gistfile1.txt

Hi,

S3 returns the 503 slowdown messages when our content ingest layer queue starts getting very large
and a backlog of ingests have accumulated.

This is usually caused by some sort of temporary trouble on the ingest side of our storage system (in this
case, a fan outage caused, high temperatures, and automatic machine off lining took place, significantly
reducing the ingest rate).

These conditions are very rarely the end user's (or api clien's, in your case) fault.

We have returned the fans and those hosts to service and
the queue backlog is again at normal levels.

Sorry for the trouble.

-Sam