[geeks] DST hell

[Mike Meredith]

On Sat, 10 Mar 2007 23:47:52 -0500, Charles Shannon Hendrix wrote:
> On Sat, 10 Mar 2007 22:40:59 -0500
> Sridhar Ayengar <ploopster at gmail.com> wrote:
> > We require that on all of our database servers.  It's so we can
> > back up their datafiles.
> 
> Which databases are you using that require shutting down for this?
> 
> Even MySQL can do live backups...

Sometimes it's not so much what the database server can do, but
possibly phb's insisting on doing things the 'safe way' [0], or the
dbas not wanting to change things [1].

Even 'stop database and backup' is better than the way things work
under Windows where open files just don't get backed up[2]. In one case
work's backup people were dealing with a situation where a user refused
to exit the application to allow them to backup the data files; of
course when it was necessary to do a restore, work's backup people got
an earful for not making sure the data was backed up.

0: Ideally of course a situation where you tell the phbs to go and mind
   their own business and leave technical decisions to those with the
   knowledge to make those decisions.

1: Time for a new DBA.

2: Being told that 'somefile.pst' is locked and won't be backed up just
   isn't a practical way of dealing with the situation where you are
   backing up millions of files a night. 

-- 
Mike Meredith (http://zonky.org/)
  No security outfit ever went broke relying on the stupidity of users.