Script Error, Not SQL Server, Caused Hotmail Outage -- Visual Studio Magazine

Data Driverby David Ramel

Script Error, Not SQL Server, Caused Hotmail Outage

Last week the Data Driver wondered if SQL Server was behind the recent Hotmail outage.

The answer is: No.

It was a script error, according to a Windows Blog post by Mike Schackwitz, pointed out to me by a helpful member of Microsoft's PR firm.

To sum up, a script meant to delete temporary accounts used for automated testing accidentally deleted some real users' directory records. This supposedly didn't delete any actual data, but a lot of users responded to the post and disputed that, with many saying they lost years' worth of messages and that some accounts were still unavailable. The complaints were still rolling in as of today.

Microsoft representatives were helping some of those users, but there were many comments along the lines of "Disgusted!!!!" and "Shameful!!" and "IT IS CERTAINLY NOT FIXED."

If you're still missing data, the blog lists several links that might be able to help you recover it.

Are you still having Hotmail data issues? Comment here or drop me a line.

Posted by David Ramel on 01/12/2011

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