Apple Web services suffer sporadic outages due to apparent DNS issues
An apparent problem with DNS services, most noticeably Google DNS and Speakeasy, on Wednesday caused sporadic issues with various Apple-owned domains, including the company's official website and certain services like iTunes.
Reports of the intermittent outages first began at around 6:30 p.m. Eastern when users took to online message boards and Twitter, voicing concern over error messages seen on the iTunes Music Store. As of this writing, the issue seems to have been rectified.
The scope of the issue is unclear at this time, though further investigation found bad DNS entries on Google DNS and Speakeasy to blame for the partial outage. Extrapolating from information available, it appears bad DNS entries first showed up on the two major DNS providers, which then propagated elsewhere around the globe.
While no official statement has been issued, some users speculate that the erroneous DNS entries are the result of a hack. At this time, there is no evidence to support the theory, but it could be a possibility.
Services affected by today's DNS issue included iTunes, the App Store and parts of Apple's webpage, while others like iMessage and Game Center were left untouched.
Reports of the intermittent outages first began at around 6:30 p.m. Eastern when users took to online message boards and Twitter, voicing concern over error messages seen on the iTunes Music Store. As of this writing, the issue seems to have been rectified.
The scope of the issue is unclear at this time, though further investigation found bad DNS entries on Google DNS and Speakeasy to blame for the partial outage. Extrapolating from information available, it appears bad DNS entries first showed up on the two major DNS providers, which then propagated elsewhere around the globe.
While no official statement has been issued, some users speculate that the erroneous DNS entries are the result of a hack. At this time, there is no evidence to support the theory, but it could be a possibility.
Services affected by today's DNS issue included iTunes, the App Store and parts of Apple's webpage, while others like iMessage and Game Center were left untouched.
Comments
I don't see the need for the /s!
Yea Google never lies, isn't evil and never has outages!
http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/24/5342252/gmail-hangouts-and-other-google-services-are-down-right-now
Brought to you by the same folks that once used the image of a dumpster for Apple headquarters on Street View.
Stay classy, Mountain View.
Just goes to show: Apple can't do web services as reliably as Google can!
Google certainly puts more money on the line when it comes to overall reliability, since it has Service Level Agreements with all Google Apps users.
Just goes to show: Apple can't do web services as reliably as Google can!
Funny how Youtube kept showing 502 errors yesterday. It was not just a regional problem, but seemed to be occuring around the world. I wonder if this and the google dns problems are related. Would make sense. But the fact that the problems with the apple domains originated from problems with Google's DNS servers totally invalidates your comment.
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/557551-youtube-down-on-wednesday-service-has-502-error-outage/
He didn't have to hire any outsiders, he just had the 'Reverse Engineering of Apple Products Department' work on it for a few days.
I also fail to see what the screen dump relation is to the topic at hand; DNS. One would think that writers for a tech website have some basic tech knowledge. Oh well.
The screenshot shows no DNS errors. It looks up the IP address of apple.com just fine (though it may be cached). Instead, it shows some IP connectivity problem. A traceroute(1) might have helped to show where the packets were being lost.
TokyoJimu is correct and also note that Apple's web site is up right now (at least for me and there's still no PING responses. And FYI -- there's no requirement that a web site (router, switch, server, etc) listen for or answer PINGs.
But Ricky somehow misses the response "36 bytes from 17.178.1.170: Communication prohibited by filter". DNS resolution succeeded and then something is denying his PING request. Troubleshooting failure. (Not claiming to be perfect myself...)
But he's using Terminal from a Mac. Therefore all claims must be legit. Back up everyone. This guy's using a command prompt.
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Sorry guys,
We made a change to our router tables yesterday and accidentally redirected all worldwide Internet traffic through our name server which consequently crashed. Oops!
Seriously, why is this an Apple story? If your power goes out and you can't get on the Internet, is that Apple's fault?
Sorry guys,
We made a change to our router tables yesterday and accidentally redirected all worldwide Internet traffic through our name server which consequently crashed. Oops!
Seriously, why is this an Apple story? If your power goes out and you can't get on the Internet, is that Apple's fault?
It's an Apple story because it primarily affected Apple traffic:
An apparent problem with DNS services, most noticeably Google DNS and Speakeasy, on Wednesday caused sporadic issues with various Apple-owned domains, including the company's official website and certain services like iTunes.
...
Services affected by today's DNS issue included iTunes, the App Store and parts of Apple's webpage, while others like iMessage and Game Center were left untouched.
Hmm... Was there a major Apple streaming event that just happened to coincide with this outage? Yeah? You don't say...
Just goes to show: Apple can't do web services as reliably as Google can!
What an ironic post, considering this outage was Google's fault. Just "goes to show" you should check facts before posting.
I hate Speakeasy so it must have been all their fault.
FWIW I thought the OP was being sarcastic. Then again sarcasm is used so much here it's hard to know sometimes.