RE: database decommission checklist

I think the issue is more that today's storage arrays abstract things enough that even dd'ing zeroes doesn't necessarily mean you're destroying any data. For example, on NetApp, there is no such thing as overwriting a block of data - when you write a block, it gets written to free space somewhere in the volume, and the old used block is marked as free and can be reused.  

If you really need to destroy data, you'll need to get the SAN folks involved.  

Matt  

From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org
[mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org] On Behalf Of Bobak, Mark
Sent: Friday, June 26, 2009 5:40 PM
To: Brandon.Allen_at_OneNeck.com; dcowles_at_us.ibm.com; oracle-l_at_freelists.org
Subject: RE: database decommission checklist  

And, might I add, when it comes to wiping the disk, one good wipe is all it takes, contrary to what government standards say.....  

I challenge anyone to recover data from a disk after a single pass of:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sd0  

You do that, the data is gone, and it's not coming back....  

-Mark  

From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org
[mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org] On Behalf Of Allen, Brandon
Sent: Friday, June 26, 2009 4:42 PM
To: dcowles_at_us.ibm.com; oracle-l_at_freelists.org Subject: RE: database decommission checklist  

I would just add wiping the disk, or taking a sledgehammer to it if it's really sensitive data and you'll be decommissioning the hardware too, and then other little things like updating documentation and maybe any clients, e.g. tnsnames.ora files, that need to be updated.  

Regards,

Brandon      

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