Bruce Momjian wrote:
Stuart Bishop wrote:
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Arnaud Lesauvage wrote:
Hi list !
I have a small enterprise network (~15 workstations, 1 server), all
running windows OSes. Most of our work is done on a PostgreSQL DB (on
the windows server).
I am the only IT here, and my boss asked me to find a way to have the
database always online, without my intervention.
Last time I went on vacation, the server crashed and no one was able to
repair it.
Then your boss needs to ante up for a support contract. Replication
won't fix the problem you describe above. The problem you describe above
is lack of planning and resources.
You can find support contracts for reasonable rates from
Command Prompt (us) http://www.commandprompt.com/
Pervasive (them) http://www.pervasive.com/
Sincerely,
Joshua D. Drake
If your application is normally reliable, I think the best, cheapest and
simplest way of keeping the system online when you are on leave is to give
your work the phone number of a company offering PostgreSQL support
services. I would avoid adding the extra complexity and additional support
and maintenance burdens unless you really need it - can work afford to be
without the system for a day if it crashes? And do you expect it to happen
infrequently enough that the outages will not be a problem? The advantage of
having a human available to restore functionality is that they will be able
to deal with the situations you haven't thought of, whereas an automated
solution will likely only deal with the situations you have thought of as
well as making the system more complex, thus creating more things that could
go wrong.
Right. There was a great 1998 article in the Atlantic Monthly about the
Valujet crash:
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/98mar/valujet1.htm
Unfortunately that requires a subscription so I pulled a relivant
paragraph:
http://candle.pha.pa.us/main/valujet
The issue is that reducing risk can increase it, as seen with Valujet,
Three Mile Island, and Chernobyl.
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