Re: Urgent, please: what are my options???

  • From: Guillermo Alan Bort <cicciuxdba@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: Robert Freeman <robertgfreeman@xxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2009 22:17:41 -0200

It depends on the terms of your contract. If you are a dedicated DBA,
whose only responsability is that database, or a consultant hired to
perform the recovery, then you need to do all you can to save the
situation. If you are a leveraged dba, who manages over 500 Databases,
then you can't justify letting other databases have problems because
you invest all your time trying to solve a problem for a database that
you didn't support in the first place.

In outsourced dba services, at least the ones I've worked for, there
were certain standards the database needed to meet in order to be
accepted in the service. Otherwise, it was in an 'unsupported' status
that didn't have SLA and was a 'best-effort' situation.

Mind you, I never actually let the CT burn, and I had to perform some
really interesting juggling a pull a few all-nighters to get databases
in such situations back up and running, but that IS what they paid me
for, and it WAS considered overtime AND project, so in turn it was
about 200% my regular hour. And database was a lousy SAP system that
didn't actually do much (just payroll and stuff, that could be
recovered from hard copies, and some historical data might have been
lost).

On the other hand, if losing a database means that CT cannot continue
with business, then they should've heeded the warnings of the DBA
*before* the problem occured, providing the DBA actually warned them.

Oh, and I'm taking 1Z0-043 in a few days, and as far as I remember,
there is no topic on 'Actually Caring About CT'... in fact, I think
you'll find that people at Oracle Support usually care more for
procedures than actually helping CT.

Sorry for the OT and flaming properties of this mail.

In the end, I wouldn't let a CT burn (even though I might want to and
actually say so), but I would charge them extra *if* I had warned
them.

hth
Alan Bort
Oracle Certified Associate



On Sat, Jan 24, 2009 at 4:37 PM, Robert Freeman
<robertgfreeman@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I agree with you 100%, you can't let the customer burn.
>
>  Robert G. Freeman
> Author:
> OCP: Oracle Database 11g Administrator Certified Professional Study Guide 
> (Sybex)
> Oracle Database 11g New Features (Oracle Press)
> Portable DBA: Oracle  (Oracle Press)
> Oracle Database 10g New Features (Oracle Press)
> Oracle9i RMAN Backup and Recovery (Oracle Press)
> Oracle9i New Features (Oracle Press)
> Other various titles out of print now...
> Blog: http://robertgfreeman.blogspot.com
> The LDS Church is looking for DBA's. You do have to be a Church member in
> good standing. A lot of kind people write me, concerned I may be breaking
> the law by saying you have to be a Church member. It's legal I promise! :-)
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Howard Latham <howard.latham@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: Guillermo Alan Bort <cicciuxdba@xxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: robertgfreeman@xxxxxxxxx; eugene.pipko@xxxxxxxxxxxx; 
> "oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2009 11:00:55 AM
> Subject: Re: Urgent, please: what are my options???
>
> You cant just say let the Customer Burn
>
> It might mean the end of their business and their ability to pay you!
>
> If I get a customer with a trashed DB I will try EVERYTHING to help.
>
> Telling them their Backup Strategy of lack of one is Bad Practice can be saved
> until later.
>
> There are several DB unload utilities that can at least recover SOME data.
>
> This could be enough to save them.
>
> Also opening DB with parameters mentioned above can also save the day. 
> Sometimes
> the DB is fine - though Oracle won't support it.
>
> Howard Latham
>
>
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