[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]
List: isn
Subject: [ISN] S.F. Power Outage Ripples Across The Web
From: InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews ! org>
Date: 2007-07-26 7:11:53
Message-ID: Pine.LNX.4.61.0707260211410.7041 () conundrum ! infosecnews ! org
[Download RAW message or body]
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201201136
By Thomas Claburn
InformationWeek
July 25, 2007
A power outage in downtown San Francisco and south of the city Tuesday
affected some 40,000 Pacific Gas & Electric customers directly and
millions of Internet users from all over who were unable to access
several popular Web sites that went offline.
AdBrite.com, Craigslist.org, Six Apart's blog sites (LiveJournal.com,
TypePad.com, Vox.com), Technorati.com, and Yelp.com were all
inaccessible for part of the day. Other sites, including CurrentTV.com,
RedEnvelope.com, and SecondLife.com, also experienced problems.
The power failure began at about 1:30 p.m. Pacific time, according to
PG&E, and power was restored to all customers within two hours.
According to a PG&E spokesperson, power fluctuations began triggering
safety breakers, resulting in intermittent power spikes. Those
fluctuations appear to have damaged an underground transformer that
exploded about 2:30 pm. The company is still investigating the caused of
the power fluctuation and expects to issue an update later today.
Many of affected Web sites are hosted at 365 Main, which "develops and
operates the world's finest data centers." Like all serious data
centers, 365 Main has backup generators for just such an occasion. Those
backup generators didn't work as planned, however.
"While backup electrical infrastructure is installed in the facility to
defend against power surges, an initial investigation has revealed that
certain 365 Main back-up generators did not start when the initial power
surge hit the building," marketing VP Miles Kelly said in a statement.
"On-site facility engineers responded and manually started affected
generators allowing stable power to be restored at approximately 2:34
p.m. across the entire facility."
It took several more hours for Six Apart to get its sites up and running
again, according to a company spokesperson.
Kelly said that 365 Main is still investigating why the backup generated
did not activate and that the company intends to take steps to prevent
this from happening again. He also said the company's diesel generators
would continue to operate until the cause of the backup generator
failure had been identified.
The failure of the backup generators may be a consequence of 365 Main's
reliance on a flywheel uninterruptible power supply, a kinetic energy
technology considered to be more "green" than a battery-driven UPS. On
the Data Center Knowledge blog, technology journalist Rich Miller
reports, "Some customers speculated about a flywheel issue."
At InformationWeek's San Francisco office, where computer monitors went
dark several times on Tuesday afternoon, the power failure pointed out
one advantage of laptop PCs over desktop systems: Laptop batteries serve
as an emergency power supply, preventing the data loss that may be
experienced by desktop systems when wall outlets go dead.
_____________________________________________________
Attend Black Hat USA, July 28-August 2 in Las Vegas,
the world's premier technical event for ICT security
experts. Featuring 30 hands-on training courses and
90 Briefings presentations with lots of new content
and new tools. Network with 4,000 delegates from
70 nations. Visit product displays by 30 top
sponsors in a relaxed setting. Rates increase on
June 1 so register today. http://www.blackhat.com
[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]
Configure |
About |
News |
Add a list |
Sponsored by KoreLogic