why was Amazon aws down for 15 hours: What caused AWS outage on Monday that disrupted over 100 services and lasted 15 hours? The error decoded

Amazon AWS outages: Amazon Web Services (AWS) faced a major disruption on Monday that lasted around 15 hours, causing widespread outages across the internet, as per reports. The incident affected hundreds of companies, from Apple and McDonald’s to Epic Games and disrupted everyday services millions rely on, including Venmo, Reddit, and even Amazon’s own Alexa and Ring systems.

AWS outage hits hundreds of global services on Monday

The outage, described by some analysts as Amazon’s worst since 2021, exposed how dependent much of the digital world has become on just a few cloud providers to keep things running, as per a Bloomberg report.
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AWS problem began in Virginia’s “Data Center Alley”

The problem started early Monday at AWS’s northern Virginia data center, one of the largest and oldest in Amazon’s network. According to AWS’s status page, the issue began with an error in its Domain Name System (DNS), the system that helps computers find websites by translating names like “amazon.com” into numerical IP addresses, as per a Business Insider report.

When the DNS failed, it set off a chain reaction. Websites and apps couldn’t connect to their servers, leading to timeouts and failures across multiple systems. The outage quickly spread, taking down more than 100 AWS services, as per the report.

At first, AWS engineers identified a malfunction in a key database service and began repairs. But as they worked, other connected systems, including tools that customers use to launch new servers, also went down.By midday, the disruption had reached major platforms including Snapchat, Roblox, Wordle, Zoom, Salesforce, and Snowflake, even food service apps like those from Wendy’s and McDonald’s were affected, as per the Bloomberg report.ALSO READ: Why is Alphabet stock down today? Key points for investors to track

AWS restores services after 15 hours

For much of the day, AWS posted technical updates on its health dashboard, assuring customers that recovery efforts were underway, as per the report. Finally, around 6 p.m. ET, Amazon confirmed that all systems were back to normal.

Although cloud service disruptions aren’t new, Microsoft’s Azure and Cloudflare have both had DNS issues in the past, this particular failure stood out because of its duration and impact.

Amazon has faced similar troubles before. In 2021, a separate outage took several hours to resolve and disrupted major services like Netflix, Disney, and even smart home devices, as per the Bloomberg report.

FAQs

What caused the AWS outage?
A DNS error at Amazon’s northern Virginia data center triggered the widespread disruption.

How long did the AWS outage last?
It lasted around 15 hours before Amazon confirmed services were fully restored.