Title: Website hung
Last modified: January 15, 2021
---
# Website hung
* Resolved [Konstatninos](https://wordpress.org/support/users/skredlemon/)
* (@skredlemon)
* [5 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/website-hung/)
* A website I am using wordfence on was reported as hanging. As soon as I enabled
the debug mode from the ftp the following was printed on my screen:
* […]/public_html/wp-content/wflogs/rules.php on line 3343
* I renamed the plugin folder and order was restored.
* The installation had been last configured about a month ago.
* Is this the right place to report this?
Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
* Plugin Support [WFAdam](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wfadam/)
* (@wfadam)
* [5 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/website-hung/#post-13917018)
* Hello [@skredlemon](https://wordpress.org/support/users/skredlemon/) and thanks
for reaching out to us!
* It looks like the waf rules PHP might be having issues but what was the error
being reported?
* Can you send a diagnostic report to **wftest @ wordfence . com**? You can find
the link to do so at the top of the **Wordfence Tools > Diagnostics** page. Then
click on **“Send Report by Email”**. Please add your forum username where indicated
and _respond here after you have sent it._
* Thanks!
* [cell911](https://wordpress.org/support/users/cell911/)
* (@cell911)
* [5 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/website-hung/#post-13928295)
* I had the same sort of thing happen on multiple sites starting last Thursday
and repeating over the weekend. Sites would give 503 or 501 error. One one site
home page would load from cache (apparently). Back end not accessible. Deleting
the rules files (via sftp) would let it load and they would rebuild.
* Plugin Support [WFAdam](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wfadam/)
* (@wfadam)
* [5 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/website-hung/#post-13934453)
* [@cell911](https://wordpress.org/support/users/cell911/) Thanks for adding your
experience to this. Delete the wflogs folder will cause it to rebuild on the
next page visit but I always recommend backing it up before removing it.
* Was it then working properly?
* Thanks!
* Thread Starter [Konstatninos](https://wordpress.org/support/users/skredlemon/)
* (@skredlemon)
* [5 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/website-hung/#post-13958694)
* Hello Adam,
* I have forwarded you the diagnostic report.
* The error reported was the one originally posted. Other than that the website
would not load at all.
* Please review and get back when you have more information available.
* Thanks!
* Plugin Support [WFAdam](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wfadam/)
* (@wfadam)
* [5 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/website-hung/#post-13965345)
* Thanks for sending that diagnostic!
* I notice a few things that jump out at me when reviewing the diagnostic. I see
your WAF(Firewall) is not optimized. Also, the wordfence-waf.php file which is
usually created when the plugin is installed doesn’t exist in the directory.
This could be due to a read/write permission or it just didn’t create it by mistake.
We will definitely want to circle back to that after we resolve the rules issues.
* Navigate to **Wordfence > All Options > General Wordfence Options > How does
Wordfence get IPs** and change this to **Let Wordfence use the most secure method
to get visitor IP addresses**. That should correct the connection issue the rules
are having. To test, scroll down in the All Options page to Advanced Firewall
Options and click **“Manually Refresh Rules”** and let me know what happens!
* Thanks!
* Thread Starter [Konstatninos](https://wordpress.org/support/users/skredlemon/)
* (@skredlemon)
* [5 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/website-hung/#post-13975461)
* Hi [@wfadam](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wfadam/),
* Thank you for touching base. I followed your instructions. **“Let Wordfence use
the most secure method to get visitor IP addresses”** was pre-selected when I
reached for it. I then clicked on the **“Manually Refresh Rules”** button, and
received a pop-up message that said **“Rules Updated
Your rules have
been updated successfully. You are currently using the free version of Wordfence.
Upgrade to Wordfence premium to have your rules updated automatically as new
threats emerge. Click here to purchase a premium license. Note: Your rules will
still update every 30 days as a free user.”
* I did not notice any change to be honest, although I am not sure what really
happened in the background.
* I also checked in the file manager for the wordfence-waf.php file you mentioned.
I noticed the waf directory inside the plugin’s directory, but did not manage
to come across the actual file inside that directory, or any other directory
of wordfence’s for that matter. I even performed a search function without any
finds.
* What should we check next? Please review and advise.
* Thanks again!
* Plugin Support [WFAdam](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wfadam/)
* (@wfadam)
* [5 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/website-hung/#post-13994693)
* So it seems everything is working correctly except for the wordfence-waf.php
being non-existant. This could be an issue with your file permissions. The wordfence-
waf.php should be created when you install the plugin in your root directory(
along side your htaccess file).
* Could you send me a new diagnostic now that we have the IP issue sorted?
* Thanks!
Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
The topic ‘Website hung’ is closed to new replies.
* 
* [Wordfence Security - Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordfence/)
* [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordfence/#faq)
* [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordfence/)
* [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordfence/active/)
* [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordfence/unresolved/)
* [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordfence/reviews/)
* 7 replies
* 3 participants
* Last reply from: [WFAdam](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wfadam/)
* Last activity: [5 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/website-hung/#post-13994693)
* Status: resolved