Microsoft is making Azure even more resilient to outages
Software giant is extending Azure AD’s outage mode to Office 365 apps and Teams
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Outages can be extremely detrimental to business operations which is whyMicrosofthas announced that it will extend its “outage mode” inAzureto cover both web-based and desktop applications.
Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) is the software giant’s cloud directory responsible for handling authentication for Office 365 though it can also be linked to on-premises Active Directory. However, when it goes down, Microsoft customers are unable to access theAzure Portalto manage their cloud services.
Last year the software giant updated the SLA for Azure AD to 99.99 percent uptime from 99.9 percent and one of the ways it was able to do this is through a backup authentication service that replicates authentication data during normal operations. If Azure AD should fail due to a network disruption or other problem, the service transitions to “outage mode” where it is able to check requests and provide tokens to clients so they can continue working.
This backup authentication service has been available inMicrosoft Outlookand SharePoint Online since 2019 and now the company will extend it to all native Microsoft apps includingOffice 365andMicrosoft Teamsas well as third-party and customer-owned applications running natively on an organization’s devices.
Improved resiliency to outages
According to a newblog postfrom Microsoft, when a failure of the Azure AD primary service is detected, the backup authentication service automatically engages which allows a user’s applications to keep working. However, as the primary service recovers, authentication requests are re-routed back to the primary Azure AD service
In normal mode, the backup service stores essential authentication data and successful authentication responses from Azure AD to dependent apps generate session-specific data. This data is securely stored by the backup service for up to three days.
In outage mode though, any time an authentication request fails unexpectedly, the Azure AD gateway automatically routes it to the backup service. Requests are then authenticated, artifacts such as refresh tokens and session cookies are verified as valid and Azure AD looks for a strict session match in the previously stored data.
Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter
Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed!
While Azure AD will now be more resilient to outages, keep in mind that you won’t be able to login to your work apps after purchasing a newbusiness laptoporworkstationas outage mode will only work on your existing devices.
We’ve also featured thebest dedicated server hosting,best cloud hostingandbest VPS hosting
ViaThe Register
After working with the TechRadar Pro team for the last several years, Anthony is now the security and networking editor at Tom’s Guide where he covers everything from data breaches and ransomware gangs to the best way to cover your whole home or business with Wi-Fi. When not writing, you can find him tinkering with PCs and game consoles, managing cables and upgrading his smart home.
iStorage Group acquires Kanguru Solutions as it looks to expand security offering
Phishing attacks surge in 2024 as cybercriminals adopt AI tools and multi-channel tactics
Smeg Combi Steam Oven review: a multi-functional countertop oven that looks stunning and cooks well
