Microsoft admits configuration error caused worldwide Azure outage — Are services back?
Microsoft confirmed on Wednesday, October 29 that a configuration change error triggered a major outage that disrupted Azure cloud services and various related platforms, including Microsoft 365, Outlook, Xbox Live, and Copilot, across multiple industries worldwide.
The company said the issue started around 16:00 UTC (12:00 p.m. ET) and primarily affected Azure Front Door (AFD), Microsoft’s global network responsible for routing traffic in the cloud environment.
“An accidental configuration change [was] trigger event for this problem.” Microsoft said in a statement Updated on October 29, 18:10 UTC.
Microsoft begins recovery deployment
Microsoft said initiated deployment of a “last known good” configuration to restore services, with early signs of recovery expected within 30 minutes of deployment.
“Once this is completed, the next phase will be to begin recovering nodes while routing traffic through these healthy nodes,” the company said.
The tech giant added that customer configuration changes will continue to be blocked while the mitigation continues and has assured users that it will update them once the restriction is lifted.
Access to the Azure portal has been restored
Microsoft confirmed that access to the Azure management portal, a key interface for customers managing cloud operations, has been routed away from AFD to minimize impact.
“Customers should be able to access the Azure management portal directly, with all portal extensions working properly. There may be a small number of endpoints (e.g. Marketplace) that may have issues loading,” Microsoft said.
Customers who cannot access Azure via the web portal are advised to use PowerShell or CLI tools as a temporary alternative.
Industries affected worldwide
The outage spanned many critical industries that rely heavily on Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure.
Alaska Airlines stated that it had experienced “an outage to important systems, including its website”, while Vodafone UK and Heathrow Airport also reported service outages due to the Azure outage.
The outage affected both consumers and businesses, slowing access to essential productivity tools and business applications.
Downdetector data shows a decline in reports
According to Downdetector, a website that tracks online outages based on user-submitted reports, issues with Azure peaked at more than 18,000 reports and then reached 3,299 users as of 1:27 PM ET.
Microsoft 365 services also improved; The number of users still reporting problems dropped to 3,858 compared to 11,700.
Downdetector stated that actual figures may vary as the data is compiled from voluntary user submissions.
Microsoft 365 confirms downstream impact
Microsoft 365 confirmed on its status page that it was experiencing downstream outages due to the Azure outage.
“A recent configuration change to part of the Azure infrastructure is causing the outage,” the company said, echoing Microsoft’s broader statement.
Another major cloud outage after AWS outage
The incident follows last week’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage, which caused widespread global outages affecting Snapchat, Reddit and other major platforms.
The AWS outage has been described as the biggest internet outage since last year’s CrowdStrike failure, which paralyzed systems in hospitals, banks and airports and highlighted the vulnerability of the world’s interconnected digital infrastructure.
