Prepare for the next iMessage crash - It'll probably happen today.

[rmwebs]

Whats the betting that iMessage will crash today.

More specifically. Whats the betting it'll crash at midnight? Anyone texting people at midnight on iPhone > iPhone will end up having their messages sent over iMessage instead of the SMS network.

Given the crap/non-existent reliability of iCloud in general, it doesn't seem to take much to cause problems.

May be worth getting your new year messages sent out early

[SnowLeopard2008]

Originally Posted by rmwebs

Whats the betting that iMessage will crash today.

More specifically. Whats the betting it'll crash at midnight? Anyone texting people at midnight on iPhone > iPhone will end up having their messages sent over iMessage instead of the SMS network.

Given the crap/non-existent reliability of iCloud in general, it doesn't seem to take much to cause problems.

May be worth getting your new year messages sent out early

iCloud is remarkably reliable compared to stuff we generally regard as reliable like AWS, Google Apps, etc.

[Jessica Lares]

I find it funny that Netflix uses Amazon technology to power their service.

I think we'll be okay. New Years is spread across so many timezones.

[bucksaddle]

Originally Posted by rmwebs

Whats the betting that iMessage will crash today.

More specifically. Whats the betting it'll crash at midnight?

Which midnight are you referring to? You do realise there's more than 1 timezone in the world

[Oui]

Originally Posted by bucksaddle

Which midnight are you referring to? You do realise there's more than 1 timezone in the world

But we all know only 1 of them matters

[rmwebs]

Originally Posted by bucksaddle

Which midnight are you referring to? You do realise there's more than 1 timezone in the world

Whichever one would have the most iOS users sending iMessages...obviously.

----------

Originally Posted by SnowLeopard2008

iCloud is remarkably reliable compared to stuff we generally regard as reliable like AWS, Google Apps, etc.

I'm going to just assume this is sarcasme given the record iCloud has when it comes to reliability.

Remember - there are customers outside the US. Whilst it may work nicely for you, for most people iPhone users, who are not in the US it tends to have a lot more issues due to Apple's fake cloud setup.

[OldRhodie]

Originally Posted by Oui

But we all know only 1 of them matters

GMT obviously

[sammich]

Originally Posted by rmwebs

Apple's fake cloud setup.

Tell me, do you understand what constitutes a 'cloud'?

[rmwebs]

Originally Posted by sammich

Tell me, do you understand what constitutes a 'cloud'?

Oh Sammich. I understand it perfectly. I have operated a large and well respected hosting provider for 6 years, and yes - we offer cloud services.

Here's the killer though.

A cloud, in the traditional sense consists of a large cluster of servers, distributed across multiple locations with excelent redundancy. Obviously this is not a requirement, but its generally accepted that a 'real cloud' is redundant.

Apple's is not. They currently operate iCloud from 1 physical location, with a small caching service for minor communications and authentication services.

In comparison, the likes of Google, Azure, Amazon, etc operate a globally distributed cloud platform. So if a datacenter is completely cut off, the system fails over to another location, and so on.

This also aids in reducing speed for international users. As it stands, my iOS device connects up to Apple's cloud in the states every few minutes. By comparison, an Android handset would be connecting up to the nearest Google datacenter in the UK. Thus reducing the load times and so on.

So yes. Apple do have a cloud. But not one that would be considered to be any form of superior alternative to their competitors clouds.

Interestingly Apple do seem to be aware of this. Their iTunes distribution network still runs through Akamai. In fact at times it does seem that a few iCloud connections have come in from Azure, especially with Mac OS X push notification, showing that Apple's own cloud network really is not up to scratch with the rest and they know it.

Last I checked, they were still using Azure for content storage, with Apple's own cloud simply being used to pull and load the content from Azure.

[sammich]

Okay, you're partially off the hook there, the rest remains for the prejudicial usage of 'fake'. Also, after a bit of clarification, the initial news said that iCloud was using Azure as a 'mirror' not just content, however, I've only ever seen requests via Little Snitch whenever media was needed. So, it could just be a content mirror.

All that said, I've not been immune to iCloud's (specifically iMessage) occasionally spotty service, but then I attribute it to the client software for mangling up.

Minor points: 'prepare', and it's not like Amazon's services are flawless, same goes for Google recently.

[adildacoolset]

Originally Posted by rmwebs

Whichever one would have the most iOS users sending iMessages...obviously.

----------



I'm going to just assume this is sarcasme given the record iCloud has when it comes to reliability.

Remember - there are customers outside the US. Whilst it may work nicely for you, for most people iPhone users, who are not in the US it tends to have a lot more issues due to Apple's fake cloud setup.

I'm from Africa, and I cannot recall a single iCloud outage. Only a very short mail outage, otherwise nothing else. I've been using it since 2011

[rmwebs]

Originally Posted by adildacoolset

I'm from Africa, and I cannot recall a single iCloud outage. Only a very short mail outage, otherwise nothing else. I've been using it since 2011

Just because you cant recall an outage, it doesn't mean there havent been any

I cant recall the last time my local supermarket ran out of carrots. Doesn't mean it didn't happen.

November 19th 2012 was the last big outage. Google it.

[adildacoolset]

Originally Posted by rmwebs

Just because you cant recall an outage, it doesn't mean there havent been any

I cant recall the last time my local supermarket ran out of carrots. Doesn't mean it didn't happen.

November 19th 2012 was the last big outage. Google it.

I'm a regular user of iCloud and use it every day.

[rmwebs]

Originally Posted by adildacoolset

I'm a regular user of iCloud and use it every day.

Big deal...we're all regular uses of iCloud and use it every day. Facts are facts. It takes 2 seconds to Google it and find lists of outages.

[adildacoolset]

Originally Posted by rmwebs

Big deal...we're all regular uses of iCloud and use it every day. Facts are facts. It takes 2 seconds to Google it and find lists of outages.

Well, I cant really experience it. And Id wonder why only Apple are blamed for not having an absolutely perfect cloud service

[rmwebs]

Originally Posted by adildacoolset

Well, I cant really experience it. And Id wonder why only Apple are blamed for not having an absolutely perfect cloud service

Again, just because you didnt notice it, it doesnt mean it didnt happen.

Also as has already been stated, when compared to everyone else, Apple's 'cloud' isnt really a cloud. It's based in 1 datacenter in the US. By comparison Google, Microsoft, Amazon, etc have datacenters all over the world. Apple do not.

[Lunfai]

Why argue :') the thread should be closed as it didnt crash. Hooray. The End.

[adildacoolset]

Originally Posted by rmwebs

Again, just because you didnt notice it, it doesnt mean it didnt happen.

Also as has already been stated, when compared to everyone else, Apple's 'cloud' isnt really a cloud. It's based in 1 datacenter in the US. By comparison Google, Microsoft, Amazon, etc have datacenters all over the world. Apple do not.

That, I agree partially.

Firstly, Apple doesn't have only one datacentre. I think there's another(If I'm not mistaken), but it's also in the US. Still works perfectly for me.

What I'm trying to say is that Apple's cloud is not as bad as people make it out to be.

[rmwebs]

Originally Posted by adildacoolset

That, I agree partially.

Firstly, Apple doesn't have only one datacentre. I think there's another(If I'm not mistaken), but it's also in the US. Still works perfectly for me.

What I'm trying to say is that Apple's cloud is not as bad as people make it out to be.

They have one physical location in Oregon. There is a (much smaller) datacenter in California that they have space at (IIRC they dont actually own the datacenter), however this is used purely as an authentication and caching location, and probably also runs their internal networks to keep it separate from their iCloud service.

iCloud and iTunes data was being served via Akamai CDN, however over the last couple of months this has been phasing out and most connections now go direct to the caching datacenter, and then routed through to the Oregon DC.

So if that Oregon DC goes down, so does iCloud, iTunes, AppStore, etc. The only things that would remain active are Apple.com and user authentication (and most likely device activation).

[adildacoolset]

Originally Posted by rmwebs

They have one physical location in Oregon. There is a (much smaller) datacenter in California that they have space at (IIRC they dont actually own the datacenter), however this is used purely as an authentication and caching location, and probably also runs their internal networks to keep it separate from their iCloud service.

iCloud and iTunes data was being served via Akamai CDN, however over the last couple of months this has been phasing out and most connections now go direct to the caching datacenter, and then routed through to the Oregon DC.

So if that Oregon DC goes down, so does iCloud, iTunes, AppStore, etc. The only things that would remain active are Apple.com and user authentication (and most likely device activation).

Regardless, you have referred in your comments that iCloud is unreliable.

That's not the case. It may have a short outage here and there, but it's not unreliable. If it's reliable enough that someone expects it to work when they use it, then it's reliable. If not, it's unreliable.

Your opinion may vary, but the majority of users I see view iCloud as reliable

[Bear]

Originally Posted by rmwebs

They have one physical location in Oregon. There is a (much smaller) datacenter in California that they have space at (IIRC they dont actually own the datacenter), however this is used purely as an authentication and caching location, and probably also runs their internal networks to keep it separate from their iCloud service.
...

What about the Apple North Carolina data center?