Microsoft Outlook outage draws 200,000 reports as fix stalls

The Microsoft Outlook outage was still not fully fixed at about 2pm Malaysia time on 13 November. Outlook email, Teams and Copilot have all been hit, Bloomberg reported. Downdetector logged a peak of about 200,000 reports across Microsoft services. It shows how much work runs on a few cloud firms. Malaysia courts them, such as with Google’s US$15b data centre.

Microsoft says a core process on the affected servers is becoming overwhelmed. That makes the servers stop responding. A Microsoft executive, Charles Lamanna, said there is no sign of a cyber attack.

Here is what is down, what Microsoft says it is doing and what users can do. However, we have no report of a Malaysian agency or firm being hit.

What the Microsoft Outlook outage has taken down

Notably, email has been hit hardest. SAYS reported that Outlook was not reachable in a browser at 10.30am Malaysia time. Emails sent from the app also failed to arrive.

Overall, most affected services now connect to Microsoft Exchange, the email service. Meanwhile, Microsoft said Teams chats and online meetings stay largely working. However, scheduling meetings and starting new chats may fail.

Moreover, other tools are also hit. Microsoft later said security software, file sharing and admin tools were disrupted. ABC News listed SharePoint, Defender, Planner, To Do, Intune, Purview and Power BI.

However, Downdetector figures differ by region. ABC reported more than 120,000 US reports for Outlook at the peak. Furthermore, a drop in reports does not mean service is back.

Microsoft Outlook outage cause and fixes so far

Specifically, Microsoft says the extra load did not come from more traffic. It came from many servers being unexpectedly unavailable, which strained the rest. The process that sets up secure connections becomes overwhelmed, and those servers stop handling requests.

Furthermore, a recent configuration change lined up with the start of the outage. Microsoft is rolling it back. In addition, it is adding virtual machines and forcing a network sync, according to The Guardian’s live blog.

Still, the fixes have not worked as hoped. At about 11am Malaysia time, Microsoft said one change was not taking as expected. Moreover, some machines were stuck in a bad state and could not sync. It was looking for other ways to add capacity.

Even so, some recovery has begun. Microsoft reported limited recovery in some regions, and some servers are returning to service. However, restored servers can become unresponsive again once traffic returns.

Who the Microsoft Outlook outage has hit and what to do

Meanwhile, Australia felt it badly. Federal agencies told clients they could not get email, and Service NSW asked people to delay visits. Meanwhile, Western Australia said school staff email was affected, but classroom teaching went on.

Taiwan logged more than 100 Downdetector reports from 3am to 9am on Friday. Hospitals and clinics in Australia also had admin problems, but no patient care was affected. By comparison, no Malaysian impact has been reported in the sources we read.

Users can switch to calls and text for urgent matters. Furthermore, the Victorian government in Australia warns of scammers using the outage. It urges people to avoid unexpected links. They should not share details with callers claiming to be from banks or tech firms.

In short, the Microsoft Outlook outage has hit email, Teams and Copilot, and recovery is partial. Microsoft has ruled out a cyber attack. Expect delays until it says services are restored.

Dont miss:

Ceramah Bayan Baru Azmin Ali PM opens religious school in Taman Molek, Johor Jangan beli kanta sentuh di pasar malam Tsunami still remembered after seven years