[German]As of March 31, 2020 there was a service disruption affecting both SharePoint and OneDrive for Business. Blog reader Andreas P. informed me this morning by e-mail about these disruptions. It looks as if the throttling measures of Microsoft have been implemented incorrectly. The malfunction should be fixed now.
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Microsoft informed early on its Twitter channel about malfunctions in SharePoint and OneDrive for Business.
We're investigating SharePoint Online performance issues affecting customers primarily in APAC, Japan, and Australian regions. More info is available on the admin dashboard in SP208189/OD208190.
— Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) March 31, 2020
At downdetector.com most of the server connection failures were reported for SharePoint around 12:00.
Messages from the admin dashboard
Blog reader Andreas P. sent me the following excerpts from the status dashboard for administrators by e-mail.
-31.03.2020 09:56:34
Title: Users may be unable to access sites and content
User Impact: Users may see intermittent delays and errors accessing SharePoint Online sites and OneDrive for Business content.
More info: Users may be inadvertently throttled when accessing sites and content. Users who experience this error may see latency, timeout errors, or be re-directed to a page notifying them of the throttle.
Current status: We're continuing to deactivate the rule throughout the affected environment. Once the rule takes effect, we're monitoring the service to ensure full recovery. Users should see immediate relief once the fix reaches their environment.
Scope of impact: While this issue could affect any user, we've identified that impact is primarily occurring with the Asia Pacific and Japan regions.
Start time: Tuesday, March 31, 2020, at 12:30 AM UTC
Preliminary root cause: A new throttling rule intended to optimize service availability is incorrectly acting against users, causing them to see errors when accessing SharePoint Online sites and OneDrive for Business content.
Next update by: Tuesday, March 31, 2020, at 9:00 AM UTC
-31.03.2020 09:04:33
Title: Users may be unable to access sites and content
User Impact: Users may see intermittent delays and errors accessing SharePoint Online sites and OneDrive for Business content.
More info: Users may be inadvertently throttled when accessing sites and content. Users who experience this error may see latency, timeout errors, or be re-directed to a page notifying them of the throttle.
Current status: We've confirmed that a new throttling rule intended to optimize service availability is incorrectly acting against users, resulting in errors when accessing the service. We're working to deactivate this rule to mitigate impact.
Scope of impact: While this issue could affect any user, we've identified that impact is primarily occurring with the Asia Pacific and Japan regions.
Start time: Tuesday, March 31, 2020, at 12:30 AM UTC
Preliminary root cause: A new throttling rule intended to optimize service availability is incorrectly acting against users, causing them to see errors when accessing SharePoint Online sites and OneDrive for Business content.
Next update by: Tuesday, March 31, 2020, at 8:00 AM UTC
I only publish extracts. Fault reports are from 6:00 a.m. until after 12:00 p.m. and concern SharePoint Online as well as OneDrive for Business. Microsoft reports affected in Japan and Asia, but it is likely to affect users in Europe as well.
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Microsoft discloses the root cause
I didn't have time to pursue the matter this morning. Microsoft is currently writing on Twitter that the problem has been solved.
We can confirm that impact associated with SP208189/OD208190 has been resolved. Please refer to the admin center for details. ^JP
— Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) March 31, 2020
It is interesting to note Microsoft's justification for the disruption of the two services, which was made public several hours ago.
We've found that a throttling rule is being incorrectly applied to users, and we're working to disable it to mitigate impact. Please refer to SP208189/OD208190 in the admin dashboard for more detail.
— Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) March 31, 2020
One of the rules for throttling services (to avoid congestion) does not appear to have been applied to users in the way intended. As a consequence, access restrictions were imposed.
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