January 2, 2010 at 11:54 am
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Be Prepared
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
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January 4, 2010 at 2:46 am
Why should something as routine as backup not be done automatically by computers? Why depend on people to do the backup?
January 4, 2010 at 3:46 am
People have to set up the backup, monitor it and fix it when it goes wrong. The actual execution should be scheduled and automated, you're right. But far too many people aren't doing it.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
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January 4, 2010 at 8:01 am
umailedit (1/4/2010)
Why should something as routine as backup not be done automatically by computers? Why depend on people to do the backup?
I don't depend on people to do the backups, but people need to make the decisions about what to back up and when and where.
No computer can possibly figure out how much data loss you or your company can afford to deal with.
No computer can decided whether backups should be to a local drive or a network share, nor what to do with them once they are backed up.
And so on.
Yes, the computer can do the day-to-day or hour-to-hour work, but first you have to tell it what it's supposed to do. They have no initiative, no judgement.
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January 4, 2010 at 8:16 am
umailedit (1/4/2010)
Why should something as routine as backup not be done automatically by computers? Why depend on people to do the backup?
Speak of Murphy and he will appear. Right here is a good example. No backups. Corrupt file. Just the same as flat tire, no spare.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
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January 4, 2010 at 8:43 am
But why would you need a backup? I mean, it's not as if a disk will fail, or someone drops a table (or the entire database) or the data file gets corrupted or an adimn deletes the mdf accidentally or data modifed yesterday needs to be undone or ... </sarcasm>
I'm almost tired of asking people if they have backups in the 'my database is corrupt'/'I need to recover deleted <something>' forum posts. The answer 99% of the time is no. The best I ever got from someone was "I didn't know I had to take backups"
And don't get me started on the 'took a backup but never tested it and now it won't restore' situation
<sigh>
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
January 4, 2010 at 8:54 am
GilaMonster (1/4/2010)
But why would you need a backup? I mean, it's not as if a disk will fail, or someone drops a table (or the entire database) or the data file gets corrupted or an adimn deletes the mdf accidentally or data modifed yesterday needs to be undone or ... </sarcasm>I'm almost tired of asking people if they have backups in the 'my database is corrupt'/'I need to recover deleted <something>' forum posts. The answer 99% of the time is no. The best I ever got from someone was "I didn't know I had to take backups"
And don't get me started on the 'took a backup but never tested it and now it won't restore' situation
<sigh>
I wish I could argue or disagree on any point, but I can't.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
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January 4, 2010 at 10:36 am
Some people's idea of a backup is having their resume up-to-date and access to a copier.
😛
January 4, 2010 at 10:46 am
Julie Breutzmann (1/4/2010)
Some people's idea of a backup is having their resume up-to-date and access to a copier.😛
Oh, that's a backup. I thought it was disaster recovery.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning
January 4, 2010 at 2:12 pm
Speak of Murphy and he will appear. Right here is a good example. No backups. Corrupt file. Just the same as flat tire, no spare.
This is something of a sad story. Hope it works out.
I've read a lot where the final step in a backup process is to ensure you can actually restore the backup :-D. We update our hardware frequently enough such that we do side by side updates (sometimes upgrading the SQL version too) where we restore last night's backups onto our new servers. Proof positive:exclamation:
Ken
January 4, 2010 at 3:21 pm
Grant Fritchey (1/4/2010)
umailedit (1/4/2010)
Why should something as routine as backup not be done automatically by computers? Why depend on people to do the backup?Speak of Murphy and he will appear. Right here is a good example. No backups. Corrupt file. Just the same as flat tire, no spare.
Backups don't save jobs but restores do. Having a corrupt backup is just like having a flat spare tire.
January 4, 2010 at 5:55 pm
GilaMonster (1/4/2010)
But why would you need a backup? I mean, it's not as if a disk will fail, or someone drops a table (or the entire database) or the data file gets corrupted or an adimn deletes the mdf accidentally or data modifed yesterday needs to be undone or ... </sarcasm>I'm almost tired of asking people if they have backups in the 'my database is corrupt'/'I need to recover deleted <something>' forum posts. The answer 99% of the time is no. The best I ever got from someone was "I didn't know I had to take backups"
And don't get me started on the 'took a backup but never tested it and now it won't restore' situation
<sigh>
Should we be testing our backups? Should we ever really need to make sure the spare tire has air in it?
I just had to help somebody change a flat tire the other day - pulled the spare out and it was flat too.:smooooth:
I think, on a personal note, I would rather have my spare tire be flat than my backups be corrupt.
Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
_______________________________________________
I have given a name to my pain...MCM SQL Server, MVP
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January 5, 2010 at 5:04 am
I could not agree more with the editorial and have always sort to ensure that my company’s data is protected by the best possible practice but when you work for a company whose only interest in backups is when the worst happens, then like in the film Heart Break Ridge you have to adapt and improvise.
I am constantly struggling to achieve even simple model backups because of the lack of disk storage space let alone move over to more secure complex models, and due to performance issues I am limited to doing one backup per day.
It is frightening to think that there are companies like this, but I am sure we are not alone as with everything it boils down to cost and like many many people they know they should have life, even property insurance (see some of the cases of UK flood victims) but just can’t justify the cost at the time.
Sadly, Penny wise, pound foolish. 😉
January 5, 2010 at 5:17 am
ken.trock (1/4/2010)
Speak of Murphy and he will appear. Right here is a good example. No backups. Corrupt file. Just the same as flat tire, no spare.
This is something of a sad story. Hope it works out.
I've read a lot where the final step in a backup process is to ensure you can actually restore the backup :-D. We update our hardware frequently enough such that we do side by side updates (sometimes upgrading the SQL version too) where we restore last night's backups onto our new servers. Proof positive:exclamation:
Ken
Exactly. And you have a reasonable assurance that you'll be able to do a restore and that it will work in a real emergency. That's the way it should be.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning
January 5, 2010 at 5:19 am
Edogg (1/4/2010)
Grant Fritchey (1/4/2010)
umailedit (1/4/2010)
Why should something as routine as backup not be done automatically by computers? Why depend on people to do the backup?Speak of Murphy and he will appear. Right here is a good example. No backups. Corrupt file. Just the same as flat tire, no spare.
Backups don't save jobs but restores do. Having a corrupt backup is just like having a flat spare tire.
100% True. But step one is still to take the backup.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning
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