Version: 2008

Comments on: Latest Google Apps outage brings down Gmail (for some)

The latest in a series of Google Apps outages affected the company's Web e-mail service, keeping many from being able to do business.

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by jshindl March 11, 2009 2:11 PM PDT
So when your mail is down for a few hours because it is an exchange server, is that any more controllable than Google Apps downtime?
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by Tbdsamman March 11, 2009 2:32 PM PDT
It is a lot more controllable. You have direct control over the people that maintain your servers, they work solely for you, not hundreds/thousands of clients.

When your server is down, your IT's only client is down and they risk going out of business.
When your Google Apps is down, you are only a single dot in an ocean, and they're is no risk of Google going out of business.
by pkscout March 11, 2009 2:42 PM PDT
@tdbsamman That doesn't make the outage more controllable, it just means you know who to beat with the whip. A significant email problem will take the same amount of time to fix even if IT has only one client. In fact, you could argue that for Google it is more pressing to fix it because they have hundreds, if not thousands, of clients.
by gggg sssss March 11, 2009 3:24 PM PDT
My exchaneg servers have NEVER been down since 2003.
by gerrrg March 11, 2009 2:12 PM PDT
I'm sure it wasn't a "sever" bug, but oddly enough, either variation works...a "server" bug or a "severe" bug. Or even better...A severe server bug severs gmail from users.

Maybe it was a virus hidden deep inside by a disgruntled former employee? Once in a month is bad luck, twice is no coincidence.
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by Josh.Lowensohn March 11, 2009 4:11 PM PDT
Yeah meant server, although for about 30 minutes it was also severe :)
by cvaldes1831 March 11, 2009 2:38 PM PDT
It appears that Google doesn't enforce the 2-person rule.
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by professionaladventurer March 11, 2009 3:00 PM PDT
Stopped my "group" emails from going out. My group in this case is a Mountain Search & Rescue Group. Good thing it is not our only com system.
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by captainabab March 11, 2009 3:06 PM PDT
jshindi: at leadt where I've worked, exchange server downtime is done during in the middle of the night on weekends.

I haven't seen outright failures at my clients, so I guess I can say: yes, Exchange is more controllable.
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by Mr. Dee March 11, 2009 3:07 PM PDT
People, another sign to stick with proven technologies: Microsoft Exchange Server. If anyone responds to me with a naughty mouth they are dumb. You don't want to be dumb now do you?
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by gggg sssss March 11, 2009 3:25 PM PDT
It is becoming clear SaaS is more and more a bad idea.
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by jimccc March 11, 2009 3:52 PM PDT
If business wants 100% uptime then they need to have on-premise email systems that are able to provide that right out of the box - not by adding 3rd party software or hardware appliances. Lotus Domino can run in clustered mode right out of the box with 100% uptime service to the end user.
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by Voice_Of_Logic March 11, 2009 5:36 PM PDT
Lotus sucks. Also, regular old Gmail has been on the blink for about 2 weeks now. Its VERY clear that SAAS (the cloud) is not worth it. Not only is it unreliable, its not secure in the least. I dont want my data "wherever".
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by March 11, 2009 5:51 PM PDT
Lotus Domino and Microsoft Exchange are both reliable, robust email servers that can be clustered (although in slightly different ways), and configured to provide reliable availability. Domino is probably a bit more secure and scalable, while Exchange is probably a bit easier to find resources to support. Gmail (and "the cloud" in general) are just not that mature yet, and the viability and reliability of Gmail as an Enterprise solution is as yet untested. Unfortunately, the outages recently have emphasized that Gmail isn't quite ready to pass that test, even if it might be in the future.
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by Mac OS XP March 11, 2009 7:03 PM PDT
I use SSL for pop3 gmail, and my gmail account was down until today. Thankfully I have other accounts too that my email client can get manage at once.
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by webguano March 11, 2009 11:38 PM PDT
googlee googlee.. it's daylight's saving times now here in the us of a. PDT as the kids call it, get it right, love the GMT-7. forget about GMT-8 for a while.
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by spacydog March 12, 2009 1:36 AM PDT
Wait, people use Google servers to run their businesses? Time to rethink the "cheap" strategy and spend some real dough on hosting your own clustered servers.
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by gmaildown1 March 13, 2009 5:12 PM PDT
My gmail is still down on my pc, but I can get it from my blackberry app. Any one have any suggestions? Oh, and I use firefox.
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by JRazuri March 16, 2009 12:20 PM PDT
My google apps mail has been down for 6 days!!!, do I have to keep waiting? should I change the host company?, I thought that hosting mi mails in google was safer!!!
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by billyarrow March 16, 2009 1:47 PM PDT
My Google mail has also been out for days, and is still out (16 March).
Anyone know when/if I can expect it back?
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