The global disruption affected essential Microsoft 365 services including Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, and Copilot, alongside third-party ChatGPT and Claude connectors. Microsoft explained that the infrastructure strain resulted from reduced server capacity rather than a sudden spike in overall user traffic, prompting an immediate pause on new deployments. Engineers validated an alternative health-check method and redirected traffic pathways to safely return servers to service. Recovery will be gradual, as engineers have temporarily restricted certain traffic types in specific locations to prevent restored servers from failing again.
Key points
The elevated infrastructure load was caused by a sudden reduction in available server cap…: The elevated infrastructure load was caused by a sudden reduction in available server capacity rather than a spike in user demand.
Concentrated traffic on the remaining systems created cascading risks that could cause pr…: Concentrated traffic on the remaining systems created cascading risks that could cause previously restored servers to become unresponsive again.
Microsoft is managing a gradual recovery by implementing alternative health-check methods…: Microsoft is managing a gradual recovery by implementing alternative health-check methods, redirecting network traffic, and applying temporary regional traffic limits.
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Microsoft has begun restoring services after a widespread global outage disrupted access to its Microsoft 365 suite, including Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint and OneDrive.
The company said a portion of the affected servers had been returned to service and remained stable so far, while it was shifting traffic to alternative routes to ease the disruption.
"We're returning a portion of affected servers to the service, and they remain stable so far," Microsoft said in an update. It added that it had observed limited recovery after moving traffic and connections to alternative pathways wherever possible.
The company said it had also streamlined the process of bringing the remaining affected servers back online. However, it cautioned that servers restored to service could become unresponsive again once they started receiving traffic.
"In parallel, we're temporarily limiting which types of traffic can reach the affected infrastructure in some locations," Microsoft said.
Nearly 130,000 users report problems
The outage affected Microsoft's email, workplace communication and cloud-based services, with nearly 130,000 users worldwide reporting problems at the peak, according to outage tracker Downdetector.
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