Microsoft Confirms Configuration Glitch Behind Global Azure Outage; Services Begin Restoring

On October 29, Microsoft announced that a mistake in changing configurations led to a significant outage that impacted its Azure cloud services and several popular platforms, including Microsoft 365, Outlook, Xbox Live, and Copilot, worldwide. The issue began around 4:00 PM UTC (12 PM ET) and primarily affected a service called Azure Front Door, which is responsible for managing internet traffic for Microsoft’s cloud operations.

Microsoft attributed the incident to an unintended configuration change within its infrastructure and subsequent DNS/traffic-routing complications.

The outage had wide-ranging effects, with companies like Alaska Airlines and Air New Zealand reporting disruptions to their check-in and payment systems. Additionally, government websites in New Zealand were also affected.

This outage occurred just before Microsoft was scheduled to release its quarterly financial report and shortly after a similar incident affected Amazon’s cloud services, impacting various online platforms.

To resolve the issue, Microsoft began deploying a backup configuration aimed at restoring services. They anticipated seeing some improvements within about 30 minutes of implementing this fix. During the recovery process, they temporarily restricted users from making changes to their settings to prevent further disruptions.

In summary, Microsoft faced a significant challenge with its cloud services, impacting many users and businesses globally, and has been actively working on a solution to restore access to all services.