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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Problems began at around 1pm, rapidly reaching a crescendo of wailing from users unable to while away their day on chat channels and forced instead to get on with some actual work.
Microsoft has remained tight-lipped on the matter, with the status mouthpiece for Microsoft 365 only admitting that there was a problem. And that was it.
We're investigating an issue where users may be unable to access Microsoft Teams. We're reviewing systems data to determine the cause of the issue. More information can be found in the Admin center under TM202916
— Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status)
As for the cause, an expired authentication certificate was apparently the root of today's woes. If true, then the postmortem will make for interesting reading indeed. [...]
We're investigating an issue where users may be unable to access Microsoft Teams. We will have further information soon. We appreciate your patience as we work to solve the problem.
— Microsoft Teams (@MicrosoftTeams)
The only deviation from the script was a brief message telling one worried user that there was no ETA for the resolution of the issue.
There is no workaround at present, and the issue is global. Affected users are unable to connect to the platform through the Windows desktop application, web or via smartphone app.
While the loss of messaging might do wonders for productivity, customers also use the platform to run meetings. Microsoft has been encouraging users in recent times to do this very thing as Skype for Business reaches the end of the road. Alas, when Teams disappears, so do those potentially important calls. Unless, of course, you have a backup.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 04 2020, @06:02PM (1 child)
When including any kind of timeout in software that we ship, we should include an earlier timeout in the version that we use internally.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by ikanreed on Tuesday February 04 2020, @07:12PM
Please, no one at microsoft eats their own dog food. Linux and IRC is the name of the game for devs at MS.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday February 04 2020, @06:12PM (1 child)
Yet another reason to toss this whole HTTPS thing.
I actually had to use Chrome once because it was the only browser that let me bypass that garbage
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 5, Insightful) by DannyB on Tuesday February 04 2020, @07:10PM
If we can't expect corporations to be able to keep track of bookkeeping as simple as HTTPS cert expiration, then maybe we shouldn't hold them to account on things like SEC filings, accounting audits, or even following the laws.
If you eat an entire cake without cutting it, you technically only had one piece.
(Score: 4, Informative) by SemperOSS on Tuesday February 04 2020, @06:42PM
Remember back in 1999 when Microsoft forgot to pay for passport.com and when in 2003 they forgot hotmail.co.uk?
I don't need a signature to draw attention to myself.
Maybe I should add a sarcasm warning now and again?
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday February 04 2020, @06:59PM
The only deviation from the script was a brief message telling one worried user that there was no ETA for the resolution of the issue... There is no workaround at present, and the issue is global.
Yes, it is, isn't it?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 04 2020, @07:06PM
Could this be a lesson that companies should be careful of worshipping the SaaS devil?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 04 2020, @07:34PM (3 children)
If this was indeed another certificate expiration issue, someone's ass is gonna be in the hot seat!
When I worked at Microsoft, our manager's manager was VERY clear that certificate expiration issues were to never happen, ever! No excuses. He made it very clear that Microsoft was the laughing stock of the tech world when Azure went down [microsoft.com] because of an expired certificate. Expiring certificates produced alerts at least five times, with tickets created automatically for each alert. We were supposed to take care of them at the 30 day mark, but any time before the 3 day mark was fine. If it got to the 3 day mark, the tickets were immediately pushed to high priority. If it got to the 1 day alert it was deemed an emergency and additional team notifications were sent out and you can bet our managers were not happy about it getting that close to expiration.
For a certificate to expire, multiple warnings would have been ignored or missed by multiple people, their team leads, and their managers.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by isostatic on Tuesday February 04 2020, @08:31PM (1 child)
Or the certificate in question wasn't created via the official way and thus didn't go into the correct notification system
(Score: 2) by Common Joe on Wednesday February 05 2020, @05:34AM
This is an interesting comment not only on the surface of what you said, but a much deeper implication.
It's a very (time) expensive and a boring job to maintain technology. ("Boring job" also means that for every minute you're on maintenance duty, you're not maintaining the skills that will get you your next job.)
By this, I mean, putting up a simple website 20 or 25 years ago involved a little HTML, CSS, webserver, and hardware which was not exactly easy. Today, not only do you have these technologies, but a bizillion others that must be maintained: certificates, virtual machines and docker, php / asp, javascript, several add-ons so you don't have to use javascript directly, frameworks, those 3rd party libraries, multiple types of databases, caching, IDE updates, update programs to help you maintain the updates to all the junk you've stuffed into your program, cloud based stuff, remote APIs (like Google Maps), add-ons to everything I just mentioned, browser testing, cell phone testing, and a whole host of other things that aren't coming to mind right now. Oh... and don't forget to properly secure everything. And don't forget to keep up with every technology to make sure you stay current and secure.
With a job that demands perfection to maintain the house of cards, it's easy to miss a critical detail -- especially when people are forced to job hop every couple of years so they can get actual raises.
Frankly, I'm in constant awe that everything works as well as it does. I'm not surprised when something like a forgotten certificate happens. And for those who think automatic certificate renewal is a good idea to fix this problem, I won't debate that it's a good idea. It is a good idea. Just be aware that it adds to the precariously balanced technological mountain of things to be knowledgeable about and maintain. And that's my point.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 04 2020, @10:25PM
From your Azure went down link:
Windows Azure Service Disruption from Expired Certificate
Posted on 24 February, 2013
Let me guess, MS got the 7 year itch? More realistically, the corporate policies you mention from back then have all gone to pasture, no one remembers them anymore.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 04 2020, @07:57PM (5 children)
what kind of dumb whore uses Microsoft Teams?
(Score: 2) by gawdonblue on Tuesday February 04 2020, @08:35PM (1 child)
Everyone that uses Windows. It got pushed out to and activated on my work Win 10 desktop (no choice) last week, which was annoying enough, but also got pushed out to the Win 7 Home machines of at least 2 friends. They're like "Teams? WTF?" and I'm like "Windows? WTF?".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 04 2020, @09:55PM
Gee, didn't get a thing on my two Win 7 Pro machines. Of course I have updates turned off...because you could still do that with Win 7.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday February 04 2020, @10:53PM
Those of us in big corporations whose managers decide it's a good thing. At least good this year. Along with this malware called 'Yammer'. Next year it will be some other fad.
If you eat an entire cake without cutting it, you technically only had one piece.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 05 2020, @08:07PM
Anyone who works for a big corporation that uses it for chat and voice communications.
(Score: 2) by rleigh on Wednesday February 05 2020, @08:34PM
People whose companies require it for communications. I use it daily. In a previous team we used Slack. Prior to that, Jabber. It's not amazing or award-winning, it's a basic tool, but is still better than Slack (not that this is difficult). It sends messages to people or groups of people. Or files. It does voice/video calls. That's basically it. I don't think any of us love it, but it works decently enough. I get paid to work and get stuff done, not to evangelise chat clients. Doesn't make anyone a "dumb whore". Why get worked up over a decision corporate IT person made for the entire company? There's more important stuff to worry about.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 04 2020, @08:13PM
m$ developers, especially ones that think that their craft is fundamental and not just band-aid programming (loser), should understand that the OS they are proamming for has only one fundamental: fleezing customers locked out from the blackbox.
if you are a programmer and you think your idea is more fundamental then the living in system we are living in, i suggest you ditch working for m$, crow your own crops (dont starve) and join the open source community.
'cause everbody else STILL thinks programming fundamentals are based on profits ... for m$.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Gaaark on Tuesday February 04 2020, @09:52PM (1 child)
There is no MS in teams?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Tuesday February 04 2020, @10:21PM
No, the trouble is that there is too much
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex