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HTTP Status Codes: What They Mean

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If you visit a website and get an error such as 404, it usually tells you what it means. Note that HTTP status codes are responses to HTTP requests that tell you whether content was found and many other details.

What Status Code 200 Means

The status code 200 is not an error and it means OK. It is what a server sends when it successfully found and sent you the resource that you requested.

500: Internal Server Error

A status code of 500 refers to a server-side error that has not been identified. This is a generic response for if the server failed to provide the requested content for unknown reasons.

503: Service Unavailable

An HTTP status code of 503 means that the server was unable to provide the requested resource because the server is either down or overloaded.

HTTP 404 Status Code: What Is A 404 Error?

404 means ‘not found on this server’. ‘404’ is a server’s way of telling you that it was not able to find the content you requested.

HTTP 403 Status Code: What The 403 Error Means

The HTTP status code 403 means ‘forbidden’. It means you are not allowed to access the content at the provided web address. This is usually because you are being blocked via an IP address ban, or the page you are trying to access is internal and not meant to be publicly accessible.

HTTP Status Code 401: What Is A 401 Error?

The HTTP Status code 401 means ‘unauthorized’. A 401 error means that you need to log in to access the page or other resource you requested. This is commonly encountered by app developers that are trying to access an API that is either pay walled or requires an account. The difference between a 401 and 403 error is that 401 isn’t for strictly internal content. People outside of the company providing the resource are permitted to access the resource on a conditional basis.

HTTP Status Code 400: What The 400 Error Code Means

HTTP error 400 means that your request was malformed. The server does not understand your request, and is therefore unable to fulfill it.

Status Code 410: What A 410 Error Code Is

410 means content deleted. This is not the same as a 404 because 410 means that the endpoint or URL existed. However, it has now been deleted. This serves the purpose of confirming that the content no longer exists and should be removed from any applicable caches.

HTTP Code 413: Payload Too Large

An HTTP status code of 413 means the payload you sent to the server is too large. The size of your request exceeds the limit defined by the server. For example: You might get this error if you try to send too many records in one request. 413 also means ‘Content too large’.

Code 415: Unsupported Media Type

This means the media type you sent in your request is not supported by the server.

HTTP Code 429: Rate Limit Reached/Too Many Requests

An HTTP status code of 429 means that you have sent too many requests to the server. This usually occurs if you send more requests than you were permitted to an API.

HTTP Status Code 301: What Is A 301 Error?

The 301 status code means ‘permanently moved’. The resource you tried to access has been moved permanently to another link or endpoint. This error should provide you with the resource’s new location in the form of a link or automatically redirect you to it.

HTTP Status Code 302: What Is A 302 Error?

The status code 302 means that the content you requested was temporarily moved. It is used to redirect users to a new location temporarily, and it indicates that the user should not replace the old link.

HTTP Status Code 304: What Does The Code 304 Mean?

The status code 304 means that the resource you requested has not been modified. The server uses this to tell your web browser that it can continue to use the cached version of the page you visited. It also instructs the browser not to update its cached version of the page. This causes the page to load faster because it won’t have to be downloaded again.

Further Reading

How To Restart Or Stop An Nginx Server

How To Restart Or Stop An Apache Server

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