When something goes wrong

What happens to your site when an update fails, what 1ClickOps does when an app stops answering, and how to go back to a version that worked.

An update failed

For most apps deployed from a repository, the new version is built and started beside the one that is running. Your server asks the new version for its home page before any visitor is sent to it. If it does not answer, visitors stay on the previous version and the new one is removed.

The previous version does not keep running in every case. An app that keeps its data in its own storage, which includes most one-click apps, is updated in place: the running version is replaced. After a failed update of such an app, it may not be running. A first deploy that fails has no previous version either.

The deploy’s screen says what went wrong in plain words, for example “Your code could not be built” or “The server is out of disk space”.

An app stops answering

About once a minute, 1ClickOps asks every app that has a web address whether it still answers.

Any answer counts, except a server error or no reply within 10 seconds.
One failed check is not an outage. It takes two in a row.
Then your server is asked to restart the app. At most two restarts are tried for one outage, at least five minutes apart.
An app is not checked during the first five minutes after a deploy.

When you are emailed

The owners and admins of the workspace are emailed. One outage sends one “down” email.

If a restart brings the app back, you get a single email saying it went down and we fixed it.
If the app is still down, you are told it is down and how many restarts were really carried out. A restart gets two minutes to work before anyone is told it did not help.
If your server itself is out of contact, nothing can be restarted from here. The email says so, and suggests starting the server again from your hosting provider’s control panel.
If you were told it was down, you are told when it is back. A short blip that nobody was told about stays silent.

Going back to an earlier version

Open your app, then Versions. Press Go back to this version on a version that worked, and type the app’s name to confirm.

Going back builds and deploys that version’s code again, like any other update.
Your settings and your data stay as they are now. Going back changes code, not your database.
It is offered only for apps deployed from a code repository.
A few old versions cannot be chosen: they were deployed before 1ClickOps recorded exactly which code they used.

Still stuck? Your app’s Logs section shows what it is printing.