The Impossible Job That No One Wants

Would anyone who deals with computers (from seasoned vets to your grandmother who just started using a mouse) say that losing data is OK? I don't believe so. Then why do we treat backups so lightly? Sometimes I feel like Rodney Dangerfield when I'm arguing for better backups—"I tell ya, I don't get no respect, no respect." Backups often aren't considered during systems design. When a new server is purchased, does anyone ask for the impact on the current backup methodology? Some IT departments do not even have control over the purchase of new systems, because they are sometimes bought by other cost centers. Have any IT guys out there ever tried to explain to a manager why his terabyte-sized database server isn't going to get backed up to the standalone, gigabyte-sized tape drive that came with it? I pose this question as I take my index finger and slowly raise the glasses that rest upon my face. Yes, this was a joke at the expense of myself and "Dorks" everywhere.

Another often-overlooked issue is backup personnel. If you've worked at a company with a decent amount of computers, have you ever tried to find the person in charge of backups? It's often an extra duty that gets passed around, in a manner similar to the way my roommates and I argue over whose turn it was to wash the dishes. If you are lucky enough to have a dedicated person, it's usually the most entry level IT person. However in my case, the first experience I had was an dealing with the head of IT for a company and her not having basic control/understanding over the company's network. It was her job to make sure things stayed running, I never once heard the term backups discussed...or for that matter saw physical evidence of backups to begin with.

How can we give such low priority to something so important? Perhaps we should change that. Will one blog change this long-standing hiring tradition? Probably not, but maybe it will help. At the very least, if the person in charge of backups reads this blog, that person has a better understanding to accomplishing the immense task that lies ahead.

What's the big deal, you say? With modern computer systems and reliable disk drives, why are backups still so important? Because computers still go down, that's why. Also, companies are placing more reliance than ever on computers functioning reliably. I don't care how good your Unix vendor is or how reliable your disk drives are or how great your new Dell servers are. Even if you have Dogbert himself as your network administrator, systems will go down. Murphy's Law (the law that states anything that can go wrong, will go wrong) thrives in computer systems. Not only will your computer systems go down occasionally, but they will do so at the time most inconvenient to you and your customers. At that moment, and that moment will come, it is the job of the backup person to replace the data on the disk or disks that have stopped the show. "How long will it take?" is a typical question. The only acceptable response is "it's already done."

Who wants to be the person who messed up the restore and caused the customer database to be offline for three extra hours? Who wants to be the person who has to send a memo to the entire company saying that any purchase orders entered in the last two days have to be reentered? Who wants to be the person who has that in mind every day as they are checking the results of last night's backups? If you do your job well, and no data is lost, you are just doing what you're supposed to do. If you mess up, you're in big trouble. Who wants that job? No one, that's who.

Now, you're probably reading this because you've got the impossible job that nobody wants or you just feel like poking around on the blog and seeing what kind of advice we're going to be offering. Whether you've been doing it for a while or have just started down the backup road, you can see that the task that lies ahead is immense. The volume of data is tremendous, the nature of the data changes constantly, and the utilities at your disposal never seem to be up to the job. I know because I've been there. I've spent the majority of my life being an IT guy. Trying to implement "solutions" from operating systems and database products that weren't ready. I've seen people spend money on expensive commercial utilities, only to buy the wrong utility for their application. I've witnessed firsthand newer and bigger servers roll in the door without a single backup drive among them. I've also spent long nights and weekends in computer rooms (and by those rooms I refer to labs just seeing what it takes for a server to crash) trying to recover data in a "reasonable" amount of time. Unfortunately, "reasonable" is defined by the end user who has no idea how difficult this job is.

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