Lucky backup might save 100 days of data for InfluxData's GCP Belgium users Luck, rather than judgement, has given InfluxDB users some hope of restoring 100 days of data after the vendor decided to shut down its Belgium Google Cloud region. Customers depending on the database in Australia are not so fortunate. Earlier this week, InfluxData, the company behind the open source time series database, …
True. But if the cloud provider is acting as your DBA they should also have backups, especially when they know they're about to turn off the service. Your backup is against the cloud provider having a bad accident and their routine backups be the same. But natural caution should indicate that a final archive should be taken just in case. But if they don't grok "just in case" and a backup should be available only by accident is beyond belief makes you wonder just what sort of background they have in managing data.
Anyone stupid enough to upload the entire corporate site on the cloud should consider they will be the first to fall out of a locked window if anything goes wrong.
This proves things go wrong and that 99.999999% uptime is just a catchphrase and a meaningless pretty graph.
Three comments in and there's already an "anyone stupid enough" comment to blame the victims here.
Customers have expectations of their service providers, that's that.
And anyone, anyone stupid enough to NOT conduct a scream test when discontinuing a service such as this is the real idiot. I've been in IT for 22 years and I learnt about the scream test when I turned off my first server for decommissioning just six months in to my first job.
"I've been in IT for 22 years and I learnt about the scream test when I turned off my first server for decommissioning just six months in to my first job."
You are forgetting the implied incentive for 'Clarity of thought' that states that 'in-house' the 'customer' is your 'employer' and the 'scream test' is as much for your safety of 'employment' as it is for the safety of the 'data/business'.
Any 3rd party service is acting at all times for 'their' advantage NOT yours, such aformentioned 'Clarity of thought', if any, is focused on their business objectives NOT yours !!!
The driver for the shutting down of these services was 'Money/profit' of the 3rd party service provider not your 'data safety' or convenience etc.
As always, if you don't have ultimate control of the person(s) wrangling your data then your data is NOT even close to 100% safe and the incentive to 'try' to aspire to this, for 'you', is somewhat reduced.
Regardless of contracts / SLA's, you must have other means of ensuring your data safety, such as backup to other locations/service providers/etc.
When there is a problem such as advised in this article the 'buck stops at your desk' ...... no-one elses !!!
Promised SLA's and other marketing 'Fairy Dust' count for nothing when your data has gone to the great 'BitBucket' in the sky !!!
If I was a customer of theirs in the unaffected areas, I would be making it priority #1 to find another provider and migrate off their service as quickly as possible. I expect to see an article on the Register by this time next year that they have gone under due to massive revenue loss in the aftermath of this stupidity.
As Terry Pratchett's Lady Sibyl Vimes (nee Ramkin) family motto would have it -
"QUIS HABEMUS SERVAMUS" (What We Have, We Keep)
If you want to keep your data make certain that have it entirely under your control and not in the clutches any of CMOT Dibbler's contemporary spawn.
(Of course the preceding generations of the Ramkins would have to be the worst nightmare of the wokery ;)
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