DBAs get paid for performance but we keep our jobs with recovery.
Being able to recover data is the most important job function you have as a DBA. If you can’t recover your data because database backups are missing, or corrupt, then you should consider a new line of work.
The year is 2015 and we still have people failing to have a proper recovery plan. I think part of the reason we see such complacency is because data is viewed as an easily replaced commodity, like a server or a hard drive. The reality is that data is the most important asset your company has. Data isn’t a piece of hardware, it is information. Some people value their laptop in the millions of dollars, which means the value of your datacenter just skyrocketed.
Imagine for a moment that you came home and discovered that all your data was missing? Music files, movies, video games, banking information, even the deed to your home. All gone. What would you do next? Would you post to a forum asking people to help you recover your lost data?
Well, posting to a forum and saying ‘need to recover, no backups available‘, is about as useful as putting up ‘lost data’ posters all over town.
Most of us do our best to follow the ‘Computer Backup Rule of Three’ principle for our personal data as outlined by Scott Hanselman. If your data is that valuable to yourself, then it is easy to understand how valuable your companies data would be. Treat your company data as if it were your own.
Otherwise you may find yourself posting this:
I think Scott needs another rule: If backups aren’t automated, #notabackup
I’ve set people up, even smart IT folks, with all the things that he lists in three rules. But they refuse to automate it due to cost reasons (likely < $50 a year) and they forget or put off backing up.
Imagine an enterprise DBA saying "I'll remember to run that backup job, I promise". Would you even consider that a DR plan?
Love the poster.
Good point, perhaps we can get Scott to update his post with either a new rule, or at least a corollary.
off course, what good is a backup if you do not validate it, if you don’t test the restore on a frequent basis, …
http://www.sqlsaturday.com/409/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=9361
Agreed: https://www.simple-talk.com/sql/database-administration/statistical-sampling-for-verifying-database-backups/
Still there are numerous people who doesn’t care about their backup and only realize after facing these painful situations. Maintaining just a backup of data is not enough; DBAs should need to test it regularly and successful restoration is the best method to test.
http://www.blog.sqlexpert.pl/2015/06/18/test-your-sql-database-backup-today/