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    <tt>M</tt><tt>any </tt><tt>years ago I worked for a company that h</tt><tt>ad
      a tape backup system they sold with their computers.</tt><tt><br>
    </tt><tt><br>
      Due to a firmware screw up for few</tt><tt> months the backup</tt><tt>
      tapes wer</tt><tt>e </tt><tt>written blank and then</tt><tt> when
      they were verified they verified as good.</tt><tt><br>
    </tt><tt><br>
      Fortunately</tt><tt> none of the </tt><tt>banks that were </tt><tt>using
      the systems had a problem in that few months.</tt><tt><br>
    </tt><tt><br>
      In this case  </tt><tt>Schrödinger's backup was dead,alive and
      invisible.<br>
      <br>
      Regular testing is important.<br>
    </tt>
    <p><br>
    </p>
    <br>
    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 12/23/2016 03:36 PM, Mauro Souza
      wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote
cite="mid:CAEZ_B6OfwchcpvahZy3u623P1F0YvKqrXwJ_cTcdTpsf3uVhwQ@mail.gmail.com"
      type="cite">
      <div dir="auto">If you don't test, you will have a Schrödinger's
        backup: both valid and invalid at the same time, until you try a
        restore. </div>
      <div class="gmail_extra"><br>
        <div class="gmail_quote">On Dec 23, 2016 6:20 PM, "Alvin Starr
          via talk" <<a moz-do-not-send="true"
            href="mailto:talk@gtalug.org">talk@gtalug.org</a>> wrote:<br
            type="attribution">
          <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
            .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
            <div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"> On 12/23/2016 02:59
              PM, Stephen via talk wrote:<br>
              <blockquote type="cite">With the discussion about backups,
                I would like to raise a question I have had for some
                time. <br>
                <br>
                Having backups does no good if you cannot restore them.
                Files are rather easy to test. <br>
                <br>
                But how do you test restoring a database? <br>
                <br>
                I back it up with the usual tool. I have the docs to do
                the restore. <br>
                <br>
                But how to test to make sure that restoring works,
                without clobbering the active database? <br>
                <br>
                Thank you <br>
                <br>
              </blockquote>
              you can recover on a different machine or start a second
              instance of the database on different ports.<br>
              This is the kind of place where virtualization or
              containerization comes in handy.<br>
              <br>
              Testing your backups is always a good idea.<br>
              <br>
              <pre class="m_24455171688997003moz-signature" cols="72">-- 
Alvin Starr                   ||   voice: <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="tel:%28905%29%20513-7688" value="+19055137688" target="_blank">(905)513-7688</a>
Netvel Inc.                   ||   Cell:  <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="tel:%28416%29%20806-0133" value="+14168060133" target="_blank">(416)806-0133</a>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="m_24455171688997003moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:alvin@netvel.net" target="_blank">alvin@netvel.net</a>              ||
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            </div>
            <br>
            ---<br>
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              rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://gtalug.org/mailman/<wbr>listinfo/talk</a><br>
            <br>
          </blockquote>
        </div>
      </div>
    </blockquote>
    <br>
    <pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">-- 
Alvin Starr                   ||   voice: (905)513-7688
Netvel Inc.                   ||   Cell:  (416)806-0133
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:alvin@netvel.net">alvin@netvel.net</a>              ||
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