My Node.js application restarts 2-3 times a day without any notifications; I have to check it by searching for keywords in the log monitor
Initially, I used a Node Docker image (1GB), then switched to the slim version, later moved to Alpine. Finally, after compressing source code, my Docker image is only 69MB, but it still restarts constantly…
I understand that free services may experience occasional restarts, but I wouldn’t expect them to occur 2-3 times a day.
I have identified the cause, and it is the new feature - Zero Downtime. It may sound illogical, but Render automatically restarts the server when this feature checks for a response other than status codes 200 and 204.
My link consistently returns a 204, but clearly, Render is not functioning at 100%, causing my server to restart.
javascript
app.get('/keep-server-alive', (req, res) => res.sendStatus(204));
And after disabling the Zero Downtime feature for 5 days, my server restarted again. Perhaps another feature of Render is causing havoc with my application…
Zero-downtime is not a new feature, it’s used around deployments to ensure that the service remains active by bringing up the new instance and then terminating the old one.
Without having more details it sounds like you’re using a free instance type which, by design will spin down after a period of inactivity - https://docs.render.com/free#spinning-down-on-idle
John B
Render Support, UTC 
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