Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Your thinking should be limited
A great line which I entirely agree with from Jeff Hunter's Top 11 Backup and Recovery list. Jeff is absolutely right, because (as Tom says in the comments) you just cannot be allowed to get recovery wrong, the amount you have to think when performing the recovery should be effectively zero. Got to do PITR because you accidentally dropped the wrong table or an end user deleted the wrong account. Follow the steps that you already wrote down and tested.
Where your thinking should not be limited is in diagnosing the fault and examining your options. On at least two occasions we have had classic recovery scenarios - on neither occasion did we actually do recovery, there were other ways to get the data back.
And to make it maybe a Top 12. Before you do a recovery - backup your disaster (preferably with a cold backup if you can). This means if you do make the number one error and get the recovery wrong you at least get another shot at it.
2 Comments
Where your thinking should not be limited is in diagnosing the fault and examining your options. On at least two occasions we have had classic recovery scenarios - on neither occasion did we actually do recovery, there were other ways to get the data back.
And to make it maybe a Top 12. Before you do a recovery - backup your disaster (preferably with a cold backup if you can). This means if you do make the number one error and get the recovery wrong you at least get another shot at it.
2 Comments:
... and practise recoveries. Do it when you want and under no pressure and make sure what you have documented really works - then when you have to a real restore at 2:00 AM you have that extra confidence.
#12 is a very good point. While you're backing up the bad db it gives you some time to clear your head and plan a little.
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