RE: Synopsis of a database crash and recovery (or time to bash

My favorite, which is true, is about 12 years old, I was handed a single 1.2M PC floppy that suposedly contained the backup of 30 meg or so of data.

them: "It kept asking me to press enter to continue so I did." me : "NO, it says to INSERT ANOTHER DISK THEN press enter to continue."

regards
George.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: "guy ruth hammond" <grh_at_agency.com> [mailto:grh_at_agency.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2000 10:10 AM
> To: SMTP_at_INL002@Servers["Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L"
> <ORACLE-L_at_fatcity.com>]
> Subject: Re: Synopsis of a database crash and recovery (or
> time to bash
>
>
> SUBJECT too long. Original SUBJECT is
> Re: Synopsis of a database crash and recovery (or time to
> bash RAID 5).
>
>
> ---------------------- Original Message Follows
> ----------------------
>
> Rachel Carmichael wrote:
>
> > You said that the server crashed in January and that
> exports and shutdown of
> > database before backup had therefore not been done since
> then. HOW COME NO
> > ONE NOTICED???????????????????????????????? We are talking
> over 5 months
> > here.
>
> Ah, Rachel, you are young and trusting and we wuvs you!
>
> A story I heard once went like this: A government
> installation had just
> hired a new operator for their mainframe. An "operator" is to
> a sysadmin
> like a junior DBA is to a senior DBA, they are expected to do
> the day to
> day maintenance of the system. In this case, the operator's
> primary job was
> to run the nightly backup script, which the sysadmin had
> written. (I don't
> know how it was organized before, I presume the sysadmin used to stay
> behind and do it, but then he acquired commitments that meant
> he had to
> leave earlier. Or maybe he just got bored. But I digress). In
> the version
> I heard, the operator was a grad student who worked nights.
> The sysadmin
> showed her how to log on, run the backup script, etc, and she said she
> understood, so he left her to it. Every night she'd come in, start the
> job on a batch queue, then go and sit in the sysadmin's
> office and study.
>
> The system was used to process records throughout the year,
> and was cleared
> out at the end of the year, so the volume of the data in it
> (and hence the
> backup capacity required) increased over the year. Near the
> end of the year
> (I don't know whether it was a calendar, fiscal or academic year) the
> sysadmin asked the operator if she thought she'd need more
> tapes, but she
> just looked at him blankly. Every evening, she'd logged in,
> and started the
> backup job, then went away - but after a short delay, the
> terminal warned
> that there was no tape in the drive. After five minutes, the terminal
> security settings had cleared the screen and logged her off,
> and whenever
> she'd checked, there were no messages on the screen, and
> everything looked
> OK.
>
> So what had happened was, she never knew that she needed to
> insert the tapes
> into the drive manually, and he'd never thought that he
> needed to review
> the backup logs now that he'd hired an operator. Fortunately,
> nothing had
> gone wrong during the year, and he was able to run a complete level 0
> backup there and then.
>
> I don't know whether this story is true or not, but it just
> illustrates
> that as soon as a system starts to require human
> communication, there is
> immediately an inherent risk associated. It also illustrates that when
> you take responsibility for a system, check every assumption that you
> make, and verify everything that you are told.
>
> g
>
> --
> guy ruth hammond <grh_at_agency.com> | One is punished for being
> Technology Analysis & Consulting | weak, not for being cruel.
> 07879607148 http://www.agency.com | -- Baudelaire
>
>
> --
> Author: guy ruth hammond
> INET: grh_at_agency.com
>
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Received on Tue Jun 13 2000 - 08:45:04 CDT