Not one to be outdone by Microsoft, Apple's cloud fell over too. Unlike Microsoft, it hasn't said what happened

The rivalry between Apple and Microsoft continued last night as the fruity firm's cloud services took a tumble a mere day after Azure crapped itself. While Apple has remained silent on what happened (we asked; it did not respond), the vast majority of its services wobbled over a two-hour period early this morning (UK time). …

[Alister]

We just need to wait for AWS, Google Cloud and Oracle to follow this new tradition then.

It is 2020, what else can happen?

[Flywheel]

An AWS (S3) fallover would be nasty if you think how many companies and public bodies store documents on there. Example: Companies House.

[Anon]

Are you asking for a failure which trumps all other failures?

[fajensen]

Shared point of Failure?

Something quite important but accidentially running on some rinky-dink platform that "nobody" controls? Like the dLink debacle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTP_server_misuse_and_abuse#D-Link_and_Poul-Henning_Kamp

[karlkarl]

"Unlike Microsoft, it hasn't said what happened"

It is fairly clear to see what happened. Idiots signed up to a "cloud" service...

[Anonymous Coward]

Idiots signed up to a "cloud" service...

An Idiot and his Data are easily separated.

[AMBxx]

Hosted on Azure

Maybe they host the iCloud on Azure?

[mevets]

Re: Hosted on Azure

I know you said joke alert, but at one point at least part of icloud was on Azure, and it is very likely still partially served on it. From no less a reliable source than: https://www.theregister.com/2011/09/02/icloud_runs_on_microsoft_azure_and_amazon/.

It is 2020, what was once hilarious and unimaginable is commonplace. Watch some clips of the first US Presidential debate if you don't believe me.

[Peter-Waterman1]

Re: Hosted on Azure

icloud is mainly run on AWS, with some on Azure. In fact, according to various news outlets, its a fairly large bill each month - $30M / month

https://9to5mac.com/2019/04/22/icloud-apple-amazon/#:~:text=Amazon%20Web%20Services%20(AWS)%20are,be%20more%20than%20%2430%20million.&text=Apple%20also%20recently%20signed%20an,over%20a%20five%2Dyear%20period.

[martynhare]

Re: Hosted on Azure

iCloud runs on Azure in many countries. So if Azure goes down, so does iCloud. I’m beginning to think hosting your own stuff is superior in just about every way,

[Paradroid]

It's a miserable, dull day here in the UK

But "At one point even the System Status page reportedly fell over." brightened it up a lots. Thanks for the laugh El Reg.

[RM Myers]

Re: It's a miserable, dull day here in the UK

Evidently the weather is cloud-y in Cupertino also, but I doubt the natives felt the same as you about the System Status page. Fortunately, ignoring El Reg is a well Cook-ed delicacy in Apple land.

[Anonymous Coward]

Azure AD

In a bid to reduce costs, is Apple cloud relying on Azure AD?

[Jason Hindle]

Fine

I'm perfectly happy for Apple to have its unplanned maintenance windows in British quiet hour.

[cjcox]

Choose the safe blame

Blame it on Microsoft. Then it's "ok" for it to happen.

Can't believe Apple hasn't learned this.

"Hey Chris, why are the systems all down? If they aren't back up in 2 minutes, you're fired!"

It's a Microsoft problem.

"Oh, ok, how about a liquid lunch, your choice?"

[RyokuMas]

Re: Choose the safe blame

Nope, it's probably Epic's fault, depriving Apple of their vital 30% cut, whichout which they undoubtedly cannot properly maintain their infrastructure...

[Anonymous Coward]

it did not respond

"While Apple has remained silent on what happened (we asked; it did not respond)"

I'd be more concerned if Apple ever does respond to ElReg!

[Mark 110]

Re: it did not respond

https://www.theregister.com/2016/11/28/howto_terro_manuals_still_on_sale_by_apple_amazon_and_waterstones/

""To protect freedom of speech and avoid censorship, unless a title is illegal we tend not to remove it from the iBooks Store," a representative at Apple told The Register."

Last time I saw a response from Apple on these pages . . . Mon 28 Nov 2016

[firu toddo]

And its back up......

Or not! Still having issues with new 8th gen iPads. They can't contact the iCloud login servers.

Apples status page (www.apple.com/support/systemstatus/) is all full of green goodness including iCloud sign in. (A note helpfully boasts Issues have been resolved!)

Apples support drones have no idea whats going on and can only offer the less than helpful advice 'try it again in a few days'. It is possible to get into your new shiny without using an iCloud login. But no new App store toys or cloud storage (or anything cloudy from Apple) till they fix it.

[Nick Pettefar]

Oracle Downloads Site Down

Can’t download Solaris 10 x86!

[John Brown (no body)]

"Some users were affected"

The problem with "some" users being affected, when it's a massive multi-national organisation, is that "some users" could be an entire country or region of the world.

[Jay Lenovo]

Re: "Some users were affected"

The dire serious of any outage is whom is affected (starting with you).

Azure is too big for these general summaries to have clarity. It's about as helpful as stating in WWII "some" lives were lost.