Okay, so today was a bit of a scramble because of a third-party technology outage. Here’s how the whole thing went down, and what I ended up doing.
The Morning Panic
Started the day like any other, you know? Coffee, check emails, and then…bam! A bunch of monitoring alerts started flooding in. I immediately knew something was off.
Our main application relies pretty heavily on this external service for user authentication. Without it, nobody could log in. That’s a huge problem.
Figuring Out What Happened
First thing I did was jump onto the third-party’s status page. Sure enough, they were reporting a major outage. Frustrating, but at least I confirmed it wasn’t something on our end (at least, not initially).
Next, I pinged our internal team’s chat channel. I wanted to make sure everyone was aware of the situation and to coordinate our response. Communication is key during these things.
Damage Control and Workarounds
Since the outage was completely out of our control, the best we could do was mitigate the impact. I started exploring a few options:
- Disable new user sign-ups: This was a no-brainer. No point letting people create accounts they couldn’t use.
- Implement a temporary banner: I added a big, clear message on our login page explaining the situation and linking to the third-party’s status page. Transparency is important.
- Look for a bypass(if possible): If at all possible, it would be the fastest solution, I did some search and tested for that, but it was not possible in my situation.
The Waiting Game (and Constant Refreshing)
Honestly, a big part of the day was just…waiting. I kept refreshing the third-party’s status page, hoping for updates. I also stayed glued to our internal chat, answering questions and keeping everyone in the loop.
Resolution (Finally!)
After a few hours of nail-biting, the third-party finally announced they had resolved the issue. I immediately tested our application, and sure enough, everything was working again.
I removed the temporary banner, re-enabled new user sign-ups, and sent out an “all clear” message to the team. What a relief!
Post-Outage Review
Even though the outage was external, it’s still a good learning experience. I plan to document the entire incident, including the timeline, our response, and any areas where we could improve. It’s always good to be prepared for the next time something like this happens. For next time, I made a detailed preparation for the backup solutions, making sure to test them all before hand.
It’s just one of those days in the life of a developer, I guess. You gotta roll with the punches and deal with whatever comes your way!
