Title: Getting 503 error using purge plugin
Last modified: August 31, 2016

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# Getting 503 error using purge plugin

 *  Resolved [wmleler](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wmleler/)
 * (@wmleler)
 * [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/getting-503-error-using-purge-plugin/)
 * I use DreamPress on DreamHost, and it includes Varnish and this plugin.
 * A few days ago, I started getting 503 errors when I posted something (including
   comments). A Dreamhost tech narrowed it down to being a plugin. And I narrowed
   it down to this Purge plugin.
 * With the plugin enabled, I cannot post a story or a comment (or update them) 
   with out getting an error that looks something like this:
    `Error 503 Service
   Unavailable Service Unavailable Guru Meditation: XID: 806947911 Varnish cache
   server` The web page kinda freezes for a full minute first, then I get the error.
 * The website is [http://politicalirony.com](http://politicalirony.com), but I 
   have the plugin disabled for now.
 * [https://wordpress.org/plugins/varnish-http-purge/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/varnish-http-purge/)

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

 *  Plugin Contributor [Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ipstenu/)
 * (@ipstenu)
 * 🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist
 * [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/getting-503-error-using-purge-plugin/#post-7445832)
 * It IS the plugin, but I’m going to go talk to that tech becuase this was a noted
   issue.
 * Your wp-config has the wrong Varnish IP. Your server was moved and this section
   of your wp-config was set so you could work with CloudFlare (who can be weird):
 *     ```
       // for using cloudflare with varnish
       define('VHP_VARNISH_IP','208.97.157.21');
       ```
   
 * Your IP is `67.205.24.254` (you can see it in your Panel – go to your DNS settings
   and it’s your A record).
 * However it looks like you’re not using cloudflare anymore, so you can just delete
   that part of your config and the plugin should start working again 🙂
 *  [stueynet](https://wordpress.org/support/users/stueynet/)
 * (@stueynet)
 * [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/getting-503-error-using-purge-plugin/#post-7446129)
 * I had the same issue. However we never had it before. Any thoughts on why this
   would just start happening now. I never had the varnish config entry in wp-config.
   php. So I added it and the problem went away.
 *  Plugin Contributor [Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ipstenu/)
 * (@ipstenu)
 * 🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist
 * [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/getting-503-error-using-purge-plugin/#post-7446131)
 * Are you using CloudFlare or some other proxy before your domain like Sucuri’s
   firewall? That’s why :/
 * Varnish runs the purge command based on your URL so if an DNS check on domain.
   com doesn’t match the IP your server is actually on, it 503s.
 * I’ve been trying to make it smarter, to always grab the IP, but it’s not actually
   easy since there are infinite setup possibilities.
 *  [stueynet](https://wordpress.org/support/users/stueynet/)
 * (@stueynet)
 * [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/getting-503-error-using-purge-plugin/#post-7446132)
 * Yeah we are using cloudflare but also a load balancer. I believe the load balancer
   is where the issue is because they made some config changes to it recently. Before
   a week ago all was working fine with your plugin and there was no need for the
   explicit IP declaration in wp-config.php.
 * Then suddenly a few days ago it start timing out.
 *  Plugin Contributor [Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ipstenu/)
 * (@ipstenu)
 * 🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist
 * [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/getting-503-error-using-purge-plugin/#post-7446133)
 * The load balancer probably changed how it passed the domain through to the IP
   yeah. It’s a very weird thing 🙂

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

The topic ‘Getting 503 error using purge plugin’ is closed to new replies.

 * ![](https://ps.w.org/varnish-http-purge/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=3027185)
 * [Proxy Cache Purge](https://wordpress.org/plugins/varnish-http-purge/)
 * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/varnish-http-purge/#faq)
 * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/varnish-http-purge/)
 * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/varnish-http-purge/active/)
 * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/varnish-http-purge/unresolved/)
 * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/varnish-http-purge/reviews/)

 * 5 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ipstenu/)
 * Last activity: [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/getting-503-error-using-purge-plugin/#post-7446133)
 * Status: resolved