The first and most important step in fixing an internal server error is to check the server logs. These logs will provide detailed information about the error and can help narrow down the cause and any potential solutions.
Follow these simple steps to check for server logs
- Connect to the server via SSH.
- Navigate to the webserver logs directory. Depending on the server environment this could be something like
“/var/log/apache2/” or “/var/log/nginx/”
- Find the most recent error log and open it using an editor such as Nano or vi
- Look for lines which start with
'[error]' and '[fatal]'.
- If you are unable to identify the problem from the errors reported in the logs, it may be necessary to contact your web host or server administrator for assistance.