Hello everyone.
I have an online WordPress store, WooCommerce with the WPML multilingual plugin.
I have PRO hosting (normally specially designed for WP) because I was worried about a server being too limited.
The site isn’t even officially online.
I create products and translate them using the WPML editor.
After a few tens of minutes the site crashes (admin side) and I even got a 429 error (or “Your IP has been banned”) …
I opened a ticket with OVH and after “3 weeks” (!!!) I got a response that basically tells me to figure it out myself!
But is all this normal?
Have a good day.
The message 429 - Your IP has been banned you see is not an error on your site nor a configuration problem. It is an automatic protection measure of OVH’s anti‑DDoS system that activates when it detects what it considers abnormal or suspicious traffic.
In your case, the almost‑certain trigger is the WPML plugin. This tool, used to manage translations and synchronize content, makes multiple intensive requests to the server, especially when creating or editing products. OVH’s system interprets that legitimate activity as an attack and blocks the IP to protect the server.
Try disabling that plugin and let us know.
Best regards,
Sergio Turpín
Hi @Pat
What do the logs of your hosting say? As @sturpin points out: 429 errors appear when you make a lot of requests at once, e.g., 10 requests in the same second.
If they aren’t caused by you, maybe something you’re doing triggers multiple requests, which eventually leads to your address being blocked.
To access the logs of your hosting:
• Click on your hosting, under the "Hosting" section.
• Go to the "Statistics and logs" tab and then click "view logs"
For more information: https://docs.ovhcloud.com/fr/guides/web-cloud/web-hosting/logs-and-statistics
Feel free to search for the blocked IP address with CTRL + F in the logs to see what appears 
Asterix
Thank you for your help!
The problem is that in the error logs there are tons of information but not a single trace of "wpml"…
It even shows errors on the images…
client denied by server configuration: /homez......../wp-content/uploads/woocommerce_uploads/2026/03/M-041oq9-pdf-hlvyer-232x300.jpg
And lots of other errors…
FastCGI: An error happened during Fastcgi processing, fallback to CGI
In the web log there are also tons of errors, the only reference to wpml is this.
"GET /wp-json/wc-analytics/admin/notes?page=1&per_page=25&type=error%2Cupdate&status=unactioned&_locale=user HTTP/1.1" 200 2 "https://monsite.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=201&action=edit&lang=fr&classic-editor&referer=ate&wpml_version=4.9.4&complete_no_changes=0&ate_job_id=199820910&ate_status=6&ate_original_id=199820910&complete=true" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:151.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/151.0"
But does anyone find it shocking that it takes three weeks to get a response on a relatively urgent ticket? 
Client denied by server configuration and image errors… This error indicates that the server is denying access to certain files, probably due to incorrect permissions. The errors with images in uploads/woocommerce_uploads suggest the problem could be in the server’s security configuration or in the file‑ and folder‑permissions.
Regarding FastCGI… This is a sign that the FastCGI process, which handles PHP requests, is failing or overloaded. This usually occurs when the server cannot handle the request load and falls back to a slower method (such as CGI), which slows everything down and can cause crashes.
Try the following:
- Modify the .htaccess file and add these values:
php_value memory_limit 512M
php_value max_execution_time 300
- Check the file permissions. Connect via FTP and make sure the folders (like uploads/woocommerce_uploads) have 755 permissions and the files 644.
- I also recommend purging caches and transients: WooCommerce and WordPress store a lot of temporary data. A plugin like WP‑Optimize or the Transient Cleanup feature of WPML can help clean this data and reduce the load.
Important! – These errors, especially the FastCGI one, are typical on shared hosting when a site starts demanding more resources than the plan can provide. If the problem persists, the most definitive solution will be to migrate your site to a VPS or a dedicated server, where you’ll have guaranteed resources and can adjust server settings without restrictions.
Hope I helped
Best regards,
Sergio Turpín
It depends on the plan you’ve subscribed to… but sometimes they have a heavy overload of incidents and it can take a little longer 
Thank you for the help.
But when I add the two lines to the .htaccess I get a 500 error…
As for migrating to a VPS, seriously, is it not possible?!
I’m installing a very simple WooCommerce store with two languages, I create about ten products and the server crashes!
I’m not a network specialist, but for a WordPress site with no traffic yet and about ten products, do I need a dedicated server instead of a VPS?
Best regards.
Hi @Pat
I'm not going to tell you that the only solution is a VPS, because that's not true. The problem is almost certainly not that your site is very heavy, but rather a combination of how the plugins you use (WooCommerce + WPML) consume resources in a shared environment, and how OVH's security system reacts to that consumption.
That 500 error when adding the lines is usually due to a syntax error in the file. If you've added something wrong, the whole site locks up. Check the contents of the .htaccess carefully. To get out of it, rename it to .htaccess.old and the site will work again (though without the changes). Then add the lines one by one and test.
Let me know.
Best regards,
Sergio Turpín
I put the code snippet in user.ini, because everything crashes as soon as I touch the .htaccess.
But I still can’t figure out how, with 4 plugins, about ten products and zero traffic, the Pro server isn’t enough!
Hi @Pat
Yes, as I mentioned I have the feeling that your problem isn’t traffic (since you don’t have any) nor the site size; it’s more about how the plugins use resources in a shared environment and how OVH manages that traffic.
Using .user.ini to increase PHP memory and execution time is correct 
Have you noticed the difference? Let me know.
Cheers,
Sergio Turpín
No difference, it still crashes when I enter new products.
I’m really fed up with OVH’s so‑called “Pro” server, the performance is terrible!
Attention, changing a PHP variable will be futile because this type of configuration is impossible on shared hosting.
If you encounter stability issues, feel free to open a support ticket about it and share the ticket number in this topic
Astérix
Thank you for the answer.
I clearly have problems with PHP responses
AH10143: FastCGI: comm with server "/homez.2247/monsite/www/index.php" aborted: read failed
AH10149: FastCGI: incomplete headers (0 bytes) received
AH10157: FastCGI: An error happened during Fastcgi processing, fallback to CGI
And regarding the tickets... I waited three weeks for a response to the first one, without any interest anyway.
And the last ticket...
your request XXXXDEMANDE CLIENTXXXX exceeds the scope of the services we provide to our clients, I inform you that our support cannot assist you on this matter.
May I have the ticket number, please? We need to dig deeper to better interpret these logs.
Here index.php crashes without sending a response to Apache (0 bytes received). This usually results from a memory overflow, a timeout, an error, etc. Apache therefore tried a fallback to classic CGI, but still without success.
What happened in the web logs at the moment this error appeared?
Is your database being spammed (visible in the “stats et logs” of your hosting)?
Was there a change on the site that could have caused the anomaly you’re encountering?
Have you tried restoring to a date when the site was functional and accessible correctly?
Astérix