HTTP Error 307 - Temporary redirect

Introduction

Your Web server thinks that your URL has been temporarily redirected to another URL.

307 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 the Web server:

• Obtain an IP address from the IP name of the site (the 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 the 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 '307'.

Fixing 307 errors - general

The 307 response from the Web server should always include an alternative URL to which redirection should occur. If it does, a Web browser will immediately retry the alternative URL. So you never actually see a 307 error in a Web browser, unless perhaps you have a corrupt redirection chain e.g. URL A redirects to URL B which in turn redirects back to URL A. If your client is not a Web browser, it should behave in the same way as a Web browser i.e. immediately retry the alternative URL.

If the Web server does not return an alternative URL with the 307 response, then either the Web server sofware itself is defective or the Webmaster has not set up the URL redirection correctly.

Fixing 307 errors - CheckUpDown

Redirection of URLs may occur for low-level URLs (specific URLs within the Web site such as www.isp.com/products/list.html) when you reorganise the web site, but is relatively uncommon for the top-level URLs (such as www.isp.com) which most CheckUpDown users ask us to monitor.

The 307 response from the Web server should always include an alternative URL to which redirection should occur. If it does, CheckUpDown automatically tries the alternative URL. This in turn may possibly lead to another redirection which CheckUpDown then tries. This continues for a maximum of 5 redirections. As soon as 5 redirections have occurred, CheckUpDown gives up and reports the 307 error for your account. So you should only ever see the 307 error if 1) the Web server gives no alternative URL on the 307 response or 2) the number of redirections exceeds 5. This second condition should be fairly unlikely - and may indicate a recursive pattern e.g. URL A redirects to URL B which in turn redirects back to URL A.

You first need to check that the IP name we use to check for your account is accurate. If you or your ISP have configured something so that any access using this name should now be redirected to another name and this redirection is likely to become permanent, then you need to update your CheckUpDown account to start using the new name.

If you believe that the IP name we use is exact (should not be redirected), please try accessing the current URL using a Web browser. Note carefully which URL actually gets displayed, because your browser may silently switch to a substitute URL if it receives an 307 message from the Web server. If you see any evidence of a new URL, try accessing that directly from your browser. If this works (you see the Web site as expected), then this new URL is what you may need to update on your CheckUpDown account. If this is a temporary redirection, then we may also need to reinstate the original IP name at a later date when the redirection is no longer effective.

If none of the above help, we can analyse the underlying HTTP data streams we receive from the Web server. These can provide additional information about the new URL(s) which the Web server thinks we should be accessing. Before doing this, we prefer you to identify any deliberate changes on your side, liaising with your ISP if needs be.

307 errors should occur infrequently, because top-level URLs do not change often. If they do change, then this is typically because a redirection URL is being suggested. This pervasive change is unlikely to occur by accident, so most often you can resolve this error by updating your CheckUpDown account following a deliberate change of URL on your part, whether this change is temporary or permanent.