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Yup, this is bizarre. A top use case for needing a backup is when you accidentally delete the original. You need to be able to delete backups too, of course, b
by crazygringo 6mo ago
Yup, this is bizarre. A top use case for needing a backup is when you accidentally delete the original.
You need to be able to delete backups too, of course, but that absolutely needs to be a separate API call. There should never be any single API call that deletes both a volume and its backups simultaneously. Backups should be a first line of defense against user error as well.
And I checked the docs -- they're called backups and can be set to run at a regular interval [1]. They're not one-off "snapshots" or anything.
[1] https://docs.railway.com/volumes/backups https://docs.railway.com/volumes/backups
- smj-edison 6mo agoPlus backups should be time gated, where the software physically blocks you from removing backups for X days.
- dpark 6mo agoThis is one of those things that seems like a good idea on the surface but is rife with problems. Does the company hosting the backups do it for free? Or do they charge their customers to keep holding onto backups they no longer want? Is “my DB company refuses to delete the data” a valid legal response to a copyright enforcement or a GDPR demand?
- CWwdcdk7h 6mo agoI have no idea about the former but yes, it is a valid excuse for latter. Ok, maybe not that specific one but in general backups are going to be excluded, especially those stored on tapes or WORM media - no one expects company to remove offending record here and now, as long it is inaccessible for all practical purposes.
- PoignardAzur 6mo agoThe GDPR says: > The data subject shall have the right to obtain from the controller the erasure of personal data concerning him or her without undue delay and the controller shall have the obligation to erase personal data without undue delay "Undue delay" is subjective, but "we'll keep backups of your data for a week in case you change your mind" seems easy to justify in court.
- jiggawatts 6mo agoAzure SQL Database did this too for a while until enough companies complained about losing their data and their backups with a single action.
- AtNightWeCode 6mo agoWith the difference that best practices in Azure SQL have always been to store your own copies of backups and run the database in some HA/GEO-redundancy mode that blocks deletion.
- jiggawatts 6mo agoWhich sounds great, except that Azure SQL -- like many cloud services -- was carefully designed to be a tarpit into which you can import your data, but can't get your data back out. For example, for at least a few years its "external" backups were simply the bacpac export function, which wasn't transactionally consistent and had all sorts of fun limits.
- AtNightWeCode 6mo agoYeah, still some fun limits in Azure SQL. Like you can't take the databases offline or pause the service.
- jiggawatts 6mo agoNobody ever voluntarily adds a stop valve to the firehose of cash.
- pbronez 6mo agoRailway also doesn't let you download the "backups" out of their platform. You can restore the backup to that instance of that service and basically nowhere else.