Backup server A, compare server A, backup server B, compare server B: if tape library and/or support software for a tape library is stupid and starts reusing backup tapes, server A backups could get overwritten.
The OpenVMS tape library software isn't that stupid.
You know, I'm starting to get a really bad feeling about the enforced migration off of VMS...
Perhaps what the GP meant wasn't that recompiling everything isn't difficult so much as slow, tedious, and annoying?
Sure, if you use Gentoo.
Otherwise, you remember that this isn't 2002, and that CPUs are fast enough and the kernel does a good enough job at scheduling the CPU that a kernel build only affects you if you're trying to watch a movie using the nv or vesa driver. Otherwise, you kick off the build and go to sleep, eat dinner, watch some TV, etc, etc, etc.
You just gave me an intersting idea. Algae farms have a problem that they aren't very productive without an external CO2 source. What if we used this device to produce energy, then pumped the remaining CO2 into an algae farm to produce even more energy.I'm not too sure about all the math behind it (I'll look into the numbers after I hit submit) so it may not be efficient at all but it just seems so obvious. I'm sure it must have been done before: ferment corn or something then pump the CO2 into an algae farm. Burn ethanol and make biodisel.
Must be. I get cranky software that was written by people long departed, and the logging is spotty in places. Best to verify that files went where they should have.
That's why I dread the planned migration to Linux & Oracle RAC.
For 7 years, Linux has been the only OS on my home PC, and OpenVMS is behind the times, but it's straightforward, religiously consistent across utilities and Just Works. Backup files properly and simply get restored from tape, database backups properly and simply get restored from tape, when there's a hardware crash and the machine is finally brought back to life, the 100 dead transactions roll back without a worry. The HPUX+Oracle DR test bombed because some obscure bit of software didn't get installed properly, but the Rdb/VMS DR test finished ahead of schedule.
read back the tape and verify it against the current contents of the drives.
And if the underlying data has changed?
It really isn't hard to verify your backup---at least it shouldn't be.
Hard? No. Expensive? Very possibly. (We regularly "test" database backups by restoring them to the QA system, and yearly do a DR of one of the systems.)
Also, the systems that we use (Rdb/VMS and OpenVMS BACKUP) have options to read every block on the tape, checking that they can be read and that it's reasonable.
If you ever believe everything the logs tell you, then you haven't been in the business too long.
I've been in the business 19 years, 16 using OpenVMS. It must be that I've been spoiled by expensive, high-quality hardware & software that actually works and does what it says it does.
So time to get a new hard disk and restore the backup. EVERY backup set was corrupt. It turned out that for a few weeks, the Disk Doctor had come up with a series of warnings of disk errors. The staff had just clicked ignore.
It is also a very good practice to test the recovery of the backups on a regular basis. Just because the logs say that the backups ran successfully does not necessarily mean that the restore will work.
Sure, if you have the capacity.
And don't reply "disks are cheap", because there's more to a disk subsystem than buying a few 500GB drives from NewEgg.
How about doing a restore practice run whilst at it? Just kidding. Sort of.;)
You pony up the $300,000 (Large Systems cost a heck of a lot more than Windows servers) for a QA system and I'd leap at the chance to test the backups and procedures.
At least when you're talking about storage, virtually nothing is that small in terms of actual space-on-disk on a modern system.
For standard usage, you are correct.
Maildir-based IMAP servers are all that I can think of which would really benefit from tail packing, although there will also obviously be some custom apps that need or make use of millions of small files.
Each library loaded in your system would require at least 4MB of ram - probably more, as they have code, data, and zeroed data segments. Additionally, each process would require another 4MB*n.
I agree. Networking people often refer to "pipes", so I have no problem with "tubes" and never really got why people made such a big deal about that part of his comments.
Because he's a doddering old, bought-and-paid-for Republican.
If a doddering old, bought-and-paid-for Democrat *cough*Ted Kennedy*cough* had said the same thing, you'd have heard some background sniggering and Vint Cerf would have flown to Massachusetts spending a week trying to explain it to him.
I've been stopped for a broken tail light in my country, and the police certainly did not use this as an excuse for searching my car. Is it usual in your country for people to be imprisoned for so long on so little evidence, after so minor a motoring offence?
You missed the part of the article which mentions that the trooper noticed the Bolles trying to hide a wooden box.
That's a Suspicious Action which people do when they're trying to hide something illegal. If he'd have kept his cool, and not tried to hide his box full of pot, the trooper probably wouldn't have had a reason to search the car.
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The OpenVMS tape library software isn't that stupid.
You know, I'm starting to get a really bad feeling about the enforced migration off of VMS...
Perhaps what the GP meant wasn't that recompiling everything isn't difficult so much as slow, tedious, and annoying?
Sure, if you use Gentoo.
Otherwise, you remember that this isn't 2002, and that CPUs are fast enough and the kernel does a good enough job at scheduling the CPU that a kernel build only affects you if you're trying to watch a movie using the nv or vesa driver. Otherwise, you kick off the build and go to sleep, eat dinner, watch some TV, etc, etc, etc.
???? Please clarify.
You just gave me an intersting idea. Algae farms have a problem that they aren't very productive without an external CO2 source. What if we used this device to produce energy, then pumped the remaining CO2 into an algae farm to produce even more energy.I'm not too sure about all the math behind it (I'll look into the numbers after I hit submit) so it may not be efficient at all but it just seems so obvious. I'm sure it must have been done before: ferment corn or something then pump the CO2 into an algae farm. Burn ethanol and make biodisel.
Sorry to bust your bubble, but it's already been thought of, many times.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12834398/
That's why I dread the planned migration to Linux & Oracle RAC.
For 7 years, Linux has been the only OS on my home PC, and OpenVMS is behind the times, but it's straightforward, religiously consistent across utilities and Just Works. Backup files properly and simply get restored from tape, database backups properly and simply get restored from tape, when there's a hardware crash and the machine is finally brought back to life, the 100 dead transactions roll back without a worry. The HPUX+Oracle DR test bombed because some obscure bit of software didn't get installed properly, but the Rdb/VMS DR test finished ahead of schedule.
Python? http://ipython.scipy.org/
Not if you've got pot-loads of data.
read back the tape and verify it against the current contents of the drives.
And if the underlying data has changed?
It really isn't hard to verify your backup---at least it shouldn't be.
Hard? No. Expensive? Very possibly. (We regularly "test" database backups by restoring them to the QA system, and yearly do a DR of one of the systems.)
Also, the systems that we use (Rdb/VMS and OpenVMS BACKUP) have options to read every block on the tape, checking that they can be read and that it's reasonable.
I've been in the business 19 years, 16 using OpenVMS. It must be that I've been spoiled by expensive, high-quality hardware & software that actually works and does what it says it does.
Dump the contents of the tape.
That's operator/management error, and has nothing to do with whether the backup s/w wrote erroneous crap into the log file.
So time to get a new hard disk and restore the backup. EVERY backup set was corrupt. It turned out that for a few weeks, the Disk Doctor had come up with a series of warnings of disk errors. The staff had just clicked ignore.
That's user stupidity, not log file lying.
It is also a very good practice to test the recovery of the backups on a regular basis. Just because the logs say that the backups ran successfully does not necessarily mean that the restore will work.
Sure, if you have the capacity.
And don't reply "disks are cheap", because there's more to a disk subsystem than buying a few 500GB drives from NewEgg.
You pony up the $300,000 (Large Systems cost a heck of a lot more than Windows servers) for a QA system and I'd leap at the chance to test the backups and procedures.
If the logs are lying to you, then that's a prime indication that you're using the wrong software.
Yes, actually, they are good American names.
For standard usage, you are correct.
Maildir-based IMAP servers are all that I can think of which would really benefit from tail packing, although there will also obviously be some custom apps that need or make use of millions of small files.
One word: Vista.
Since Dell is such a large customer, that would materially & negatively affect MSFT's bottom line.
Humility, for one, is a virtue, not a sin.
Unless, of course, you are proud of your humility.
Which is pride, and therefore a sin.
We've been doing astrophysics for, what, 100 years?
How much hubris do these people have to be extremely confident that they well understand something that they can't even directly study?
Because he's a doddering old, bought-and-paid-for Republican.
If a doddering old, bought-and-paid-for Democrat *cough*Ted Kennedy*cough* had said the same thing, you'd have heard some background sniggering and Vint Cerf would have flown to Massachusetts spending a week trying to explain it to him.
It would have been faster to Google for "MILF" than to write that comment in
You missed the part of the article which mentions that the trooper noticed the Bolles trying to hide a wooden box.
That's a Suspicious Action which people do when they're trying to hide something illegal. If he'd have kept his cool, and not tried to hide his box full of pot, the trooper probably wouldn't have had a reason to search the car.
This is just a return to the time when IBM wouldn't sell you hardware, only lease it along with a hefty support contract.