Summary
The Libero.it email service, along with Virgilio Mail, experienced a significant and prolonged outage starting around January 23rd, 2023. Initially, reports indicated that Libero.it's MX records were unresponsive, leading to widespread email delivery failures and access issues for users. While official announcements from Libero.it indicated resolution at various points, email service providers (ESPs) and users continued to report intermittent problems, including deferrals, delivery delays, and difficulties accessing mailboxes. The situation highlighted the complexities of recovering from major ISP outages and the ripple effect on senders and recipients.
Key findings
- Initial outage: The outage began around January 23rd, 2023, with libero.it MX records not responding.
- Widespread impact: Both Libero Mail and Virgilio Mail services were affected, impacting a large user base.
- Communication challenges: Libero.it provided updates via their login page and social media, but users and senders reported inconsistencies between official announcements and actual service restoration.
- Persistent issues: Even after initial 'fix' announcements, many users experienced ongoing access problems, and ESPs observed continued deferrals and delays (temporary failures) rather than full delivery.
- Gradual restoration: The recovery process appeared to be a continuous restoration of mailboxes, implying a phased or incremental return to normalcy.
- Mixed reports: While some senders reported a return to normal delivery within days, others continued to struggle with significant delays and thresholds. For more context on such incidents, consider how to respond to email delivery outages at ISPs.
Key considerations
- Monitor official channels: Always check the ISP's official status pages and social media accounts for the most current information during an outage. Libero.it used its login page and Twitter, as highlighted by Messo a Nuovo in their summary of the incident.
- Patience is key: Large-scale restorations can take time, with mailboxes being brought back online incrementally. Continued deferrals are common during this phase.
- Adapt sending strategies: Consider temporarily pausing or throttling email campaigns to the affected domain until full stability is confirmed to avoid accumulating unnecessary bounces or deferrals. Learn more about how ESPs manage deliverability during outages.
- Monitor your own metrics: Closely watch your deliverability metrics (bounce rates, deferrals, inbox placement) to assess the actual impact on your sending and determine when normal service has truly resumed.
What email marketers say
Email marketers reported a challenging experience during the Libero.it outage, characterized by initial complete delivery failures, followed by erratic and unpredictable service restoration. Many faced the difficult decision of whether to continue sending or to pause campaigns to avoid further issues. The period was marked by constant monitoring and comparison of individual sending results against official ISP announcements, highlighting the critical need for real-time deliverability insights when major outages occur.
Key opinions
- Initial non-response: Marketers immediately noticed that Libero.it MX was not responding, signaling a major system-wide problem rather than isolated issues.
- Discrepancy in status: Despite official 'fix' announcements, marketers continued to observe ongoing delivery issues, deferrals, and user access problems.
- Unpredictable delivery: Delivery times were highly inconsistent, ranging from minutes for some tests to indeterminate delays for others, creating uncertainty about campaign effectiveness. You might find our email deliverability tester helpful in such situations.
- Decision to withhold: Many opted to pause sending to Libero.it domains due to the unreliable delivery, prioritizing sender reputation and avoiding potential blocklists over immediate campaign reach.
Key considerations
- Verify status independently: Do not solely rely on ISP announcements. Independently verify deliverability by sending test emails and monitoring your own sending logs.
- Communicate with subscribers: If the outage is prolonged, consider informing your subscribers on affected domains about potential delays via alternative channels.
- Segment affected audiences: During an outage, segment out the affected domains temporarily to maintain deliverability to other ISPs and prevent issues that could lead to your emails going to spam.
- Monitor deferrals: A high volume of deferrals is a clear indicator of ongoing service issues and should prompt adjustments to your sending strategy.
- Patience and persistence: While frustrating, understand that full restoration can be a slow process, and continued monitoring is essential until normal deliverability resumes.
Marketer view
Email marketer from Email Geeks notes that Libero.it's MX was completely unresponsive to connections starting January 23rd, signifying a severe service interruption for their email platform. This immediate and widespread failure prompted urgent attention within the deliverability community regarding the scope of the outage.
Marketer view
Email marketer from Messo a Nuovo highlighted that widespread email service problems like this can lead to issues ranging from messages landing in spam folders to significant delays in delivery. Such outages can severely disrupt communication flows and business operations reliant on email.
What the experts say
Deliverability experts often emphasize that major ISP outages like the Libero.it incident are complex events, with recovery often being a staggered process rather than an instant fix. Their insights focus on the technical implications for senders, the importance of reliable monitoring, and strategic adjustments to mitigate risks. Experts also highlight the long-term impact on sender reputation if not managed correctly, underscoring the need for careful handling of email streams during and after such events.
Key opinions
- Phased recovery: Experts commonly state that large email service outages typically involve a gradual restoration of services, with full functionality returning in stages, leading to inconsistent delivery results initially.
- Technical indicators: The presence of deferrals (temporary failures) after an ISP claims a fix is a key technical indicator that the system is still under stress or actively recovering.
- Impact on sender reputation: Sustained attempts to send to a downed or struggling ISP can negatively affect a sender's reputation, potentially leading to being added to a blacklist or blocklist. Proactive blocklist monitoring is advised.
- Importance of DMARC: Implementing robust authentication like DMARC monitoring can help maintain domain integrity even during recipient-side issues.
Key considerations
- Throttling or pausing: Experts recommend dynamically adjusting sending volume or pausing campaigns to affected ISPs until signs of stable recovery are evident, to prevent unnecessary backlogs or hard bounces.
- Leverage multiple data points: Combine official ISP announcements with real-time feedback from your own sending logs and user reports to get an accurate picture of the situation.
- Understand deferral codes: Analyze the specific SMTP deferral codes received from the affected ISP, as these can provide clues about the nature and progress of their recovery.
- Post-outage analysis: Once the service is fully restored, conduct a thorough analysis of your sending data during the outage to identify lessons learned and improve future incident response protocols.
Expert view
Deliverability expert from Email Geeks advises that during a major ISP outage, closely monitoring their official communication channels, such as their status page or social media, is crucial for obtaining timely and accurate updates. This helps senders react appropriately to the evolving situation.
Expert view
Deliverability expert from SpamResource suggests that maintaining a strong sender reputation is vital, as ISPs may prioritize restoring service for senders with established good standing during recovery periods from outages. A solid reputation can help ensure faster re-engagement.
What the documentation says
Technical documentation and industry best practices highlight the foundational elements of email service operation and what happens when they fail. Outages often stem from core infrastructure problems like MX record unresponsiveness or server overload. Documentation typically emphasizes the importance of DNS configuration, mail exchange server health, and the role of temporary errors (deferrals) in signaling ongoing issues. It also covers the metrics that are crucial for understanding and responding to service disruptions, and the protocols that help maintain trust and deliverability even during adverse events.
Key findings
- MX record role: The unresponsiveness of MX records, as seen with Libero.it, is a primary indicator of a fundamental issue preventing mail servers from locating and connecting to the destination.
- Deferrals as signals: Increased deferral rates (temporary errors like a 550 Invalid Domain in a different context, but broadly meaning temporary issues) indicate recipient server overload or recovery, rather than a permanent block.
- Infrastructure dependency: Email deliverability is highly dependent on the stability and health of underlying network and server infrastructure.
- Metric monitoring: Key deliverability metrics (bounce, deferral, inbox rates) are essential tools for diagnosing and understanding the impact of outages, as noted by Customer.io documentation.
Key considerations
- DNS health check: Regularly verify the health and responsiveness of your target domains' DNS records, especially MX records, to detect potential outages early.
- Understand SMTP responses: Familiarize yourself with SMTP response codes (e.g., 4xx for temporary failures, 5xx for permanent failures) to accurately interpret delivery issues during an outage.
- Email authentication: Maintain proper SPF, DKIM, and DMARC configurations, as these help recipient servers trust your mail even under stress.
- Contingency planning: Develop internal procedures for managing email sending during ISP outages, including communication protocols and sending adjustments, as outlined in guides like Email Deliverability Issues: Getting Your Messages to the Inbox.
Technical article
Technical documentation from Customer.io highlights that email deliverability metrics such as bounce rate, deferral rate, and inbox placement are crucial indicators of email service health. These metrics become even more critical to monitor during and after an ISP outage to assess the impact.
Technical article
Email deliverability guide notes that sudden increases in deferred emails (temporary failures) can indicate an ISP's systems are under heavy load or undergoing maintenance and recovery. These temporary rejections are a common sign of a struggling mail server rather than a permanent block.
Related resources
5 resources
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