{"id":13064,"date":"2018-06-15T09:37:02","date_gmt":"2018-06-15T08:37:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.devopsonline.co.uk\/?p=13064"},"modified":"2018-06-15T09:38:06","modified_gmt":"2018-06-15T08:38:06","slug":"database-breakdown-5-tips-for-avoiding-data-disasters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devopsnews.online\/database-breakdown-5-tips-for-avoiding-data-disasters\/","title":{"rendered":"Database breakdown: 5 tips for avoiding data disasters"},"content":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s every system administrator\u2019s worse nightmare. An attempt to restore a database results in empty files, and there is no way to get the data back, ever.<\/p>\n
Despite the fear and panic created by data loss, more often than not it\u2019s due to simple things that are under our control and can be prevented. Studies have shown that the single largest cause for data outages is human error. Regardless of how much you try, there are still going to be mistakes and you have to account for them in the way database changes are managed.<\/p>\n
Here are five simple tips for keeping things running smoothly and minimising risk.<\/p>\n
Safeguards need to be put in place to ensure that only authorized people to have access to the production database. The level of access shouldn\u2019t be determined only by an employee\u2019s position but also by the level of seniority. A famous story made the rounds<\/a> last year when a developer shared that while following instructions in a new employee manual, he accidentally deleted the production database. To make things worse, the backup was 6 hours old and took all too long to locate. You might be shaking your head in disapproval right now over how the company could have been so irresponsible to let this happen, but it turns out\u2026it\u2019s really not uncommon (check out the comments on this tweet<\/a>). To prevent unauthorised changes in the database that can result in utter disaster, it is essential to define, assign, and enforce distinct roles for all employees. If you need to, set roles and permissions per project to avoid any accidental spillover.<\/p>\nConfirm back up procedures<\/h2>\n