What would you do if, all of a sudden, our web traffic dropped by 100%?

Introduction

A sudden 100% drop in web traffic is a critical issue that demands immediate attention and a systematic approach to resolution. This scenario could indicate a severe technical problem, a major user experience issue, or an external factor affecting our entire web presence. I'll outline a structured framework to identify, validate, and address the root cause while considering both immediate and long-term implications.

Step 1

Clarifying Questions (3 minutes)

• Looking at the severity, I'm thinking this might be a site-wide outage. Can you confirm if our website is completely inaccessible or if it's just that no users are visiting?

Why it matters: This helps distinguish between a technical failure and a user behavior issue. Expected answer: The site is inaccessible. Impact on approach: If inaccessible, we focus on technical issues; if accessible but no traffic, we investigate user-related factors.

• Considering the abruptness, I'm wondering about recent deployments. Have we pushed any major updates or changes to our infrastructure in the last 24 hours?

Why it matters: Recent changes are often the culprit in sudden issues. Expected answer: A major update was deployed yesterday. Impact on approach: If yes, we'd prioritize rollback considerations; if no, we'd look at external factors or gradual degradation.

• Given the scale, I'm curious about our monitoring systems. Are other key metrics like server response times or error rates showing any anomalies?

Why it matters: This helps us understand if it's an isolated traffic issue or a broader system problem. Expected answer: Yes, we're seeing increased error rates. Impact on approach: Anomalies in other metrics would point us towards specific technical areas to investigate.

• Thinking about external dependencies, I'm wondering if our DNS or CDN providers have reported any issues on their end?

Why it matters: Third-party services can cause site-wide issues if they fail. Expected answer: No reported issues from providers. Impact on approach: If provider issues are confirmed, we'd coordinate with them for resolution; if not, we'd focus on internal systems.