Our application calls multiple external APIs (other DO droplets, paypal API, aws instances). We log any timeout or exception that happens on these calls.
Every one hour for a few minutes, we get some timeouts calling external APIs. It happens consistently every hour between HH:01 and HH:04 . Connectivity is not completely lost, but the rate of error increases significantly. Before this issue started, we used to get 1-2 timeout timeouts per day, which is ok. But now we’re getting between 10 and 35 timeouts every first few minutes of the hour. The timeouts happen to a variety of hosts including other droplets (to which we connect by hostname, not IP)
We started having this issue seemingly out of nowhere. Without installing any updates to our software or changing anything on the droplet. If anyone can point me in the right direction, I’d much appreciate the help.
Here is an image that shows the successful vs unsuccessful external calls on a timeline. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ESHyylePOYTYk2bgQJ5fq5dhupj3NELB/view
This textbox defaults to using Markdown to format your answer.
You can type !ref in this text area to quickly search our full set of tutorials, documentation & marketplace offerings and insert the link!
Hello,
It will be the best to check the connection using traceroute or mtr to see if there is a packet loss and on which exact hop it happens as well.
The timeouts can be caused from poorly configured router or switch or caused from the end host where the APIs are hosted/called.
The command will look like this:
On Windows open cmd and run:
tracert example.com
On Linux open a terminal window and type:
traceroute example.com
You can also use any site that offers online traceroute checks.
Hope this helps!
Alex
Become a contributor for community
Get paid to write technical tutorials and select a tech-focused charity to receive a matching donation.
DigitalOcean Documentation
Full documentation for every DigitalOcean product.
Resources for startups and AI-native businesses
The Wave has everything you need to know about building a business, from raising funding to marketing your product.
The developer cloud
Scale up as you grow — whether you're running one virtual machine or ten thousand.
Get started for free
Sign up and get $200 in credit for your first 60 days with DigitalOcean.*
*This promotional offer applies to new accounts only.