502 Bad Gateway is a typical HTTP error status code, which is caused by server-side difficulties. That is, the problem is caused by the Shopify website’s server rather than the client.
There are many variations of 502 Bad Gateway:
- HTTP Error 502 Bad Gateway
- Temporary Error (502)
- HTTP 502
- 502 Server Error: The server encountered a temporary error and could not complete your request
- 502 Service Temporarily Overloaded
- 502 Bad Gateway Nginx
There could be a variety of reasons for these bad responses. It’s likely that the server is overloaded or that there are network issues between the two servers, and that the issue is just temporary. It’s also possible that the problem is caused by an incorrectly configured firewall or a code error, and that the problem will not be resolved until those issues are resolved.
Causes of 502 Bad Gateway Nginx Causes
Unresolvable Domain name:
When the domain name does not resolve to any IP address or does not resolve to the right IP address it shows the 502 bad gateway error. By any chance, you need to change the DNS server, keep in mind that DNS changes may take some time to properly propagate and activate globally. This is determined by the time to live, that is set for each record.
Backend Service Failure:
To operate web applications, Nginx relies on backend services such as PHP-FPM, database services, and cache servers. As a result, if any of these services crashes or freezes, Nginx will be unable to receive data from them, resulting in a “502 Bad Gateway” error. PHP, Apache, Cache, and Database are some of the services that can fail. Service failure can be caused by a variety of factors, including traffic spikes, resource limits, disc errors, and DDoS attacks. You can attempt killing all unresponsive processes and restarting the service if you suspect a backend service is unresponsive or failed.
Firewall Blocking Requests:
In the vast majority of cases, all potentially hazardous traffic is blocked. It’s likely that a firewall will block all the traffic that could potentially harm your website. Firewall issues often occur when a server is upgraded or a new service is enabled in the backend.
Origin web server down:
The server is unreachable either due to less connectivity provided to the server or it is down.
Bad File Permissions:
If you are seeing the 502 bad gateway in the Shopify app, then it might be because of the bad file permissions. Although, permissions are unlikely to be the cause of this error if the application was previously working properly. If any recent upgrade had taken place then, file permissions may have been modified or are otherwise improper, causing an issue to spread across the application and eventually result in a 502 Bad Gateway Error.
How Can Visitors Fix This Problem?
It is not necessary that it is always a server side issue, over which you have no control. There could be some issues from the visitor’s side too. It’s possible that the visitor’s network device is down, or that third-party plugins are interfering. Here are some of the visitor side fixes.
Reload the Website
Often, the 502 issue is only temporary, and a quick refresh will solve the problem. The faulty gateway error can be resolved by using Ctrl+R on Windows or Cmd+R on Mac, or by pressing the Refresh button.
Restart The Device
It’s likely that your computer or networking equipment is having some unusual, transient troubles (Wi-Fi, router, modem, etc.). A simple restart of your networking equipment and/or computer may be all that is required to resolve the issue.
Switch To A Different Browser
The 502 Bad Gateway error is sometimes caused by a problem with your browser. Try using a different browser to see if the website works or not. If the error appears pops up in the new browser as well, you know it’s not a browser problem and you should try a different solution.
Clear the Cache and Cookies in Your Browser
Your browser may have outdated cached or corrupt files that are creating the 502 error. Clear the caches and cookies by going to the browser setting. Try to open the website after removing these cached files may resolve the issue.
Make sure your plugins and extensions are up to date
If you have extensions installed on your browser, it’s possible that one or more of them is causing the issue. Disable all of your extensions and then try to access the page again. If the error goes away after that, it’s most likely a plugin that’s causing the problem. To find the problematic plugins, enable your plugins one by one.
Conclusion
502 Bad Gateway in Nginx often occurs when the reverse proxy is unable to connect to backend services. There are many causes behind the error and many times a visitor would have no control over it.
