Microsoft Azure Outage Resolved: Here’s How the Problem Was Fixed
Microsoft has confirmed that its Azure cloud services are now fully restored after a major global outage that recently disrupted several of its platforms and third-party services.
The issue began on October 29 and affected major Microsoft services such as Microsoft 365, Outlook, Xbox Live, and Minecraft, as well as several external companies including Alaska Airlines and Starbucks.
The main cause of this disruption was Azure Front Door (AFD) — Microsoft’s Content Delivery Network (CDN) that supports many internal and customer-facing applications.
What Happened During the Azure Outage
According to Microsoft, the outage started at 3:45 PM UTC (9:15 PM IST) on October 29 and lasted until 12:05 AM UTC (5:35 AM IST) on October 30.
During this time, users faced slow performance, connection errors, and frequent timeouts.
Reports flooded the outage tracking site Downdetector, which received over 16,000 complaints, peaking around 9:47 PM IST.
Services affected included:
- Azure App Service
- Azure Communication Services
- Azure Virtual Desktop
- Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
- Microsoft Purview
- Microsoft Sentinel
In a statement on X (formerly Twitter), Microsoft said:
“We are investigating an issue affecting multiple Azure services. Users may experience problems accessing our platforms.”
What Caused the Azure Outage
Microsoft revealed that the outage occurred due to a faulty tenant configuration change in Azure Front Door (AFD).
This incorrect configuration prevented AFD nodes from loading properly, leading to invalid configuration states, which caused high latency and frequent errors across many services.
The root cause was traced to a flawed deployment process, which bypassed Microsoft’s standard validation safeguards.
As a result, the faulty configuration spread across Microsoft’s global network, leading to widespread service interruptions.
How Microsoft Fixed the Problem
Once Microsoft identified the cause, the company acted quickly to restore services. The recovery steps included:
- Temporarily pausing all configuration changes.
- Rolling back the global network to a stable configuration.
- Rebalancing server traffic in stages to prevent additional load on the system.
- Gradually restoring services to ensure overall stability.
By the morning of October 30, Microsoft confirmed that Azure services were fully operational again.
However, AFD configuration updates remain suspended for now. Microsoft has said that customers will be notified once these updates are re-enabled.
Microsoft’s Next Steps
To prevent such incidents in the future, Microsoft has implemented stronger security and validation measures, including:
- Stricter validation checks before any configuration changes are made.
- Improved rollback mechanisms to immediately undo faulty updates.
- A Post-Incident Review (PIR) within 14 days, providing a detailed report to affected customers.
A Microsoft spokesperson stated:
“We have strengthened our validation and security processes to ensure such incidents do not happen again. Our focus remains on delivering reliable, transparent, and secure cloud services.”
Summary
The Azure outage that began on October 29 disrupted several major Microsoft services worldwide. The root cause was a misconfigured deployment in Azure Front Door, which impacted global connectivity.
Microsoft’s quick response — including rollback actions and traffic rebalancing — helped restore all services within a few hours.
The company has since enhanced its safeguards and validation systems to ensure reliability and prevent similar issues in the future.
