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Lessons Learned From Skype’s Outage
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."
For us it's nearly our only way to speak to our loved ones at home. I'm just glad it's back up...
Not sure why you didn't link to the actual article on Skype http://blogs.skype.com/en/2010/12/cio_update.html Instead of the blogspam site.
"Would you, could you, with a goat?" Dr Seuss
Seriously?
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.
...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
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
Why do I block skype? Because the only way to have it work properly through most firewalls is to allow ALL outgoing ports. Which means you allow any random program to do any random shit through your firewall to the outside network. Its a massive, massive security issue you could drive an oil tanker through.
Also, many companies pay for bandwidth. I don't want all of my bandwidth chewed up on video calls instead of mission critical apps.
Its not just because we're nazis, its because skype protocol is completely fucked when it comes to the ability of your admin to control resources. Want voip/video? Use something else.
I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
Just let me clarify: corporate networks are different to your home network. your home network? fine, use skype. in the office, where you've got several hundred PCs that may/may not have malicious software and/or users at the helm - allowing all outgoing connections is just begging for trouble.
Egress filtering is a good thing.
Making your day at work "less boring" by enabling you to do non-work related shit with company resources is not what my job is about. It is about ensuring the continued operation of the company's network - and skype is a liability.
I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.