Title: Plugin Causes 503 Errors, Breaks Site Last modified: March 17, 2023 --- # Plugin Causes 503 Errors, Breaks Site * Resolved [RadiantFreedom](https://wordpress.org/support/users/radiantfreedom/) * (@radiantfreedom) * [3 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-causes-503-errors-breaks-site/) * I recently migrated this site to new hosting, which meant a new SSL Certificate provided by the new hosts. Upon reactivating Really Simple SSL, it immediately caused 503 errors. These errors also affected the WordPress Admin panel, forcing me to have to manually delete all files connected to Really Simple SSL manually via FTP and remove all code inserted by the plugin into the .htaccess file to repair the website. * I’m not having any issues on any other website I manage, so this has to be an issue with the plugin failing to update the SSL info upon the site changing certificates on the new hosting. * In the past, when I’ve had issues with this plugin producing such errors, I would be able to disable all SSL, get the plugin to delete all SSL data from the database and start fresh, forcing it to detect the new SSL certificate correctly, however the plugin seems to be overautomated to the point where I now can’t do that. It just keeps that obsolete data and that corrupts the whole plugin whenever SSL information for the site changes for any reason and the automation is failing to detect these changes. There needs to be a manual setup option or some other means of forcing the plugin to start over and reaquire the site’s SSL data in such cases. * For now, I’ve got the site working under SSL correctly using WordPress’ built in SSL compatibility, but would like to be able to use this plugin again, but need confirmation this issue has been resolved and I have the means to repair obsolete or corrupted data in the plugin, like there used to be in the past. * The page I need help with: _[[log in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fwordpress.org%2Fsupport%2Ftopic%2Fplugin-causes-503-errors-breaks-site%2F%3Foutput_format%3Dmd&locale=en_US) to see the link]_ Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total) * Plugin Contributor [Rogier Lankhorst](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rogierlankhorst/) * (@rogierlankhorst) * [3 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-causes-503-errors-breaks-site/#post-16571668) * Hi [@radiantfreedom](https://wordpress.org/support/users/radiantfreedom/), * Sorry to hear you had such problems! * There haven’t been any reports of such issues, so I’ll need some more info. Preferably a way to reproduce, and some error logs. * Witte logs we can check what happened, and see if it’s something in the plugin or if it’s tied to your server. * If there are steps to reproduce we can investigate the issue on our development environment, which is always the best way to resolve such an issue. * Plugin Contributor [Rogier Lankhorst](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rogierlankhorst/) * (@rogierlankhorst) * [3 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-causes-503-errors-breaks-site/#post-16572243) * Is your server Apache or nginx? * Plugin Contributor [Rogier Lankhorst](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rogierlankhorst/) * (@rogierlankhorst) * [3 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-causes-503-errors-breaks-site/#post-16588146) * [@radiantfreedom](https://wordpress.org/support/users/radiantfreedom/) regarding re-activation, if you deactivate the plugin, then delete it, all Really Simple SSL settings will be deleted, which should allow you to start again with a clean sheet. The only thing that won’t be removed (if you choose “keep https”) is the. htaccess redirect, which you could remove manually, and the wp-config.php changes, which can also be removed manually. * My guess is that it was one the these two file edits. * In response to user feedback these aren’t removed anymore if the user chooses the keep https option, because it can break a site on SSL if removed. Adding a third option, to keep the site on https, but leave these entries would make things too complicated for most users I think. Hope this explains the behaviour. * As there hasn’t been further activity here I’m closing the item for now, but if you have more info or feedback on this I’ll re-open it. * Thread Starter [RadiantFreedom](https://wordpress.org/support/users/radiantfreedom/) * (@radiantfreedom) * [3 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-causes-503-errors-breaks-site/#post-16592412) * The issue started imidiately upon completing a migration from Bluehost to GoDaddy. As soon as the site’s DNS records were updated to get the site’s normal domain to point to the GoDaddy servers and the records had finished propagating, the issue started. * I am unable to use the built in delete function in WordPress to clear this issue as the error kills all access to the domain, with error pages being shown sitewide, including in the admin section. The only option at that point to regain access to the site is to manually delete the plugin’s files via ftp. * I did find the code the plugin adds to the htaccess file, but was unaware code was also added to the wp-config file as well. What code do I need to look for that comes form your plugin? * As I said before, this issue appears to be caused by a migration and the plugin failing to detect changes in server configuration and trying to use the old SSL Cert that’s no longer valid, with NO MEANS for me to tell the plugin to re-do the SSL configuration. * In older versions, I could just re click all the buttons or select to reconfigure manually, however no such option exists now, so it just stays stuck on the old, invalid configuration and the browser starts outputting error pages, preventing access to the site to even take any farther action to correct things. * I think adding a simple button like “Reconfigure SSL” or “Reset SSL” should suffice to clear up such errors within the WordPress interface, as I would have access to the plugin’s settings page for a short while, long enough to click such a button, and force Really Simple SSL to revert to the beginning and behave like the site has no SSL settings imported. Basically creating clean slate whiteout having to have advanced knowledge on every little line of code the plugin adds, and every possible database entry the plugin creates. * The plugin USED to be able to handle situations like this gracefully back when the user had more manual control over it. I think this is a case of making it TOO automated to the point the user has NO OPTIONS for troubleshooting or resetting things when something goes wrong. * Plugin Contributor [Rogier Lankhorst](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rogierlankhorst/) * (@rogierlankhorst) * [3 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-causes-503-errors-breaks-site/#post-16592533) * Very strange, there is nothing saved in the plugin regarding dns or certificate. So I wouldn’t know what to reset there. * The wpconfig only adds (in some cases) some lines to tell WordPress the site is loaded over https, on load balanced setups. * There’s really not much stored about the ssl, just if it is valid or not, and if it is activated or not. * The ssl logic also isn’t changed much the past years. * It is possible the new server just needed some time to get everything up and running. * I will certainly keep an eye on any further reports, although I haven’t heard of any such issues until now. And there are about two million websites using the >6 version, so I imagine at least one other user should have had the same issue. Nothing has been reported. * Thanks for your input, and I’ll keep an eye on any further developments here. * If there’s anything specific that can be improved it will be added asap. Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total) The topic ‘Plugin Causes 503 Errors, Breaks Site’ is closed to new replies. * ![](https://ps.w.org/really-simple-ssl/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=2839720) * [Really Simple Security - Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/really-simple-ssl/) * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/really-simple-ssl/#faq) * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/really-simple-ssl/) * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/really-simple-ssl/active/) * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/really-simple-ssl/unresolved/) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/really-simple-ssl/reviews/) * 6 replies * 2 participants * Last reply from: [Rogier Lankhorst](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rogierlankhorst/) * Last activity: [3 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-causes-503-errors-breaks-site/#post-16592533) * Status: resolved