Paul S. Randal Posts Some Sobering Statistics

Better Late Than Never: Disaster Recovery Webcast This Morning

Ward Pond's SQL Server blog — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:45:38 GMT

I’m a little late to the party here, but this is pretty apropos of some of our discussions here lately.

re: Paul S. Randal Posts Some Sobering Statistics

Adam Machanic — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 21:34:14 GMT

Jimmy brings up a good point with regard to the PIT test: customers should do FULL disaster tests--which may or may not include a PIT restore, depending on the scenario. I've been involved in one such exercise, and it was a fantastic learning experience for everyone involved. And the sad part is, with regard to the numbers, that I've only ever been involved in one such exercise. Which is not for lack of trying; customers, especially at the executive management level, where buy in is really required to do something like an all hands on deck disaster test, just don't want to hear about it...

re: Paul S. Randal Posts Some Sobering Statistics

WardPond — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 05:42:05 GMT

@Adam: I agree completely. The percentage of respondents who exercise that degree of diligence is discussed in Paul's post (I wanted to "tease" it, not plagiarize it *g*). Given the numbers I've quoted already, though, you can imagine that the numbers are.. well.. frighteningly small.

@Jimmy: +1 on the regular PIT exercises, as well as the restore-and-DBCC regime. Our approach on each server was to cycle through two production databases a day, with system database done daily (why do people forget system databases?!?). We'd end up going, at most, 6 days between databases.

We used to say, "don't practice in front of the CIO." I like your metaphor too.

re: Paul S. Randal Posts Some Sobering Statistics

aspiringgeek — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 05:18:16 GMT

Adam, I agree--doing a restore AND a DBCC CHECKDB of backups on a frequent, regular basis is fundamental. This should be done at least weekly, if not daily.

Dittos for diff & log backups.

I advocate regular PIT exercises by all relevant personnel as well. The time to learn how to put out a fire isn't when your home is burning down.

re: Paul S. Randal Posts Some Sobering Statistics

aspiringgeek — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 23:31:22 GMT

Your post title is, as Dilbert's pal Wally might say, "Well played", a fine foil to Paul's blog.

This is absolutely amazing information. Thanks for spreading the word, Ward. How can we, as trusted advisors to our customers, allow this to happen? I feel the urge to blog about this myself...

re: Paul S. Randal Posts Some Sobering Statistics

Adam Machanic — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 21:47:06 GMT

Validating your backups is great, but IMHO it's not enough. You need to actually do a test restore from time to time (once a month would be good, once a week better ... one customer I talked to does a test restore for EVERY backup they take and while I think that's slightly overkill they can certainly sleep easy at night knowing with almost 100% certainty that their backups will restore in the case of a disaster).