GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum - View Single Post - server experts

raymor · 03-14-2012, 08:23 AM

Everything you've mentioned sounds questionable.

I don't see why he'd want to replicate the database on the same server. He may have a good reason, but that's not normal and you didn't post a reason. Since it's already replicated to server #2, and hot backup tools exist, backing up from the third replucate isn't a good answer, not when you're talking about DOUBLING the writes. My GUESS is that he may be trying to spread the load across both drives way. If so, that's one of the most naive methods I've seen.

Is there any reason to say the database on this drive, the site on this other? You'd get better performance and far better flexibility with either RAID or LVM, so either process can use both drives as needed. When the DB is busy, it has both drives, when site has several large downloads, it can use both. When the site grows, it can use space on both, or adding another to the pool is simple.

As you said, replication is NOT backup. With a backup, when he makes a mistake and messed up the database by forgetting the WHERE clause, he can restore it from that morning's backup. If a hacker wipes it out, just restore. Replication, like RAID, is real time - you just have two copies of garbage.

Your backup is protects you when there is a fire, an FBI raid, etc. You can use the backup to get running with another host. That's one reason the NAS provided by your host isn't a proper backup. If they go like Alphared, Acronoc, etc., or have a fire like The Planet, you're out of business. Thousands of servers were taken out by the fire at The Planet. What good does that NAS do you when it melts in the same fire that melts your server? Proper backups, backups for your business, must be:
Automatic (or they won't be done regularly)
Tested (recently one host pointed us to the "backups" - they had stopped working 20 months prior.)
Offsite (fire, FBI, host doesn't pay $50,000 bandwidth bill, etc.)
Rotated (a midnight backup is worthless is you got hacked at 11:45)
QUICKLY restorable (tape backups can take days to get a single file)

Those are the key attributes of proper backups, the kind that keep you from going out of business when shit happens, and shit WILL eventually happen. They are the essential characteristics to measure a backup proposal by and compare to an enterprise grade system such as Clonebox.

03-14-2012, 08:23 AM
raymor Confirmed User Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 3,745	Everything you've mentioned sounds questionable. I don't see why he'd want to replicate the database on the same server. He may have a good reason, but that's not normal and you didn't post a reason. Since it's already replicated to server #2, and hot backup tools exist, backing up from the third replucate isn't a good answer, not when you're talking about DOUBLING the writes. My GUESS is that he may be trying to spread the load across both drives way. If so, that's one of the most naive methods I've seen. Is there any reason to say the database on this drive, the site on this other? You'd get better performance and far better flexibility with either RAID or LVM, so either process can use both drives as needed. When the DB is busy, it has both drives, when site has several large downloads, it can use both. When the site grows, it can use space on both, or adding another to the pool is simple. As you said, replication is NOT backup. With a backup, when he makes a mistake and messed up the database by forgetting the WHERE clause, he can restore it from that morning's backup. If a hacker wipes it out, just restore. Replication, like RAID, is real time - you just have two copies of garbage. Your backup is protects you when there is a fire, an FBI raid, etc. You can use the backup to get running with another host. That's one reason the NAS provided by your host isn't a proper backup. If they go like Alphared, Acronoc, etc., or have a fire like The Planet, you're out of business. Thousands of servers were taken out by the fire at The Planet. What good does that NAS do you when it melts in the same fire that melts your server? Proper backups, backups for your business, must be: Automatic (or they won't be done regularly) Tested (recently one host pointed us to the "backups" - they had stopped working 20 months prior.) Offsite (fire, FBI, host doesn't pay $50,000 bandwidth bill, etc.) Rotated (a midnight backup is worthless is you got hacked at 11:45) QUICKLY restorable (tape backups can take days to get a single file) Those are the key attributes of proper backups, the kind that keep you from going out of business when shit happens, and shit WILL eventually happen. They are the essential characteristics to measure a backup proposal by and compare to an enterprise grade system such as Clonebox. Last edited by raymor; 03-14-2012 at 08:26 AM..