504 Gateway Timeout
The 504 HTTP response status code means that the server, acting as a gateway or proxy, is waiting for a response from the upstream server to complete the HTTP request, but no response was received within the expected time frame.
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Introduction
In Action
Sample
Conclusion
Introduction
When the 504 Gateway Timeout status code is received, it means that the server, acting as a gateway or proxy, is waiting for a response from the upstream server to complete the HTTP request, but no response was received within the expected time frame.
This could be due to the upstream server being overloaded, experiencing delays, or not responding at all.
In Action
When you encounter the 504 Gateway Timeout status code, it means the server is acting as a middleman (proxy or gateway) for another server.
The initial request was forwarded to the upstream server, but it did not respond within a reasonable time, leading to a timeout. This is similar to the 502 Bad Gateway status code, where the server received an invalid response from the upstream server or experienced other issues.
Sample
In the example, when the client requests a resource, the server acts as a middleman and forwards the request to another server. However, the server that was supposed to provide the resource did not respond with an HTTP response in a timely manner.
As a result, the server returns a 504 Gateway Timeout status code to indicate the request couldn’t be fulfilled due to the lack of response from the upstream server.
Request
GET /news HTTP/1.1
Host: www.example.com
Response
HTTP/1.1 504 Gateway Timeout
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
Content-Length: 134
< html>
< head>
< title>Gateway Timeout< \title>
< /head>
< body>
< p>The server is is not responding.< /p>
< /body>
< /html>
Conclusion
The 504 Gateway Timeout status code means that the server acting as a gateway or proxy didn’t receive a timely response from the server it forwarded the request to. This typically happens when the upstream server is slow or experiencing issues, causing a timeout in delivering the requested resource.
