Exchange Online Outage: Email Delays & Server Busy Errors Explained

Post Views: 13

Microsoft is addressing an active Exchange Online outage causing delays in message transmission between internal and external domains.

Exchange Online Outage Causes Delays, ‘Server Busy’ Errors

The issue was first reported at 02:19 AM EDT when the company began investigating intermittent “Server busy” errors affecting user operations. A service alert disclosed by BleepingComputer confirmed that the disruption impacts message delivery and receipt for external domain communications. Users encountering this problem may experience sporadic “Server busy” notifications across multiple mailboxes.

Anti-Spam Mechanisms Exacerbating the Issue

Microsoft indicated that anti-spam mechanisms could be exacerbating the issue, leading to extended delays for affected accounts. The company has not yet provided a timeline for resolution, stating it is actively analyzing the situation to identify the root cause. Initial findings suggest that anti-spam protections may be contributing to the problem for a subset of users.

Investigation and Corrective Measures

Further investigation is underway to evaluate system telemetry and determine the most effective corrective measures. Although Microsoft has not specified which geographic regions are affected or the scale of user disruption, the incident is classified as a service outage, signaling significant user impact.

Previous Exchange Online Disruptions

This follows previous Exchange Online disruptions, including a resolution in April and a June incident affecting North America, Asia-Pacific, and Europe. Earlier this week, the company also addressed a widespread outage causing authentication failures, connectivity issues, and service interruptions across Microsoft 365 platforms.

Additional Microsoft 365 Outages

Microsoft confirms outage affecting search in Microsoft 365 apps. Microsoft working to fix Exchange Online mailbox quarantine issue. Exchange Online to block emails from vulnerable on-prem servers. Massive Microsoft 365 outage causes auth issues, service failures. Microsoft confirms GitHub is down worldwide.