Checking On ConnectWise Hosted

Two ConnectWise customers say Hosted Server — recently rebranded as ConnectWise .net Cloud Server —  is down, and ConnectWise has sent emergency notification emails to both customers. Here’s some quick analysis but I’m being cautious here: I don’t know if this is a really small, isolated outage or something larger. Updated Dec. 22, 7:40 p.m. eastern: ConnectWise has restored the service. Here are the details.

ConnectWise sent an automated email to at least two Cloud Server customers at 6:31 a.m. pacific on Dec. 22. The email included an emergency notification stating:

One ConnectWise customer says he has received roughly 5 email updates from ConnectWise today, stating the service is still down. A second ConnectWise customer says the Cloud Server system failed around 9:00 p.m. on Dec. 21 and he started receiving ConnectWise alerts the morning of Dec. 22.

I’ve got voicemails into multiple ConnectWise representatives seeking comment.

ConnectWise’s Response

Updated 7:40 p.m. eastern, Dec. 22: I just got off the phone with ConnectWise COO Santo Cannone. He confirmed the outage and said it was an operational issue and service has been restored. Cannone says there was no data loss and incoming emails to partners were queued and are now being processed into service tickets.

Also, ConnectWise has sent the following email to affected customers:

Key Questions

I’ll strive to keep things in perspective until an official ConnectWise statement arrives.

Back in October 27, 2009, I jumped the gun (and the shark?) a bit when I wrote a blog headline stating “ConnectWise Cloud: Dark Until Oct. 28.” The outage was real, but in reality it involved a small portion of ConnectWise customers. No customer outage is good but I overstated the issue.

Fast forward to the present, and there’s little chatter about the current ConnectWise outage on Twitter. But there is chatter. Contacted by phone, multiple sources confirm they can’t access their ConnectWise  .net Cloud Server. In short: Something’s up but I’m not sure if it’s a small or large outage.

Updated 7:40 p.m. eastern, Dec. 22: It was, indeed, a significant outage but there was no data loss.

Growing Pains

Multiple cloud providers have taken lumps in recent days. Big cloud providers like Amazon.com and RackSpace both have suffered outages. Ironically, MSPmentor’s own web site has hit bumps lately and we’ve drawn up some migration plans that will unfold soon.

Back in the MSP market, rivals ConnectWise and Autotask continue to compete fiercely; while Autotask positions itself as a “cloud-based IT services management pioneer,” ConnectWise has been pushing beyond its on-premise heritage to introduce cloud efforts.

ConnectWise’s march into the cloud hit a bump in October 2009. Did another issue occur today?

As soon as we have a status update regarding the ConnectWise .net Cloud Server issue we’ll share it with readers.

Updated Dec. 22, 7:40 p.m. Yes, it was a significant business issue since the outage was widespread but there was no data loss.

ConnectWise’s Cannone says service has now been restored and the company is now reviewing its operational business processes to avoid a repeat of this outage.