Ramon F Herrera wrote:
> On Mar 21, 7:29 am, Roy Schestowitz <newsgro...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>> __/ [ BearItAll ] on Wednesday 21 March 2007 11:33 \__
>>
>> > Ramon F Herrera wrote:
>>
>> >> I just read in the CNN scrolling text that a computer at Alaska's
>> >> Department of Revenue wiped out a $38 billion account.
>>
>> >> -Ramon F Herrera
>>
>> > I just emailed them and said I would like to withdraw my $38 billion
>> > and they wrote back saying 'The computer says no'.
>>
>> They called Microsoft in. Why no backups? And why a single click away
>> from formatting the drive?
>>
>> --
>> ~~ Best wishes
>>
>> Roy S. Schestowitz | "On the eighth day, God created
>> UNIX"http://Schestowitz.com | GNU/Linux  PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
>> Mem: 514480k total, 480352k used, 34128k free, 6856k buffers
>> http://iuron.com- next generation of search paradigms
>
>
> They had tape backups, but they were unreadable. I am convinced that
> this wouldn't have happened to IT managers who select U*ix (who by
> definition are more responsible than their Windows-oriented
> counterparts) or to a U*ix sysadmin (who by definition are more
> knowledgeable than their Windows counterparts).
>
> I am talking about servers, which are what I work with. I am willing
> to accept WinXP (not Vista) in the desktops, since those are less
> likely to cause damage to the systems. I draw the line in the server
> room.
>
> -Ramon
I still sometimes come across IT folk that don't check their backup tapes
and some that do check for a selection of files on the tape but have never
done a full restore. Also some that have never tested a mirror server to
make sure it really can take the place of the main server.
I was very lucky in that early in my carreer I almost lost the entire
company data and the database applications that had taken years to perfect
at the place I worked at the time, it was pure luck that I managed to get
them back, but it was the worst part of my life, because it really was
entirely my own fault, through lazyness. So since then I have gone over the
top in the backup arena, I have had IT'ers criticise me for going for over
kill, but I like the fact that I can sleep at night.
This company I work for now diligently did tape backups daily, plus the
monthly and then the yearly, but there was nothing on any of those tapes.
Some one had started them off with a fairly decent list of instructions,
and they carried them out. But he had not mentioned that the cleaning tape
has a limited life. When I mentioned this in the first meeting we had after
I joined the company they was a weeping and gnashing of teeth, as it were.
I used to grumble at the Linux distros because although everything you need
to do a good backup is onboard, it wasn't often obvious enough for new
users. That has changed quite a lot, the distros I've installed over the
last few years have had a more prominent backup front end.
|
|
