NineLabNineLab.ru
CasesPrices
Contacts
December 15, 2025Evgeny · Senior Systems Engineer

5 Signs Your Website Is About to Crash


The Titanic didn't sink instantly. First came the hit, then water in the holds, and only then — disaster. Your website is the same. It "screams" for help long before it crashes. Do you know how to read these signals?

Checklist: Symptoms of Imminent Death

🔴 CRITICAL WARNINGS:
[WARN] TTFB rose to 800ms (avg: 120ms)
[WARN] DB Connections: 98/100 used
[ERR] Out of Memory: Kill process 'postgres'
[ERR] 502 Bad Gateway (Rate > 2%)

*If you see this in logs — call NineLab.

1. TTFB Growth (Time to First Byte)

If the server thinks longer than 200ms before giving the first byte — this is the first bell. It means code or database is already working at the limit.

2. "Too many connections" in DB

Every SQL request requires a connection. If the pool is full, new users just get an error. This is a classic scaling problem.

3. Disk Swap

The scariest sign. When RAM ends, the server starts using HDD/SSD as memory. Disk is 100,000 times slower than RAM. The site turns into a pumpkin instantly.

4. Growth of 5xx Errors

One 500 error per day is an accident. Ten errors per hour is a pattern. 1% errors of total traffic is a fire.

5. Log Silence

Sounds strange, but if logs suddenly stopped writing, maybe you just ran out of disk space. This is "silent death".

Advice: Configure alerts in Zabbix or Prometheus. Learn about problems before your users write an angry tweet.

Next steps

Validate before traffic peaks: load testing, performance audit, pricing.

FAQ for this topic

Focus is engineering metrics and stack—API, DB, CDN, code—not only copy and meta tags.

Prefer metrics and logs; for DB, read-only or a replica-backed staging is often enough.

Both: lab gives reproducibility, RUM shows real devices and networks; together they explain gaps.

Prioritize by impact/effort, define post-change metrics, re-measure; heavy fixes can be a separate phase.

Want to apply this in practice?

Tell us about your system — we’ll propose a work plan and the metrics worth fixing in an SLA/SLO.

All posts: Audit & Testing

Audit & TestingJune 20, 2026
1C and ERP Integration with a Web App: What to Put in the Spec Before Signing

How to connect 1C/ERP to a portal, CRM, or request system without double entry: master data, REST/OData, sync frequency, conflict rules, and integration budget ranges for CEOs and CTOs.

Read Article
Audit & TestingJune 20, 2026
IT Projects for Leadership: 10 Questions Before You Sign

A checklist for CEOs, CFOs and boards: measurable outcomes, business owner, IP, SLA, contract exit and vendor red flags — without microservices jargon.

Read Article
Audit & TestingJune 19, 2026
Developer Outstaffing: Senior Squad vs a "300-Person Farm"

How to choose outstaffing: rates, time to onboard, NDAs, velocity transparency, and when a boutique team beats a large integrator.

Read Article
Audit & TestingJune 14, 2026
Digitalization Without the Hype: A 7-Step Checklist for CEOs

A practical checklist for CEOs and COOs: one pain point in money, a pilot on one unit, ERP in the spec from day one, people and a 90-day success metric — without a 40-slide Industry 4.0 deck.

Read Article