#http server status code

Status Codes

The codes can be broken up into: successful response (codes beginning in 2), a redirection (codes beginning in 3), an error caused by the client (codes beginning in 4), or an error in the server (codes beginning in 5). The specific meanings of the most commonly encountered codes are presented below:

200 - OK

indicates a successful request resulting in a file being returned.

206 - Partial Content

indicates that a file was only partially downloaded. The download could have been interrupted by someone leaving the page before it's fully loaded (in the case of embedded images) or cancelling a download (in the case of PDF, MP3 and similar file types).

301 - Moved Permanently

the server has indicated that the requested file is now located at a new address. Search engines should update their index by removing the old address and replacing it (PR intact) with the new one.

302 - Found

the user has been redirected, but as it's not a Permanent redirect no further action needs to be taken. This could be as simple as the server adding a / to the end of the request, or the result of a header command in PHP.

304 - Not Modified

an intelligent user agent (browser) has made a request for a file which is already present in it's cache. A 304 indicates that the cached version has the same timestamp as the 'live' version of the file so they don't need to download it. If the 'live' file was newer then the response would instead be a 200.

400 - Bad Request

the server couldn't make sense of the request.

401 - Unauthorised (password required)

an attempt has been made to access a directory or file that requires authentication (username and password). Subsequent requests would normally contain a username and password, resulting in either a 200 (user has been authenticated) or 401 (authentication failed).

403 - Forbidden

the server has blocked access to a directory or file. This typically applies to requests that would otherwise result in a directory listing being displayed.

404 - Not Found

the requested file does not exist on the server. This normally indicates a broken link (internal or external).

408 - Request Timeout

the client/server connection process was so slow that the server decided to 'hang up'.

410 - Gone

the server has indicated that the requested file used to exist but has now been permanently removed. Search engines should remove the address from their index

414 - Request-URI Too Long

the request was too long. This normally indicates an attempt to compromise the server using a buffer overflow exploit.