Admins / Users

Is Salesforce Down (Or Is It Just Me)?

By Lucy Mazalon

Have you ever tried to log in to Salesforce and not been able to access the platform? Have you been faced with the “white screen of death?”

There are multiple reasons why you may think that Salesforce is down, including a poor internet connection, any IP login restrictions set by your organization, and in the most extreme cases, a full Salesforce outage.

This guide will help you tell the difference between the reasons that are on your side versus the Salesforce site itself, so that you can finally answer the question: Is Salesforce down… or is it just me?

Is Salesforce Down?

Let’s start with the most extreme case: Salesforce is down. Once you eliminate a platform-wide outage or performance issues, you can investigate the other factors.

Trust is one of Salesforce’s core values. Transparency breeds trust, and you’ll find Salesforce are forthcoming with details about their system performance. Trust.salesforce.com is split into three parts: System Status, Security, and Compliance.

The status sites provide transparency around service availability and performance for Salesforce products – you can see most of these listed in the image below. Status.salesforce.com is the one we’ll focus on.

First thing’s first – you will need to find out which instance of Salesforce your organization is using. In simple terms, this is the Salesforce server that your Salesforce org is sitting on.

In Salesforce Classic, you would have been able to determine your server instance from your Salesforce URLs, e.g. for https://na15.salesforce.com, na15 (North America 15) would be your server. Now, with custom domains used by each customer, you can search using the domain that the pages of your Salesforce account use, e.g. for https://thedrip.lightning.force.com/, I would search “thedrip.”

You can see my instance is UM6:

Click through to see a complete overview of your server’s performance, including history and maintenance (release and scheduled maintenance):

Hit the subscribe button at the top right of the page to be kept up to date with your server performance.

Note that Salesforce outages are a very infrequent occurrence. In my time working with the platform (nearing a decade!), I can distinctly remember the Salesforce outage in May 2019. It was one of those days where you, too, will remember where you were and what you were doing. I was sitting in an office full of consultants, all dumbfounded by this freak incident! Nothing like that has happened before, or since!

Is Salesforce Down for Me?

If there are green checkmarks all-round on status.salesforce.com, then read on…

IP Login Ranges and Login Hours

Salesforce Admins can set IP login ranges and login hours to restrict the locations and times users can log in to Salesforce. This is an added layer of security, curbing rogue logins from unknown locations or outside work hours.

In the remote working era, you may be trying to access Salesforce from a location outside the allowed IP range, for example, your local coffee shop. It’s worth asking your Salesforce Admin if IP ranges are enforced for your organization before you plan a nice outing for your caffeine fix!

Poor Internet Connection

Simple, yet quite often is the case that a poor internet connection makes you feel that Salesforce performance is grinding to a halt. There are countless websites where you can run internet speed tests, e.g. Speed Test by Ookla.

Salesforce Lightning is a rich interface, and page elements (such as components on the sidebar) can slow page load speeds. Salesforce Admins can run page performance analysis in the Lightning App Builder. Pick an object by going to any record of that object. Click on the cog icon, and then Edit Page. A Page Analysis pop-up (bottom-right) will show you the load times, and how to improve them.

READ MORE: The Analyze Button: Improve Your Salesforce Lightning Page Load Speed

Summary

Remember that Salesforce outages are a very infrequent occurrence – it’s most likely that Salesforce is down for you only, or for reasons specific to your organization.

If you have other experiences to share, please comment below.

The Author

Lucy Mazalon

Lucy is the Operations Director at Salesforce Ben. She is a 10x certified Marketing Champion and founder of The DRIP.

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