[support] Error updating database

[James Rome]

When I run update.php, I get
/PDOException/: SQLSTATE[HY000]: General error: 2006 MySQL server has
gone away: SELECT filename, name, type, status, schema_version, weight
FROM {system} WHERE type = :type; Array ( [:type] => module )
in/system_get_files_database()/ (line /2188/ of//home/content/72/8469872/html/drupal/modules/system/system.module/).

What does this mean?

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