Question
HTTP Error 500 preventing access to website
- Posted on January 19, 2023
- Configuration ManagementPHP
Asked by Briana
Hi! I currently work as an archivist for a nonprofit museum and this week I have been unable to access our digital archive website which was configured using Collective Access. Basically both the front-end (pawtucket) and back-end (providence) are inaccessible and show up as blank screens. The front end gave me an error code HTTP Error 500 which I assume has something to do with the server but I’m clueless on the steps I need to take to fix the issue. Would definitely appreciate any help or direction!
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Heya @brianaflanagan,
The blank screen would mean there is somekind of an error with the website’s code or configuration. It should be easy to fix. First you need to SSH to your Droplet.
You can use the DigitalOcean Web Console:
https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/droplets/how-to/connect-with-console/
Once inside, you can go to your /var/log folder, open your website to generate the error once again in the logs and check their last entries.
Hi there,
What I could suggest is to first try and access your server so you could then go from there and check your server logs for more information on what might be causing that 500 error:
https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/droplets/how-to/connect-with-ssh/
If you are unable to access your server via SSH, I would recommend following the steps here on how to recover your access:
https://docs.digitalocean.com/support/i-lost-the-ssh-key-for-my-droplet/
Once you have access to your server I would recommend checking your logs to see what the actual problem is rather than the generic 500 error.
Feel free to share the output of your logs here as well so we could advise you further!
Best,
Bobby