# Project WebStack debugging #1

**Issue Summary:**

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1710541501649/9d2e6cbd-156c-4735-b035-db0d5b189755.png align="center")

* **Duration:** The outage occurred on March 14, 2024, from 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM (UTC).
    
* **Impact:** The Nginx service was inaccessible during the outage, affecting all users attempting to access the web application. Approximately 80% of users experienced service unavailability.
    
* **Root Cause:** The Nginx server failed to listen on port 80 due to misconfiguration in the default site configuration file.
    

**Timeline:**

* **10:00 AM (UTC):** Issue detected through monitoring alerts indicating the Nginx service unavailability.
    
* **10:05 AM:** Engineering team began investigation, suspecting a misconfiguration or service failure.
    
* **10:15 AM:** Initial attempts to restart Nginx and verify server configurations were made but yielded no success.
    
* **10:30 AM:** Further investigation revealed discrepancies in the default site configuration file.
    
* **10:45 AM:** Misleading path: Initial focus on server hardware and network configurations led to no resolution.
    
* **11:00 AM:** The incident was escalated to the DevOps team for deeper investigation and resolution.
    
* **11:30 AM:** Root cause identified as misconfiguration in the default site configuration file. The file was replaced, and Nginx service was successfully restarted, resolving the issue.
    

**Root Cause and Resolution:**

The root cause of the issue was identified as a misconfiguration in the default site configuration file `/etc/nginx/sites-available/default`. The misconfiguration prevented Nginx from properly listening on port 80. The resolution involved replacing the faulty configuration file with a correct one and restarting the Nginx service.

**Corrective and Preventative Measures:**

* **Immediate Fix:** Replace the default site configuration file with a correct one.
    
* **Preventative Measures:**
    
    * Implement automated configuration validation checks to detect misconfigurations.
        
    * Enhance monitoring systems to provide more granular alerts for Nginx service availability.
        
    * Conduct regular audits of server configurations to identify and rectify potential issues proactively.
        
    * Enhance documentation and knowledge sharing regarding Nginx server configurations to minimize future misconfigurations.
        

In conclusion, the outage was swiftly resolved through diligent investigation and identification of the root cause. Implementing preventative measures will ensure the recurrence of similar incidents is minimized, maintaining optimal service availability for our users.