Google services outages

Last updated

Google services outage
10-16-2018 YouTube Outage.webp
YouTube during the outage on October 16, 2018
Date
  • August 16, 2013
  • January 24, 2014
  • October 16, 2018
  • August 20, 2020
  • November 11, 2020
  • December 14, 2020
  • August 8, 2022
  • October 16, 2022
TimeVaries from any outages
DurationVaries from any outages
LocationWorldwide
TargetMain target:

Other targets:

During eight episodes, one in 2013, one in 2014, one in 2018, three in 2020, and two in 2022, Google suffered from severe outages that disrupted a variety of their services. The first was a five-minute outage of every Google service in August 2013. The second was a 25-minute outage of Gmail, Google+, Google Calendar, and Google Docs in January 2014. The third was a YouTube outage in October 2018. The fourth was a Gmail/Google Drive outage in August 2020. The fifth, in November 2020, affected mainly YouTube, and the sixth, in December 2020, affected most of their services. The seventh, in August 2022, affected Google Search, Maps, Drive and YouTube. The eighth affected Google Maps and Google Street View. These outages seemed to be global.

Contents

August 2013 services outage

On 16 August 2013, every Google service went down for five minutes. [1] The outage caused internet traffic to drop forty percent worldwide. [2]

January 2014 services outage

On 24 January 2014, Gmail, Google+, Google Calendar, and Google Docs suffered a 25-minute outage. A statement by Google described the cause:

At 10:55 a.m. PST this morning, an internal system that generates configurations—essentially, information that tells other systems how to behave—encountered a software bug and generated an incorrect configuration. The incorrect configuration was sent to live services over the next 15 minutes, caused users’ requests for their data to be ignored, and those services, in turn, generated errors. Users began seeing these errors on affected services at 11:02 a.m., and at that time our internal monitoring alerted Google’s Site Reliability Team. Engineers were still debugging 12 minutes later when the same system, having automatically cleared the original error, generated a new correct configuration at 11:14 a.m. and began sending it; errors subsided rapidly starting at this time. By 11:30 a.m. the correct configuration was live everywhere and almost all users’ service was restored. [3]

October 2018 YouTube outage

On 16 October 2018, a global outage disrupted YouTube for approximately one hour and 2 minutes, YouTube Music and YouTube TV were affected as well. When users try to open YouTube, the website only shows a blank page without videos. On the app, an error message read, “There was a problem with the network [503].” [4]

During the outage, the hashtag #YouTubeDown was trending on Twitter, Instagram and other social media platforms. [5] The YouTube trending page was still accessible, though it was not possible to play any video. YouTube acknowledged that on Twitter.

Team YouTube Twitter
@TeamYouTube

Thanks for your reports about YouTube, YouTube TV and YouTube Music access issues. We're working on resolving this and will let you know once fixed. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and will keep you updated.

16 Oct 2018 [6]

After 1 hour and 2 minutes of outage, YouTube was fixed. [7]

August 2020 services outage

On 20 August 2020, over a period of approximately six hours, a global outage abruptly disrupted Google's suite of services, including Gmail, Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Meet and Google Voice. [8] The outage is reported to have started around 06:30 UTC. Google acknowledged the worldwide disruption in the G Suite Status Dashboard. [9] Users complained that they were unable to upload files to Gmail, transfer files, and upload files to Google Drive. [10] [11] There were also reports that some users were unable to log in to their Gmail accounts. [12] The reason for the technical issue is not publicly known. [13]

November 2020 YouTube/Google TV outage

On 11 November 2020, another outage occurred on YouTube, YouTube Music, YouTube TV, Google TV and Google Play. The outage started at roughly 12:20 UTC. Users experienced problems playing videos, error messages, and errors that caused loading loops. At 04:13 UTC, YouTube gave the all-clear on its Twitter. [14] [15] [16]

December 2020 services outage

On 14 December 2020, another global outage occurred, affecting authenticated users of most Google services, including Gmail, YouTube, Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Calendar and Google Play. [17] [18] The problem was due to a failure in Google Accounts; services such as YouTube were still accessible with private browsing. [19] Google Workspace Status Dashboard showed all services as operational for approximately 40 minutes before correctly reporting their status as down. [20] The outage started at approximately 11:45 UTC, and Google services were restored around 13:00 UTC.

Google identified the issue as an accidental reduction of capacity on their central user ID management system, causing requests that required OAuth-based authentication to fail; this also included the Google Cloud Platform. [21]

On 15 December 2020, many emails sent to Gmail servers reported a 550 error code, which incorrectly indicates that the email address does not exist. [22]

August 2022 services outage

Google internal 500 error shows at August 9, 2022 Internal 500 error of Google (August 9 2022).png
Google internal 500 error shows at August 9, 2022

On 8 August 2022, Google Search, Maps, Drive and YouTube went down, returning HTTP 500 and HTTP 502 errors. [23] [24] After their services went back online, Google apologised and stated that a software update issue was to blame. [25] [26]

October 2022 Google Maps outage

On 16 October 2022, Google Maps and Street View went down, resulting in an inability for photos to load and an inability for Street View to function. [27]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gmail</span> Email service provided by Google

Gmail is an email service provided by Google. As of 2019, it had 1.5 billion active users worldwide, making it the largest email service in the world. It also provides a webmail interface, accessible through a web browser, and is also accessible through the official mobile application. Google also supports the use of third-party email clients via the POP and IMAP protocols.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Talk</span> Instant messaging service

Google Talk was an instant messaging service that provided both text and voice communication. The instant messaging service was variously referred to colloquially as Gchat, Gtalk, or Gmessage among its users.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Gmail</span>

The public history of Gmail dates back to 2004. Gmail, a free, advertising-supported webmail service with support for Email clients, is a product from Google. Over its history, the Gmail interface has become integrated with many other products and services from the company, with basic integration as part of Google Account and specific integration points with services such as Google+, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Google Hangouts, Google Meet, YouTube, and Google Buzz. It has also been made available as part of G Suite. The Official Gmail Blog tracks the public history of Gmail from July 2007.

The term downtime is used to refer to periods when a system is unavailable. The unavailability is the proportion of a time-span that a system is unavailable or offline. This is usually a result of the system failing to function because of an unplanned event, or because of routine maintenance.

Google Workspace is a collection of cloud computing, productivity and collaboration tools, software and products developed and marketed by Google. It consists of Gmail, Contacts, Calendar, Meet and Chat for communication; Currents for employee engagement; Drive for storage; and the Google Docs Editors suite for content creation. An Admin Panel is provided for managing users and services. Depending on edition Google Workspace may also include the digital interactive whiteboard Jamboard and an option to purchase add-ons such as the telephony service Voice. The education edition adds a learning platform Google Classroom and today has the name Workspace for Education.

In computing, Google Dashboard lets users of the Internet view and manage personal data collected about them by Google. With an account, Google Dashboard allows users to have a summary view of their Google+, Google location history, Google web history, Google Play apps, YouTube and more. Once logged in, it summarizes data for each product the user uses and provides direct links to the products. The program allows setting preferences for personal account products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of Google</span> Overview of and topical guide to Google

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Google:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google+</span> Defunct social network by Google

Google+ was a social network that was owned and operated by Google until it ceased operations in 2019. The network was launched on June 28, 2011, in an attempt to challenge other social networks, linking other Google products like Google Drive, Blogger and YouTube. The service, Google's fourth foray into social networking, experienced strong growth in its initial years, although usage statistics varied, depending on how the service was defined. Three Google executives oversaw the service, which underwent substantial changes that led to a redesign in November 2015.

Several major power outages have occurred in the country of Malaysia.

Google Drive is a file storage and synchronization service developed by Google. Launched on April 24, 2012, Google Drive allows users to store files in the cloud, synchronize files across devices, and share files. In addition to a web interface, Google Drive offers apps with offline capabilities for Windows and macOS computers, and Android and iOS smartphones and tablets. Google Drive encompasses Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides, which are a part of the Google Docs Editors office suite that permits collaborative editing of documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, forms, and more. Files created and edited through the Google Docs suite are saved in Google Drive.

Google Takeout, also known as Download Your Data, is a project by the Google Data Liberation Front that allows users of Google products, such as YouTube and Gmail, to export their data to a downloadable archive file.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Docs</span> Cloud-based word processing software

Google Docs is an online word processor included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google, which also includes Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Drawings, Google Forms, Google Sites and Google Keep. Google Docs is accessible via an internet browser as a web-based application and is also available as a mobile app on Android and iOS and as a desktop application on Google's ChromeOS.

Google's changes to its privacy policy on March 16, 2012, enabled the company to share data across a wide variety of services. These embedded services include millions of third-party websites that use AdSense and Analytics. The policy was widely criticized for creating an environment that discourages Internet innovation by making Internet users more fearful and wary of what they do online.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fastly</span> American web infrastructure company

Fastly is an American cloud computing services provider. It describes its network as an edge cloud platform, which is designed to help developers extend their core cloud infrastructure to the edge of the network, closer to users. The Fastly edge cloud platform includes their content delivery network (CDN), image optimization, video and streaming, cloud security, and load balancing services. Fastly's cloud security services include denial-of-service attack protection, bot mitigation, and a web application firewall. Fastly's web application firewall uses the Open Web Application Security Project ModSecurity Core Rule Set alongside its own ruleset. The company follows up on unsolicited emails with VOIP phone calls spoofing local phone numbers.

Google One is a subscription service developed by Google that offers expanded cloud storage and is intended for the consumer market. Google One paid plans offer cloud storage starting at 100 gigabytes, up to a maximum of 30 terabytes, an expansion from the free Google Account storage space of 15 GB, which is shared across Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Chat</span> Enterprise messaging software developed by Google

Google Chat is a communication service developed by Google. Initially designed for teams and business environments, it has since been made available for general consumers. It provides direct messaging, group conversations, and spaces, which allow users to create and assign tasks and share files in a central place in addition to chatting. It can be accessed through its own website and app or through the Gmail website and app.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Facebook outage</span> Outage affecting all Facebook operated services

On October 4, 2021, at 15:39 UTC, the social network Facebook and its subsidiaries, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, Mapillary, and Oculus, became globally unavailable for a period of six to seven hours. The outage also prevented anyone trying to use "Log in with Facebook" from accessing third-party sites. It lasted for 7 hours and 11 minutes.

References

  1. ↑ Svetlik, Joe. "Google goes down for 5 minutes, Internet traffic drops 40%". CNET. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  2. ↑ "Google goes down for a few minutes, web traffic drops 40 percent". Wired UK. ISSN   1357-0978 . Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  3. ↑ "Today's outage for several Google services". Google. 24 January 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  4. ↑ "Google's YouTube suffers a major outage". CNBC. 16 October 2018.
  5. ↑ "YouTube down: Major outage prompts outcry on social media". FOX13. 16 October 2018.
  6. ↑ Team YouTube [@TeamYouTube] (17 October 2018). "Thanks for your reports about YouTube, YouTube TV and YouTube Music access issues. We're working on resolving this and will let you know once fixed. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and will keep you updated" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  7. ↑ "YouTube was down but now it's back". TechCrunch. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  8. ↑ "Google services including Gmail hit by serious disruption". Sky News. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  9. ↑ "Gmail, Drive, Meet, Other Google Services Facing Global Outage". NDTV Gadgets 360. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  10. ↑ Page, Carly. "Gmail Down: Google Services Suffer Global Outage". Forbes. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  11. ↑ "Google services down globally, Gmail, Drive worst affected". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 20 August 2020.[ dead link ]
  12. ↑ "Google suffers Gmail and Drive outage worldwide after a week of Australian controversy". NewsComAu. 20 August 2020. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  13. ↑ "Gmail experiencing worldwide service disruption". Daily News. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  14. ↑ Li, Abner (12 November 2020). "YouTube is currently down amid widespread outage". 9to5Google . Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  15. ↑ "After massive outage, YouTube is back online". Android Police. 12 November 2020. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  16. ↑ "YouTube went down around the world, but it's now fixed". 11 November 2020.
  17. ↑ Lunden, Ingrid (14 December 2020). "Gmail, YouTube, Google Docs and other services go down simultaneously in multiple countries". TechCrunch.
  18. ↑ McCann, John (14 December 2020). "YouTube, Gmail, Google Workspace and other services are down". TechRadar.
  19. ↑ Hern, Alex (14 December 2020). "Google suffers global outage with Gmail, YouTube and majority of services affected". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  20. ↑ "Google Workspace Status Dashboard". archive.is. 14 December 2020. Archived from the original on 14 December 2020. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  21. ↑ "Google Cloud Status Dashboard". status.cloud.google.com. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  22. ↑ "Gmail is broken right now, one day after a massive outage (Update: Fixed?)". TechCrunch. 15 December 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  23. ↑ "Google Search, Maps, Photos, Drive, YouTube Experiencing Outages in Some Parts of the World | Technology News". Gadgets 360. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  24. ↑ "Google down for thousands of users". Reuters. 9 August 2022. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  25. ↑ Ng, Abigail (8 August 2022). "Google is back online after users around the world reported a brief outage". CNBC . Archived from the original on 9 August 2022. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  26. ↑ Cassidy, Caitlin (9 August 2022). "Google outage: tech giant apologises after software update causes search engine to go down". The Guardian . Archived from the original on 9 August 2022. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  27. ↑ "Is Google Maps down 10/16/2022. Why Google Maps is not working today? Whats up with Google Maps now?".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.