2026-09-11 Fax Port Server Failures (Resolved)
Written by Steven Spaulding
Updated at September 16th, 2026
Table of Contents
Affected Services
- Native Fax
Event Summary
Beginning at 10:16 AM ET on September 11, 2026, the port server service on our Native Fax server repeatedly stopped running, disrupting inbound and outbound fax service for all Native Fax clients. Full service was confirmed restored at 1:11 PM ET, and the incident was marked resolved on September 12, 2026 after 24 hours of sustained stability.
Event Timeline
September 11, 2026
- 10:16 AM ET – Monitoring alerted that the Native Fax port server service had stopped
- 10:17 AM ET – We began troubleshooting including restarting the services.
- 10:40 AM ET – Engaged vendor support to assist
- 10:45 AM ET – After several restarts the service sustained normal operation. Sending and receiving faxes confirmed working.
- 11:22 AM ET – Continued troubleshooting with vendor as the port server continued to lock after restarts.
- 12:43 PM ET - Identified configuration change that had not propagated to the transmission server. Applied and restarted.
- 12:48 PM ET – A secondary service was conflicting with the port server. Continued to work with vendor to resolve.
- 1:11 PM ET – Server conflict resolved. Native Fax services fully restored to all users.
September 12, 2026
- 1:45 PM ET – After 24 hours of sustained stability, the incident was marked resolved.
Root Cause
Our Native Fax platform relies on several services including a port server that controls inbound and outbound fax port assignments. During the previous night's maintenance window, configuration changes were made including to the port server. We performed comprehensive testing and all returned successful. Unbeknownst to us, the configuration changes did not propagate as designed. The transmission server did not receive the change but continued to function. However, the inconsistency later resulted in the crashing of the port service. Note this is not related to the previous MIs regarding Native Fax.
Impact Summary
- Inbound and outbound fax service was unavailable to all Native Fax clients during several distinct outage windows between 10:16 AM ET and 1:11 PM ET on September 11, 2026, as the port server service repeatedly stopped and was restarted. The longest single window was approximately 28 minutes; service was available between windows.
- No workaround was available while the service was down, as communicated in the status announcements throughout the incident.
- Inbound faxes sent to Native Fax numbers during the outage windows were not received and could not be recovered. Any fax sent to a Native Fax number during these windows will need to be resent by the sender.
- Outbound faxes remained queued while the service was down and were sent out in batches shortly after service was restored.
- Fax service has been stable since 1:11 PM ET on September 11, 2026.
Future Preventative Action
- Additional documentation is being created with the vendor to identify dependent services