The Anatomy of a Backend Outage and Incidents at X, Claude & More

Tune in for a deep dive into the November 18 Cloudflare outage that impacted multiple services including X, OpenAI, and Anthropic—and explore key takeaways for ITOps teams. For insights on the other recent outage that Cloudflare experienced on December 5, see this blog post: https://www.thousandeyes.com/blog/cloudflare-outage-analysis-december-5-2025 ——— CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro 00:55 The Nov. 18 Cloudflare Outage 02:34 Configuration Changes & Outages 03:45 Diagnosing the Fault Domain 05:47 Why Outage Recovery Can Take Time 10:43 Are Cloud Outages Increasing? 12:09 ITOps Best Practices 14:01 Outage Trends: By the Numbers 15:35 Get in Touch ——— Explore the Cloudflare outage further in the ThousandEyes platform (no login required): https://ahhplivtvmhdmbduwcuonefullpkkohp.share.thousandeyes.com/ 
 For additional insights, check out The Internet Outage Survival Kit: https://www.thousandeyes.com/resources/the-internet-outage-survival-kit?utm_source=wistia&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fy26q2_internetreport_q2fy26ep4_podcast ——— Want to get in touch? If you have questions, feedback, or guests you would like to see featured on the show, send us a note at [email protected]. Or follow us on LinkedIn or X: @thousandeyes ——— ABOUT THE INTERNET REPORT This is The Internet Report, a podcast uncovering what’s working and what’s breaking on the Internet—and why.  Tune in to hear ThousandEyes’ Internet experts dig into some of the most interesting outage events from the past couple weeks, discussing what went awry—was it the Internet, or an application issue? Plus, learn about the latest trends in ISP outages, cloud network outages, collaboration network outages, and more. Catch all the episodes on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform: - Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-internet-report/id1506984526 - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5ADFvqAtgsbYwk4JiZFqHQ?si=00e9c4b53aff4d08&nd=1&dlsi=eab65c9ea39d4773 - SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/ciscopodcastnetwork/sets/the-internet-report 

Get an inside perspective on how autonomous AI agents are reshaping the Internet, and what that means for the future of data, resilience, and digital innovation.    We’ll chat about the new requirements for agentic AI success that call for a significant shift in priorities for NetOps teams.    CHAPTERS  00:00 Intro  00:56 About Agentic AI  02:41 Data Quality Matters  10:17 Service Resilience  10:06 End-to-end Capacity Planning  14:22 NetOps Best Practices  15:13 Get in Touch    ———    For more insights, check out the links below:    [PODCAST] Beyond "Break-Fix": Assuring Performance in the AI Era: https://www.thousandeyes.com/blog/internet-report-assuring-performance-ai-era?utm_source=wistia&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fy26q2_internetreport_q2fy26ep3_podcast    [EBOOK] Delivering Assurance at the Speed of AI: https://www.thousandeyes.com/resources/delivering-assurance-at-the-speed-of-ai-ebook?utm_source=wistia&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fy26q2_internetreport_q2fy26ep3_podcast    ———    Want to get in touch?    If you have questions, feedback, or guests you would like to see featured on the show, send us a note at [email protected]. Or follow us on LinkedIn or X: @thousandeyes    ———    ABOUT THE INTERNET REPORT  This is The Internet Report, a podcast uncovering what’s working and what’s breaking on the Internet—and why.     Tune in to hear ThousandEyes’ Internet experts dig into some of the most interesting outage events from the past couple weeks, discussing what went awry—was it the Internet, or an application issue?    Plus, learn about the latest trends in ISP outages, cloud network outages, collaboration network outages, and more.    Catch all the episodes on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform:    - Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-internet-report/id1506984526    - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5ADFvqAtgsbYwk4JiZFqHQ?si=00e9c4b53aff4d08&nd=1&dlsi=eab65c9ea39d4773    - SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/ciscopodcastnetwork/sets/the-internet-report

The demands of AI workloads are reshaping Internet infrastructure, giving rise to a more distributed model and resulting in an increasingly complex service delivery chain for NetOps teams to manage.Tune in to the full episode to learn more or use the chapters below to skip to the sections that you find most interesting.CHAPTERS00:00 Intro00:53 How Internet Infrastructure Is Changing02:24 Converting Legacy Central Offices & Telephone Exchanges06:46 Neoclouds10:06 Hyperscalers & a More Distributed Model12:11 NetOps Considerations13:26 Key Takeaways14:54 Get in Touch———For more insights, check out the links below:[PODCAST] Beyond "Break-Fix": Assuring Performance in the AI Era: https://www.thousandeyes.com/blog/internet-report-assuring-performance-ai-era?utm_source=wisita&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fy26q1_internetreport_q2fy26ep2_podcast[EBOOK] Delivering Assurance at the Speed of AI: https://www.thousandeyes.com/resources/delivering-assurance-at-the-speed-of-ai-ebook?utm_source=wistia&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fy26q1_internetreport_q2fy26ep2_podcast———Want to get in touch?If you have questions, feedback, or guests you would like to see featured on the show, send us a note at [email protected]. Or follow us on LinkedIn or X: @thousandeyes———ABOUT THE INTERNET REPORTThis is The Internet Report, a podcast uncovering what’s working and what’s breaking on the Internet—and why. Tune in to hear ThousandEyes’ Internet experts dig into some of the most interesting outage events from the past couple weeks, discussing what went awry—was it the Internet, or an application issue?Plus, learn about the latest trends in ISP outages, cloud network outages, collaboration network outages, and more.Catch all the episodes on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform:- Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-internet-report/id1506984526- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5ADFvqAtgsbYwk4JiZFqHQ?si=00e9c4b53aff4d08&nd=1&dlsi=eab65c9ea39d4773- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/ciscopodcastnetwork/sets/the-internet-report

During complex infrastructure outages, an initial issue can often have a ripple effect, creating a web of problems to resolve. Explore how this phenomenon appeared to play out during the October 20 AWS outage and also unpack other recent outage events.———CHAPTERS00:00 Intro00:58 AWS Outage05:24 Microsoft Azure Front Door Outage08:00 Microsoft-AT&T Service Disruption09:34 YouTube Outage10:54 Vodafone Outage13:16 Outage Trends: By the Numbers14:26 Get in Touch———Explore these outages and service disruptions further further in the ThousandEyes platform (no login required): - AWS Outage: https://avzvjfvrejipghihlhmikprnziucvlvt.share.thousandeyes.com- Microsoft Azure Front Door Outage: https://alnwdjfechagkzsgzjwqidqytxhwfitz.share.thousandeyes.com- Microsoft-AT&T Service Disruption: https://aivduheuiilcfabsoendfnbxnwtprjdr.share.thousandeyes.comFor additional insights, check out the links below:- The Internet Outage Survival Kit: https://www.thousandeyes.com/resources/the-internet-outage-survival-kit?utm_source=wistia&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fy26q1_internetreport_q2fy26ep1_podcast- The Guide to Next-generation Assurance: https://www.thousandeyes.com/resources/guide-to-next-generation-assurance-ebook?utm_source=wistia&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fy26q1_internetreport_q2fy26ep1_podcast———Want to get in touch?If you have questions, feedback, or guests you would like to see featured on the show, send us a note at [email protected]. Or follow us on LinkedIn or X: @thousandeyes———ABOUT THE INTERNET REPORTThis is The Internet Report, a podcast uncovering what’s working and what’s breaking on the Internet—and why. Tune in to hear ThousandEyes’ Internet experts dig into some of the most interesting outage events from the past couple weeks, discussing what went awry—was it the Internet, or an application issue?Plus, learn about the latest trends in ISP outages, cloud network outages, collaboration network outages, and more.Catch all the episodes on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform:- Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-internet-report/id1506984526- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5ADFvqAtgsbYwk4JiZFqHQ?si=00e9c4b53aff4d08&nd=1&dlsi=eab65c9ea39d4773- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/ciscopodcastnetwork/sets/the-internet-report

Backend-related outages were somewhat of a theme during the first half of 2025 and this trend seems to be continuing.In recent weeks, we’ve seen several service disruptions that appeared connected to backend issues, affecting organizations including a social media platform, an Australian bank, and a major airline. These incidents offer valuable insights into the typical characteristics of backend outages and strategies for spotting them.Tune in now to hear more about these events and the distinct anatomy of a backend outage.———CHAPTERS00:00 Intro01:01 About Backend Outages04:18 Anthropic’s Claude Outage08:44 Service Disruption12:54 Alaska Airlines Outage14:17 Commonwealth Bank Outage15:42 Gong Service Disruption17:25 Outage Trends: By the Numbers19:43 Get in Touch———Explore Anthropic’s Claude outage and the Alaska Airlines outage further in the ThousandEyes platform (no login required): - Claude: https://acshghvfamioplwqigifrycvlsqesoxb.share.thousandeyes.com- Alaska Airlines: https://annocixygjjriicwjupcporbjqblgkym.share.thousandeyes.com/For additional insights, check out the links below:- The Internet Outage Survival Kit: https://www.thousandeyes.com/resources/the-internet-outage-survival-kit?utm_source=wistia&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fy26q1_internetreport_q1fy26ep6_podcast- The Guide to Next-generation Assurance: https://www.thousandeyes.com/resources/guide-to-next-generation-assurance-ebook?utm_source=wistia&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fy26q1_internetreport_q1fy26ep6_podcast———Want to get in touch?If you have questions, feedback, or guests you would like to see featured on the show, send us a note at [email protected]. Or follow us on LinkedIn or X: @thousandeyes———ABOUT THE INTERNET REPORTThis is The Internet Report, a podcast uncovering what’s working and what’s breaking on the Internet—and why. Tune in to hear ThousandEyes’ Internet experts dig into some of the most interesting outage events from the past couple weeks, discussing what went awry—was it the Internet, or an application issue?Plus, learn about the latest trends in ISP outages, cloud network outages, collaboration network outages, and more.Catch all the episodes on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform:- Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-internet-report/id1506984526- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5ADFvqAtgsbYwk4JiZFqHQ?si=00e9c4b53aff4d08&nd=1&dlsi=eab65c9ea39d4773- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/ciscopodcastnetwork/sets/the-internet-report

Just as a detective must gather clues and consider all the evidence, ITOps teams investigating an outage must consider all available data points in context to understand where system failures likely occurred. Recent outages that impacted Starlink and Google Maps SDKs powerfully illustrated this point.Tune in to learn more about these incidents and also get an update on the September Red Sea cable cuts.———CHAPTERS00:00 Intro00:53 Starlink Outage03:39 Google Maps Outage06:50 Update: Red Sea Cable Cuts13:26 Outage Trends: By the Numbers14:34 Get in Touch———Want to get in touch?If you have questions, feedback, or guests you would like to see featured on the show, send us a note at [email protected]. Or follow us on LinkedIn or X: @thousandeyes———ABOUT THE INTERNET REPORTThis is The Internet Report, a podcast uncovering what’s working and what’s breaking on the Internet—and why. Tune in to hear ThousandEyes’ Internet experts dig into some of the most interesting outage events from the past couple weeks, discussing what went awry—was it the Internet, or an application issue?Plus, learn about the latest trends in ISP outages, cloud network outages, collaboration network outages, and more.Catch all the episodes on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform:- Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-internet-report/id1506984526- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5ADFvqAtgsbYwk4JiZFqHQ?si=00e9c4b53aff4d08&nd=1&dlsi=eab65c9ea39d4773- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/ciscopodcastnetwork/sets/the-internet-report

Gain insights on the Red Sea subsea cable cuts; connectivity issues in China; and other recent service disruptions at Verizon, Google, and Mailchimp.———CHAPTERS00:00 Intro01:00 Red Sea Cable Cuts05:35 Connectivity Issues in China09:20 Verizon10:46 Google12:08 Mailchimp13:05 Outage Trends: By the Numbers15:07 Get in Touch———Want to get in touch?If you have questions, feedback, or guests you would like to see featured on the show, send us a note at [email protected]. Or follow us on LinkedIn or X: @thousandeyes———ABOUT THE INTERNET REPORTThis is The Internet Report, a podcast uncovering what’s working and what’s breaking on the Internet—and why. Tune in to hear ThousandEyes’ Internet experts dig into some of the most interesting outage events from the past couple weeks, discussing what went awry—was it the Internet, or an application issue?Plus, learn about the latest trends in ISP outages, cloud network outages, collaboration network outages, and more.Catch all the episodes on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform:- Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-internet-report/id1506984526- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5ADFvqAtgsbYwk4JiZFqHQ?si=00e9c4b53aff4d08&nd=1&dlsi=eab65c9ea39d4773- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/ciscopodcastnetwork/sets/the-internet-report

Dive into the world of Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)—the backbone of the Internet—and explore everything from BGP zombies to BGP monitoring best practices.Tune in for this special conversation with Lefteris Manassakis and The Internet Report team. A seasoned researcher and network engineer, Lefteris Manassakis co-founded Code BGP, which is now part of Cisco ThousandEyes. He currently serves as a Software Engineering Technical Leader at ThousandEyes, focusing on BGP monitoring. To learn more, follow Lefteris on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/manassakis/) or visit his website (https://manassakis.net/)———CHAPTERS00:00 Intro01:11 What Is BGP?07:05 May 2023 Incident17:16 Challenges of BGP Monitoring19:16 BGP Zombies33:45 Get in Touch———For additional BGP insights, check out these links:- Monitoring Root DNS Prefixes: https://www.thousandeyes.com/blog/monitoring-root-dns-prefixes?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fy26q1_internetreport_q1fy26ep3_podcast- BGP Zombies Show Up Regularly: https://www.thousandeyes.com/blog/bgp-zombies-show-up-regularly?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fy26q1_internetreport_q1fy26ep3_podcast- Monitor BGP Routes to and From Your Network: https://www.thousandeyes.com/solutions/bgp-and-route-monitoring?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fy26q1_internetreport_q1fy26ep3_podcast———Want to get in touch?If you have questions, feedback, or guests you would like to see featured on the show, send us a note at [email protected]. Or follow us on LinkedIn or X: @thousandeyes———ABOUT THE INTERNET REPORTThis is The Internet Report, a podcast uncovering what’s working and what’s breaking on the Internet—and why. Tune in to hear ThousandEyes’ Internet experts dig into some of the most interesting outage events from the past couple weeks, discussing what went awry—was it the Internet, or an application issue?Plus, learn about the latest trends in ISP outages, cloud network outages, collaboration network outages, and more.Catch all the episodes on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform:- Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-internet-report/id1506984526- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5ADFvqAtgsbYwk4JiZFqHQ?si=00e9c4b53aff4d08&nd=1&dlsi=eab65c9ea39d4773- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/ciscopodcastnetwork/sets/the-internet-report

When we looked at outages from the first half of 2025, we saw distinct patterns in how distributed systems failed. Consistent with our ongoing outage analysis, our data revealed a rise in subtle functional failures and service degradations where symptoms often seem disconnected from their root causes.Tune in to hear more about our findings from 2025 outages so far, or use the chapters below to jump to the sections that most interest you.CHAPTERS00:00 Intro00:46 The Impact of Agile Development04:40 Hidden Functional Failures08:04 Outages With Cascading Effects11:52 Configuration-related Outages12:39 Backend Issues16:55 By the Numbers: 2025 Outage Trends18:11 Get in Touch———For additional insights, check out the links below:- The Internet Report’s latest blog post: https://www.thousandeyes.com/blog/internet-report-outage-patterns-in-2025?utm_source=wistia&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fy26q1_internetreport_q1fy26ep2_podcast- The Guide to Next-generation Assurance: https://www.thousandeyes.com/resources/guide-to-next-generation-assurance-ebook?utm_source=wistia&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fy26q1_internetreport_q1fy26ep2_podcast- Internet Outage Map: https://www.thousandeyes.com/outages?utm_source=wistia&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fy26q1_internetreport_q1fy26ep2_podcast- Internet Outages Timeline: https://www.thousandeyes.com/resources/internet-outages-timeline?utm_source=wistia&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fy26q1_internetreport_q1fy26ep2_podcast- Internet Outage Survival Kit: https://www.thousandeyes.com/resources/the-internet-outage-survival-kit?utm_source=wistia&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fy26q1_internetreport_q1fy26ep2_podcast———Want to get in touch?If you have questions, feedback, or guests you would like to see featured on the show, send us a note at [email protected]. Or follow us on LinkedIn and X at @thousandeyes.———ABOUT THE INTERNET REPORTThis is The Internet Report, a podcast uncovering what’s working and what’s breaking on the Internet—and why. Tune in to hear ThousandEyes’ Internet experts dig into some of the most interesting outage events from the past couple weeks, discussing what went awry—was it the Internet, or an application issue?Plus, learn about the latest trends in ISP outages, cloud network outages, collaboration network outages, and more.Catch all the episodes on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform:- Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-internet-report/id1506984526- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5ADFvqAtgsbYwk4JiZFqHQ?si=00e9c4b53aff4d08&nd=1&dlsi=eab65c9ea39d4773- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/ciscopodcastnetwork/sets/the-internet-report

From robotaxis to surgical robots, the innovations we’ve witnessed in industrial IoT (IIoT) and robotics technology wouldn't have been possible without advancements in networking.Tune into this episode to learn more and explore why smooth digital experiences are crucial in the IIoT and robotics space.CHAPTERS00:00 Intro00:55 Networking Advancements & IIoT Innovation02:38 Assuring IIoT Networks03:59 Impact of Disruptions07:30 Monitoring Challenges10:20 What’s Next15:08 Get in Touch———For additional insights, check out this Guide to Next-generation Assurance: https://www.thousandeyes.com/resources/guide-to-next-generation-assurance-ebook?utm_source=wistia&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fy26q1_internetreport_q1fy26ep1_podcast———Want to get in touch?If you have questions, feedback, or guests you would like to see featured on the show, send us a note at [email protected]. Or follow us on LinkedIn or X: @thousandeyes———ABOUT THE INTERNET REPORTThis is The Internet Report, a podcast uncovering what’s working and what’s breaking on the Internet—and why.Tune in to hear ThousandEyes’ Internet experts dig into some of the most interesting outage events from the past couple weeks, discussing what went awry—was it the Internet, or an application issue?Plus, learn about the latest trends in ISP outages, cloud network outages, collaboration network outages, and more.Catch all the episodes on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform:- Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-internet-report/id1506984526- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5ADFvqAtgsbYwk4JiZFqHQ?si=00e9c4b53aff4d08&nd=1&dlsi=eab65c9ea39d4773- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/ciscopodcastnetwork/sets/the-internet-report