Global Impact of the Azure Outage July 18 2024 Explained

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The Azure outage on July 18, 2024, had a significant impact on businesses and individuals around the world. It's estimated that over 70% of Azure's users were affected by the outage.

The outage caused widespread disruptions, with many organizations relying on Azure for critical services. Some companies reported losses of up to $100,000 in a single hour due to the outage.

The Azure outage highlighted the importance of having a disaster recovery plan in place. By having a plan, businesses can minimize the impact of outages and get back up and running quickly.

As the world becomes increasingly reliant on cloud services, outages like this one serve as a reminder of the need for robust infrastructure and contingency planning.

What Happened

On July 18, 2024, Microsoft Azure experienced a significant outage.

The disruption occurred at 9:56 PM UTC, causing widespread effects on Microsoft 365 apps and services.

This outage left users around the globe struggling to access essential tools like Microsoft Teams, PowerBI, and the Microsoft 365 admin center.

Microsoft Azure is one of the world's leading cloud computing platforms.

Incident Details

Credit: youtube.com, Azure US Central outage on July-18-2024

The Azure outage on July 18, 2024, was a significant incident that affected users worldwide.

It started on July 18, 2024, at 9:56 PM UTC, with Microsoft Azure experiencing a significant outage.

The disruption impacted Microsoft 365 apps and services, leaving users struggling to access essential tools like Microsoft Teams, PowerBI, and the Microsoft 365 admin center.

The outage lasted for over two hours, with Microsoft rolling back a configuration change to mitigate the issue.

The affected services included PowerBI, Microsoft Fabric, Microsoft Teams, and the Microsoft 365 Admin Center.

Here are some specific services that were impacted:

  • PowerBI: Transitioned to read-only mode.
  • Microsoft Fabric: Also switched to read-only mode.
  • Microsoft Teams: Users faced issues with presence, group chats, and user registration.
  • Microsoft 365 Admin Center: Admins encountered intermittent access issues, delaying actions.

Some services like Microsoft Defender, OneDrive for Business, SharePoint Online, and Windows 365 recovered more swiftly and were reported stable post-incident.

Credit: youtube.com, Cybersecurity expert explains what caused Microsoft outage

The root cause of the outage was attributed to a configuration change in Azure's backend workloads, which disrupted connectivity between storage and compute resources in the Central US region.

This resulted in compute resources automatically restarting when connectivity was lost to virtual disks hosted on impacted storage resources, leading to connectivity failures and service interruptions across various Microsoft 365 services.

A Global Ripple Effect

The Azure outage on July 18, 2024, had a significant global impact. It's not surprising that Microsoft's immediate response involved addressing the issue.

The ripple effect of the outage was felt across continents and various industries. Microsoft's response was swift, but the consequences were far-reaching.

Several critical services were affected, including PowerBI, which transitioned to read-only mode, and Microsoft Fabric, which also switched to read-only mode. These services were unavailable for an extended period.

Microsoft Teams users faced issues with presence, group chats, and user registration. Admins encountered intermittent access issues in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, delaying actions.

On the other hand, some services like Microsoft Defender, OneDrive for Business, SharePoint Online, and Windows 365 recovered more swiftly and were reported stable post-incident.

Affected Services

Credit: youtube.com, Microsoft investigating Azure outage after massive worldwide IT outage | WION Breaking

The Azure outage on July 18, 2024, had a significant impact on various critical services. The outage took down multiple services for customers across North and Latin America, including those that leverage Azure Front Door (AFD).

Several services were affected, including PowerBI, which transitioned to read-only mode. Microsoft Fabric was also switched to read-only mode. Microsoft Teams users faced issues with presence, group chats, and user registration.

Microsoft 365 Admin Center admins encountered intermittent access issues, delaying actions. However, some services like Microsoft Defender, OneDrive for Business, SharePoint Online, and Windows 365 recovered more swiftly and were reported stable post-incident.

Here are the affected services:

  • PowerBI: Transitioned to read-only mode.
  • Microsoft Fabric: Also switched to read-only mode.
  • Microsoft Teams: Users faced issues with presence, group chats, and user registration.
  • Microsoft 365 Admin Center: Admins encountered intermittent access issues, delaying actions.

Rosemary Boyer

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Rosemary Boyer is a skilled writer with a passion for crafting engaging and informative content. With a focus on technical and educational topics, she has established herself as a reliable voice in the industry. Her writing has been featured in a variety of publications, covering subjects such as CSS Precedence, where she breaks down complex concepts into clear and concise language.

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