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Why Does My Vultr Load Balancer Respond With a 504 Gateway Timeout Error?

Updated on 15 September, 2025

Explains why Vultr Load Balancers return 504 Gateway Timeout errors and their relationship to backend server response times.

A 504 Gateway Timeout occurs when the load balancer cannot get a response from a backend server within the configured timeout window. By default, Vultr Load Balancers use a 600-second timeout. This error usually indicates that the backend server is too slow to respond, is overloaded, or is not in a healthy state.

To resolve this issue:

  • Ensure the instances attached to the load balancer are in a Running state in the Vultr Customer Portal.
  • Confirm your application or database queries return results within the expected timeframe.
  • Address bottlenecks such as slow queries, high CPU usage, or insufficient memory on the instances.
  • For workloads that require longer processing (such as file uploads or long-running jobs), increase the Timeout (seconds) value in Details > Basic Settings using the Vultr Customer Portal, API, CLI, or Terraform.