Re: all time worst question I have been ever asked as a DBA

Me: So, tell me about your backup strategy. Them: We do exports every day.
Me: And your recovery strategy?
Them: We plan to restore the export file and then apply the archived redo logs to get a full, point-in-time recovery.
Me: (cough) and you have tested this?
Them: Yes, we have tested this. We test it every six months. Me: Successfully?
Them: Yes.

Them was out of a job in a day or two after I explained to management (after double checking that them was really explaining what they were doing was what they were doing) the lies they were being fed. It was during the tech boom when anyone could get a job as a DBA. It's really amazing to me that we didn't see more serious data loss episodes during those days than what we did see.

RF

 Robert G. Freeman
Master Principal Consultant, Oracle Corporation, Oracle ACE Author of various books on RMAN, New Features and this shorter signature line. Blog: http://robertgfreeman.blogspot.com

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