[LINK] ITnews: 'Damage from major data-centre power outage'

[Roger Clarke]

[Musings at the end]

Global Switch data centre suffers power outage

By Liz Tay
Jul 14, 2011 12:36 PM (1 hour ago)
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/263620,global-switch-data-centre-suffers-power-outage.aspx

Equipment in Sydney facility goes offline.

A power issue on level two of Global Switch's Sydney data centre sent 
some customers offline for approximately half an hour this morning.

One of facility's two power distribution feeds ceased working for a 
"limited number of clients" at about 10.20am. Sources identified this 
as Phase 'B'.

Equipment that used two sources of power continued to function 
throughout the outage; however, smaller servers and network equipment 
that accessed a single power feed went offline.

PacNet, HarbourMSP, Exigent, and Servers Australia were among those affected.

Servers Australia's managing director Jared Hirst said his customers 
were affected for only "three to four minutes" before staff re-routed 
traffic to back-up equipment at Equinix.

A PacNet customer service representative said the call centre was 
"being bombarded with calls" due to a "network issue" that lasted 
about one hour, until noon.

Global Switch Commercial Manager Damon Reid told iTnews it was 
"working through an incident" that was attributed to an 
uninterruptible power supply (UPS) unit.

"At the moment, our focus is to speak to clients and rectify the 
issue," he said.

More to come.


[There certainly is, because there was collateral damage.

[privacy.org.au was taken out, and isn't back as at 14:25.  SublimeIP 
said "While power has been restored, as a result of the surge some of 
our major
hardware was damaged. The result is continuing issues with your website".]

[Does this reflect:
(a)  no surge-protection on a major data-centre?
(b)  lousy surge-protection on a major data-centre?
      [My own experience with domestic products is woeful]
(c)  a surge that exceeded the specs of generally-available
      surge-protectors?
(d)  ... ?


-- 
Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/
			            
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
                    Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/

Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW
Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University