We had a customer lose their entire database this week. The server failed in some manner and they tried to recover the database from the disks, but they could not bring the database online. They engaged our group and we tried everything we could to no avail. Until now, the most data loss I had seen was when a customer had to restore a two year old backup. In this case, the customer had no backup.
Unfortunately, this means I have a new story for my “When Bad Things Happen to Good Databases” session, which I present at our user conference. We first did this session last year (props to my manager for the title) and the idea is to share real stories from the field with other customers so they realize that these things can happen to them. We cover maintenance and monitoring tasks, and I start with backups because I think they’re the most important thing you can do (with CHECKDB second). Haven’t updated stats? We can help you fix that. Have fragmentation all over the database? Yep, we can help you fix that, too. Run out space on the drive where the transaction log is, and you’re not doing log backups? Well, you may have some downtime but we can work with you to fix that. Need to restore to a backup but you don’t have one? Anywhere? I got nothin’.
For anyone that manages a database, I implore you…make sure you know when your backup jobs are scheduled to run, and check to make sure they are really running (with no errors). Maybe take a couple minutes today to verify where the backups are copied and where they are stored off site. And just for kicks, restore a backup. Pick any database, just one, and restore a backup. Please.
