Amazon reported that its cloud computer service or Amazon Web Services, that powers many of the internet’s most popular apps and websites, has fully recovered from a massive outage that disrupted online activity around the world for more than 12 hours last 20 October.
The company said that the outage was likely caused by issues related to its domain name system, or DNS, which converts website addresses into numeric ones, allowing websites and apps to load on internet-connected devices. It’s like a “phone book for the internet,” or part of the "plumbing" for online connectivity.
Amazon has data centers all over the world. According to the company, the outage originated at its AWS plant in northern Virginia, in an area known as "Data Center Alley," where hundreds of such facilities are located.
Amazon Web Services, along with Google’s Cloud Platform and Microsoft’s Azure, provide most of the world’s cloud computing infrastructure. Companies rely on them to store their data and make software and applications run smoothly.
So when there’s an outage, a lot of websites, apps and services go down.
According to Downdetector, a website that tracks online outages, users of apps such as Snapchat and WhatsApp and major websites, including Amazon, began reporting service disruptions shortly after 3 A.M. ET.
Soon dozens of apps and sites were reporting outages, including Google, Hulu, Lyft, Netflix, Reddit, Spotify, Starbucks, T-Mobile, Verizon, Venmo and Zoom. Amazon’s own apps and streaming services, including Alexa, Kindle, Ring and Prime Video, were also affected.
The half-day outage was a stark reminder of just how reliant internet companies and users have become on just a handful of cloud computing companies.
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