A configuration change in some Microsoft Azure backend workloads caused interruptions between storage and compute resources, resulting in connectivity failures and affecting downstream Microsoft 365 services.
This led to a global technology outage that affected companies worldwide. On Friday, planes were grounded, and train services were affected.
Microsoft disclosed this as the preliminary root cause of its outage on its Service Health Status page. It said, “A configuration change in a portion of our Azure backend workloads caused interruption between storage and compute resources, which resulted in connectivity failures that affected downstream Microsoft 365 services dependent on these connections.”
According to The Wall Street Journal, a major service outage from Microsoft left users unable to access Microsoft cloud computing platforms and caused airlines to cancel flights. Downdetector.com, a website that tracks service disruptions, reported that thousands of users worldwide had problems with Microsoft 365 apps and services. Most of the downtimes were with OneDrive, server connections, and Outlook.
This outage impacted Sky News in the UK, which could not broadcast live TV on Friday morning, and airlines in the US. The extent of the service disruption is not yet known, however, according to BusinessTech in South Africa, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange issued a notice stating that the FTSE indices are not updating.
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“Clients are advised that we are aware of the FTSE issue globally and are awaiting resolution. Clients are advised to trade with caution,” it said.
Also, South Africa’s largest bank by customer numbers, Capitec, faced an outage due to problems with its international service provider. It is unclear if this is linked to Microsoft cloud outages.
Microsoft noted that this issue may impact any user attempting to use various Microsoft 365 apps and services. According to Statista, Microsoft 365 is used by over a million companies worldwide, and over one million customers in the United States alone use the Office Suite software.
Eight hours ago, Microsoft 365 Status on X noted that it was investigating an issue impacting users’ ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services.
An hour ago, it tweeted, “Our services are still seeing continuous improvements while we continue to take mitigation actions… Multiple services are continuing to see improvements in availability as our mitigation actions progress.
According to WSJ, the status page for Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, noted that the issue began just before 10 p.m. ET Thursday, affecting systems across the central U.S. In an update, Microsoft said it had determined the cause and was working to restore access to its users. Microsoft noted that its cloud services have been restored after suffering an outage.
The firm’s service health status update highlighted progress on its mitigation efforts for the affected Microsoft 365 apps and services.
It added, “We’re continuing to see an improvement in service availability across multiple Microsoft 365 apps and services. We’re closely monitoring our telemetry data to ensure this upward trend continues as our mitigation actions continue to progress.”
Microsoft Cloud suffered a global outage in January that impacted services from Outlook to Teams. At the time, the tech giant said this was due to a network change.
