How to Fix 'Connection Refused' Error

In this tutorial, you'll learn about How to Fix 'Connection Refused' Error. We cover key concepts, practical examples, and best practices.

The Problem

You try to connect to a service and get:

ssh: connect to host example.com port 22: Connection refused

or

curl: (7) Failed to connect to localhost port 8080: Connection refused

Quick Fix

1. Check if the service is running

# For systemd services
sudo systemctl status nginx

# Check if anything is listening on the port
ss -tlnp | grep :8080

Expected output (service running):

LISTEN 0  511  0.0.0.0:8080  0.0.0.0:*  users:(("nginx",pid=1234))

If the ss command shows nothing, the service isn't listening.

2. Start the service

sudo systemctl start nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx  # Start on boot

3. Check the firewall

The service may be running but blocked:

sudo ufw status | grep 8080

If blocked, allow the port:

sudo ufw allow 8080/tcp

4. Check if it's listening on the right interface

ss -tlnp | grep nginx

If it says 127.0.0.1:8080, it only accepts local connections. Change config to 0.0.0.0:8080 for external access.

Common Scenarios