Receiving many 524 timeout errors on website

DNS & Network
#1

Hello there,
I am receiving many 524 timeout errors while working on my website lately. This is highly frustrating. I already contacted my web host about this (Siteground) but they are not able to help me. I have already been searching this forum for fixes, but none of them help. The weird thing is that sometimes a 524 timeout error even happens after a few seconds (less than 60) when e.g. trying to log out from Wordpress. Often times, they just happen everywhere (updating post, open page, etc.) and the page just keeps loading until the timeout error. Refreshing the page immediately helps and everything works normal for a few minutes until it happens again. If I deactivate CF completely, everything is working fine without any timeout errors. I have extensively discussed this with the Siteground support already, this was their latest response:

" I have reviewed the problem described in details and there are a few key points I would like to bring your attention to and address

  1. The error 524 that comes up is an error specific to Cloudflare and related to a built-in timeout period that they have. If it is reached, the error pops out.
  2. On the server end, there are no timeouts detected for the past few days. This means that the issue comes specifically between CF and our server.

As you are using a Cloudflare account directly and manage the service from there, you will need to reach them for more information in this regard. They need to check why the timeout occurs while the website is fully responsive on our end. If they detect any issues with the response from the server they need to provide us with the exact timestamp and IP which made the request."

Someone mentioned the CF SSL/TLS encryption in a CF community thread. I now set it from “Full (strict)” [Encrypts end-to-end, but requires a trusted CA or Cloudflare Origin CA certificate on the server] to only “Full” [Encrypts end-to-end, using a self signed certificate on the server]. I am not sure of this helps though. Does anyone else have any idea what to causes this? Thanks in advance.

#2

So nobody has an idea or any reply whatsoever?

#3

524s are covered at Community Tip - Fixing Error 524: A timeout occurred but I guess you already found that.

As the article states the error occurs only if your server takes too long, so you should never the it after just a few seconds. If you say you do, the only thing you can do is to note down the connection ID of that request and open a support ticket and have them clarify why the error would happen before the usual timeout.

As for #2 of what your host said, this is not a timeout from your webserver but - as stated - from Cloudflare when your server take too long, so you shouldn’t find timeout on your server but just long running requests.

Apart from the support ticket, the best thing might be to pause Cloudflare and check if you get any requests which take longer than aforementioned time. If you do, you will need to fix this on your server.

And no, changing to “Full” won’t make a difference (whoever said that was misinformed), your site is now just less secure.

#5

Thanks. I have contacted the CF support but didn’t receive any response yet. Looks like I am not the only one from Siteground who has this issue with CF enabled. Another guy just replied and told me the issue suddenly started about 1-2 months for him as well.

#6

Cloudflare won’t be able to do much if your server takes too long to respond and this is what the error indicates. You best follow through with pausing and checking why your server takes that long. Another reason could be that your server only takes that long when the connection originates from Cloudflare but that’s also something your host would need to fix.

Did you change back to “Full strict”?

#7

Yes, I changed back to full strict. It’s not taking too long to load, it’s not fast but it should load within 100s. Sometimes I received these errors within a few seconds. And Siteground told me there are no timeout errors on their server. Also, why does an action sometimes keep loading forever and seem to be running in yet another timeout and simply hitting refresh helps to complete the action within a few seconds.
Furthermore, I didn’t have these issues about 2 months ago. It suddenly started and I didn’t change anything. Same goes for the other user.

#8

You should never get that after a few seconds. Can you reproduce that? If so, post the URL here.

They always say that and it rarely is true :slight_smile:. As I said, it might be that they delay the response when the request comes from Cloudflare.

If you can’t reproduce it, it is difficult to track but a 524 only occurs when your server takes longer than 100 seconds.

I am afraid that will be some issue on your host’s side and only they can fix that.

1 Like
#9

Yeah, their support has been depreciated over the years and their prices have skyrocketed. Might switch to Hostinger or sth. else soon.
Maybe if I browse the backend for a few minutes but it is not happening with one certain action. It is happening everywhere, while updating a post, a page, open a product, even while logging out. That’s where I got the error within 10 seconds: https://prnt.sc/vg810h
If I disable Cloudflare I don’t have any of these issues.

#10

Can you provide that as a screen recording showing the exact timing, not just a screenshot?

That’s what I meant before by your host doing this possibly only in the context of Cloudflare (Cloudflare’s IP addresses).

But yes, maybe time to move to another host.

#11

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