Google Apps Issues
I was recently greeted by this message when attempting to access my e-mail account:
The issue was resolved fairly quickly, but the problem was concerning.
A disadvantage of cloud computing services is that access to data is dependent upon the reliability of the service provider.
Because I am using a Google Apps account, I was able to temporarily modify the domain name mail servers to a custom IMAP server on the web host while the Gmail issue was resolved. No such protection is available for users of standard webmail accounts.
If you are using webmail, you should periodically back up and archive important messages, as even highly reliable web services can go down at times.
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