Microsoft’s cloud had a rainy morning today as it collapsed due to technical glitches.
As a result, millions of Hotmail e-mail users were unable to access their accounts for a few hours during the overnight time frame. It also affected Office 365, the Web-based version of the company’s Office software suite.
Microsoft acknowledged that it was due to problems with its cloud servers and tweeted, “Preliminary root cause suggests a DNS issue.”
As it was working to find a solution, the company told users, “We are working on propagating the DNS configuration changes and so it will take some time to restore service to everyone. Again we appreciate your patience.”
The issue was solved without any substantial data loss shortly after midnight, Eastern Time.
Clearly, cloud-based solutions for our daily lives are quickly becoming the norm and there’s no stopping that trend from continuing to quickly and forcefully spread.
Microsoft plans to roll out several new cloud services as Windows 8 is released next year and it widely expands the functional capabilities of the Xbox 360.
However, the issue with Microsoft today highlights the undeniable biggest threat that cloud services offer – a lack of physical security.
Nevertheless, it recovered without much incident, so as long as this is the worst we ever see the world will probably be just fine.
