cgi-bin / test.cgi we have 403 error.

  Solution: Using ftp or ssh clients change access rights to file by command chmod u+x test.cgi

Probable causes of error 404 Not Found:

• The only reason is absence of the requested file, or server is unable to find it.

  Solution: Use hosting control panel to view server log files:
  Web server/ Websites/ [YOUR WEBSITE NAME] / Protocol files/ Show 50 lines from error protocol.

Probable causes of error 500 Internal Server Error:

• In file .htaccess you indicated directives which cannot be processed by web server.

  For example: Directives from module mod_rewrite are entered in the file, and the module itself is not included into server configuration.

  Solution: Use hosting control panel to view server log files:
  Web server/ Websites/ [YOUR WEBSITE NAME] / Protocol files/ Show 50 lines from error protocol.

  Enable the required module through the interface of the hosting control panel: Web server/ Modules

• Error running your script.

  For example: script composed on perl cannot find the appropriate perl module.

  Solution: Use hosting control panel to view server log files:
  Web server/ Websites/ [YOUR WEBSITE NAME] / Protocol files/ Show 50 lines from error protocol.

  Inform us by email which module you need and we will set it into the system.