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Lessons Learned From Skype’s Outage

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the don't-die-during-christmas dept.

aabelro writes "On December 22th, 1600 GMT, the Skype services started to become unavailable, in the beginning for a small part of the users, then for more and more, until the network was down for about 24 hours. A week later, Lars Rabbe, CIO at Skype, explained what happened in a post-mortem analysis of the outage."

3 of 278 comments (clear)

  1. you are kidding me by alphatel · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If you are a node-based company worth several billion, charge for services, and don't even run enough of your own supernodes and monitor them in such a way that they cannot handle an outage effectively, you need serious help.

    --
    When the foot seeks the place of the head, the line is crossed. Know your place. Keep your place. Be a shoe.
  2. Never makes sense to upgrade working software... by syousef · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...unless you need something in the newer version (feature, security update etc.). Of course us geeks like to have the latest to fiddle with, but for the average Joe end-user, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. There is always the risk that the newer software will contain new bugs. At one point the buggy version of the Skype software was the latest version and was what users were being pushed to upgrade to. If the crash had happened then, I wonder if they'd find a new way to scapegoat users.

    By the way new versions breaking existing functionality isn't theoretical, or rare. I'm currently installing software on my new laptop. I've had to downgrade both Zonealarm and Virtualbox. The former broke remote desktop. The later broke file sharing. No idea why, but in each case uninstalling and installing an older version I knew worked fixed the issue for me.

    --
    These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
  3. Re:lesson (hopefully) learned... by commodore64_love · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Ahh so YOU'RE the one blocking my skype. ;-)
    I don't understand why Net Admins (such as yourself) block useful tools like Skype. Or streaming radio. I don't see any harm in letting those things into the office space, and it provides a more pleasant working environment (to distract from the boredom of sitting at a desk all day).

    --
    "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall