AWS outage due to drone attacks in UAE • Hacker News Board

Re: AWS outage due to drone attacks in UAE

#61

Post by XorNot » Tue, Mar 03, 2026, 1:09 PM UTC

dotancohen wrote: post #16

randunel wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> trying to impact the general US feeling of invulnerability Or, perhaps, trying to defend themselves? They are being attacked, after all.

That's why they've been hitting residential buildings and hotels as well? They assume that because their proxies (Hamas, Hezbollah) hide in civilian structures, so does the US army? All these attempts to justify Iranian terror demonstrate just how deep Qatari influence online has been. And even Qatar is being attacked by Iran now.

I mean if you want to put your geopolitical blinkers on, sure...but how to beat America is old news at this point: cause casualties however you can, and wait for the US to give up.

Complain about it all you want but what are you going to do? The US is already bombing them.

Perhaps all of this goes into the big bucket labelled "war is expensive and unpredictable, maybe try diplomacy?"

Which the current administration has made a note of promptly tearing up prior agreements with everyone anyway so...whoops I guess.

Re: AWS outage due to drone attacks in UAE

#62

Post by doubled112 » Tue, Mar 03, 2026, 1:54 PM UTC

richsouth wrote: post #47

RamblingCTO wrote: post #17

I've been working on that for a client since yesterday (as a fractional CTO). Pretty hectic, basically nothing really works and we don't know yet if all data is lost or if anything is recoverable or when AWS UAE will become functional again so we can recover that region. Finally, I have a very good argument for multi-region deployments ;)) that's my go to website atm: https://health.aws.amazon.com/health/status

What do you mean 'finally' - surely 'redundancy' or 'natural disaster' is reason enough.

I don't think this changes anything. It is always the same argument for me.

"How often do those happen?"

Re: AWS outage due to drone attacks in UAE

#63

Post by RamblingCTO » Tue, Mar 03, 2026, 1:55 PM UTC

richsouth wrote: post #47

RamblingCTO wrote: post #17

I've been working on that for a client since yesterday (as a fractional CTO). Pretty hectic, basically nothing really works and we don't know yet if all data is lost or if anything is recoverable or when AWS UAE will become functional again so we can recover that region. Finally, I have a very good argument for multi-region deployments ;)) that's my go to website atm: https://health.aws.amazon.com/health/status

What do you mean 'finally' - surely 'redundancy' or 'natural disaster' is reason enough.

To a lot of managers/startup execs this is something like "we won't ever need this". And I'd agree to some extent for not so important/rebuildable services. Depends on what you need. In startups, you don't have infinite time you can spend on stuff. But this makes a good case: if a geographical region only has one AWS region, don't keep data or run services that can't be easily rebuild somewhere else. In europe you can just pick two AWS regions and you stay in the same regions, UAE not so much.

Re: AWS outage due to drone attacks in UAE

#64

Post by RamblingCTO » Tue, Mar 03, 2026, 1:56 PM UTC

Hamuko wrote: post #26

RamblingCTO wrote: post #17

I've been working on that for a client since yesterday (as a fractional CTO). Pretty hectic, basically nothing really works and we don't know yet if all data is lost or if anything is recoverable or when AWS UAE will become functional again so we can recover that region. Finally, I have a very good argument for multi-region deployments ;)) that's my go to website atm: https://health.aws.amazon.com/health/status

We didn't do multi-region deployments, but we did store database backups in a separate region just in case something really bad happened and our AWS region became unavailable. Also had a plan/some ready Terraform stuff in order to start setting up a deployment if it became apparent that the region wasn't coming back anytime soon. IMO, if you're using AWS and not replicating your data somewhere else, this should be an…

Not sure why everyone read this as me doing anything here, I'm a fractional CTO, which is kind of an advisor. Nothing invaluable will be lost tho. It's not the core platform, just a localized version for specific customers in the region.

Re: AWS outage due to drone attacks in UAE

#65

Post by RamblingCTO » Tue, Mar 03, 2026, 1:59 PM UTC

doubled112 wrote: post #62

richsouth wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean 'finally' - surely 'redundancy' or 'natural disaster' is reason enough.

I don't think this changes anything. It is always the same argument for me. "How often do those happen?"

That was my point: now we have a very specific case we can argue. I always used the "what if a plane crashes into the data center" argument. Now I can say: in one of my engagements, we lost a datacenter completely because of a drone attack. That's a first for AWS as well, but we can draw from reality, not hypotheticals.

Re: AWS outage due to drone attacks in UAE

#66

Post by RamblingCTO » Tue, Mar 03, 2026, 2:00 PM UTC

SirFatty wrote: post #60

RamblingCTO wrote: post #17

I've been working on that for a client since yesterday (as a fractional CTO). Pretty hectic, basically nothing really works and we don't know yet if all data is lost or if anything is recoverable or when AWS UAE will become functional again so we can recover that region. Finally, I have a very good argument for multi-region deployments ;)) that's my go to website atm: https://health.aws.amazon.com/health/status

You don't already have a DR plan in place?

Of course, no worries. Nothing irreplaceable will be lost ;) It was meant as a general example to be used in future arguments for everybody in tech leadership.

Re: AWS outage due to drone attacks in UAE

#67

Post by dotancohen » Tue, Mar 03, 2026, 3:05 PM UTC

cced wrote: post #34

kasey_junk wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is Hezbollah hiding in the elementary school that got bombed? Perhaps that’s where the Iranian nuclear research was done? We attacked them. Full stop. And as far as I can tell we haven’t given them any conditions for when we will stop bombing them. In what moral framework do you have to just accept another sovereign, a vastly more powerful one, invading your country without fighting back?

> We attacked them During negotiations, for the second time.

Negotiations during which the Iranians continuously stalled and continued their nuclear work. The threat of attack was part of the US negotiation strategy, and the Iranians thought they would call the "bluff". They were wrong.

Re: AWS outage due to drone attacks in UAE

#68

Post by _slih » Tue, Mar 03, 2026, 5:26 PM UTC

the DR test isn't 'can we run in region B.' it's 'can we cut over to region B when every API call to region A returns a timeout.' most recovery plans assume they can still reach the thing that just broke

Re: AWS outage due to drone attacks in UAE

#69

Post by dotancohen » Tue, Mar 03, 2026, 5:35 PM UTC

kasey_junk wrote: post #32

ta20240528 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't guess what the USA wants other than a distraction from the raping-of- children saga, but I bet Israel would settle for "we acknowledge your right to exist and won't fund or encourage organisations that plan to harm you." If Saudi Arabia can get there…

The world has seen what Israel does when they’re attacked. They don’t get to set moral frameworks anymore.

Who in your opinion sets the moral framework for defending oneself against an enemy which has sworn genocide and proven capable of destroying entire peaceful villages along their borders?

Re: AWS outage due to drone attacks in UAE

#70

Post by dotancohen » Tue, Mar 03, 2026, 5:39 PM UTC

throw-the-towel wrote: post #28

dotancohen wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's why they've been hitting residential buildings and hotels as well? They assume that because their proxies (Hamas, Hezbollah) hide in civilian structures, so does the US army? All these attempts to justify Iranian terror demonstrate just how deep Qatari influence online has been. And even Qatar is being attacked by Iran now.

> They assume that because their proxies (Hamas, Hezbollah) hide in civilian structures, so does the US army? > Two US Defense Department employees were wounded when an Iranian drone struck a hotel in Bahrain's capital Manama, The Washington Post reported Monday.

Are you suggesting that two people sleeping in a hotel makes the hotel a valid military target? Because people have been telling Israelis for years that hospitals, mosques, residential apartment buildings, and schools from which rockets are stored and launched are not valid military targets, even when these activities are supported by the building administration and the rocket handlers are clearly visible.