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Why should "check your backups day" apply to only enterprise backup? I've seen it repeated as gospel many times on Hacker News to folks who've lost backups that

Why should "check your backups day" apply to only enterprise backup? I've seen it repeated as gospel many times on Hacker News to folks who've lost backups that it was their own fault for not checking them. My point is we should focus on a software solution to making this more robust, and not blaming people.

cookiecaper 10y ago
I'm not saying it should apply only to enterprise backup, it's just that as you pointed out, the consumer-oriented backup solutions already work pretty reliably, making a "check your backups day" unlikely to matter to the average consumer (nevermind that given daily interaction with the gamut of Google's and Apple's services, consumers frequently "check their backups" in the course of their daily activities). I think easy, good server-level backup software would be great. The problem is that enterprise servers are usually highly customized, part of a large, unique architecture, and contain a lot of proprietary, confidential, and potentially personal, legally protected data. That makes it a lot harder to get a one-size-fits-all backup solution set up, which means that the onus of reliable backups will, of necessity, rest upon the company's administrators. It is very sad when no one checks backups. This bites companies every day and it's usually easy to sympathize, but there's no excuse for it. GitLab needs to perform a serious review of its processes. I've checked out the GitLab job listings that get published on HN Who's Hiring and other places regularly (I'm currently 100% remote with my current employer and like to track other 100% remote employment opportunities). They have a salary calculator/estimator and personally, I was really underwhelmed with the values it would put out. That calculator makes a city price index adjustment from the base salary and contains a statement that says GitLab prefers to hire people who live in less expensive cities. I also remember feeling that their interview process sounded a little overbearing. It may be time for GitLab to consider upping the ante on its recruitment procedures and adding some more experienced people to the ranks.

cookiecaper 10y ago

I'm not saying it should apply only to enterprise backup, it's just that as you pointed out, the consumer-oriented backup solutions already work pretty reliably, making a "check your backups day" unlikely to matter to the average consumer (nevermind that given daily interaction with the gamut of Google's and Apple's services, consumers frequently "check their backups" in the course of their daily activities). I think easy, good server-level backup software would be great. The problem is that enterprise servers are usually highly customized, part of a large, unique architecture, and contain a lot of proprietary, confidential, and potentially personal, legally protected data. That makes it a lot harder to get a one-size-fits-all backup solution set up, which means that the onus of reliable backups will, of necessity, rest upon the company's administrators. It is very sad when no one checks backups. This bites companies every day and it's usually easy to sympathize, but there's no excuse for it. GitLab needs to perform a serious review of its processes. I've checked out the GitLab job listings that get published on HN Who's Hiring and other places regularly (I'm currently 100% remote with my current employer and like to track other 100% remote employment opportunities). They have a salary calculator/estimator and personally, I was really underwhelmed with the values it would put out. That calculator makes a city price index adjustment from the base salary and contains a statement that says GitLab prefers to hire people who live in less expensive cities. I also remember feeling that their interview process sounded a little overbearing. It may be time for GitLab to consider upping the ante on its recruitment procedures and adding some more experienced people to the ranks.