Definitions Of Server Error Codes

Server errors are available in two categories namely connection errors and web server response and messages. Connection errors form because of failure to establish a connection on a web server. They do not contain response codes since web servers only give response after establishment of a connection. However, they give brief descriptions on reasons for the connection failure.

Web server response codes and messages- The web server normally sends a reply code and message whenever a connection is established. A webpage is not considered an error incase the response code is below 400. It is considered an error if the code of response is equivalent to or above 400.

Descriptions of various server error codes

Client Error 4xx – This particular status code targets cases that clients seems to make mistakes. A server should comprise an entity that contains a description on the error situation. The explanation should show whether the condition is permanent or temporary. This situation excludes while responding to HEAD requests. The status codes are pertinent to any method of request.

• 400 Bad requests- The server could not understand the request due to twisted grammar.

• 401 Unlawful – The request needs user confirmation.

• 402 Payment needed – It is set aside for use in future.

• 403 Forbidden- It shows that the server understands the requests clearly but it not fulfilling it.

• 404 Not found-The server does not get anything that match with the URL request.

• 405 Method Not Allowable-The specific method in the Request-line is not allowable for the resource that Request –URL identifies.

• 406 Unacceptable- The identified resource can only generate response entities that have unacceptable content characteristics.

• 407 Proxy Confirmation required- It indicates that the client should first substantiate with the proxy. Proxy must bring back a Proxy-Authenticate header that contains a challenge pertinent to the proxy of the requested resource.

• 408 Request Timeout- The clients fails to produce the request during the period that the server is ready.

• 409 Conflict-Failure for request completion may due to conflict with the present resource state.

• 410 Gone- The specific resource that the client’s requests are not available at server.

• 411 Length Needed- A server refuses to agree with the request without a proper length of the content.

• 412 Precondition Failure-The request header evaluates a precondition as false on testing on the server.

• 413 Too Large Request Entity- The sever refuses to process a request due to too large entity.

• 414 Too Long Request-URL- Rejection by the server to respond due to a longer Request-URL than it can interpret.

• 415 Media Type Unsupported- Request entities are in inappropriate format.

Server error 5xx –The status codes shows that a server is aware of a mistake or is not able to perform a request. They include:

• 500 Internal server error- Indicates that the sever fails to fulfill the request after encountering an unpredictable condition.

• 501 Not implemented-Server do not provide support for the procedure needed to fulfill the request.

• 502 Bad Gateway- Occurs when the server receives invalid response while acting as proxy or gateway.

• 503 Service not Available- Occurs when the server cannot handle a request. It may be because of server maintenance or temporary overloading.

• 504 Gateway Timeout- Occurs when a server fails to receive appropriate response from upstream server whilst acting as proxy or gateway.

• 505 HTTP Description Not Supported- Occurs while the server fails to support HTTP procedure version of the request message. Server indicates its unwillingness or incapability to fulfill the request by similar main version as the client.