HTTP Error 304 - Not modified

Introduction

This does not really indicate an error, but rather indicates that the resource for the requested URL has not changed since last accessed or cached. The 304 status code should only be returned if allowed by the client (e.g. your Web browser or our CheckUpDown robot). The client specifies this in the HTTP data stream sent to your Web server e.g. via If_Modified_Since headers in the request.

Systems that cache or index Web resources (such as search engines) often use the 304 response to determine if the information they previously gathered for a particular URL is now out-of-date.

304 errors in the HTTP cycle

Any client (e.g. your Web browser or our CheckUpDown robot) goes through the following cycle when it communicates with your Web server:

• Obtain an IP address from the IP name of your site (your site URL without the leading 'http://'). This lookup (conversion of IP name to IP address) is provided by domain name servers (DNSs).
• Open an IP socket connection to that IP address.
• Write an HTTP data stream through that socket.
• Receive an HTTP data stream back from your Web server in response. This data stream contains status codes whose values are determined by the HTTP protocol. Parse this data stream for status codes and other useful information.

This error occurs in the final step above when the client receives an HTTP status code that it recognises as '304'.

Fixing 304 errors - general

You should never see this error in your Web browser. It should simply present the Web page from its cache - because it believes the page has not changed since it was last cached. If your client is not a Web browser, then it should equally be able to present the page from a cache. If unable to do so, it is not using the If_Modified_Since or related headers correctly.

Fixing 304 errors - CheckUpDown

You should never see this error at all for the CheckUpDown service. It indicates defective programming by us or the developers of your Web server software. Either we or they are not respecting HTTP protocols completely.

The 304 status code should only be returned if we allow it in the HTTP data stream we send to your Web server. Because we keep no records of the actual content of your URL Web page, we specifically disallow the 304 response in the HTTP data stream we send.

So if your Web server implements the HTTP protocol properly, it should never send an 304 status code back to us. This response is not what we expect, so we actively report it as an error even though it does not necessarily mean that your Web site is down.

Please contact us directly (email preferred) whenever you encounter 304 errors. Only we can resolve them for you. Unfortunately this may take some time, because we have to analyse the underlying HTTP data streams and may have to liaise with your ISP and the vendor of your Web server software to agree the exact source of the error.