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Cloud is nice if it works. Web hosting is nice if you pay for it. In history timeline, future archaeologists will probably see almost nothing, some books… as w

by sixtyj 2mo ago

Cloud is nice if it works. Web hosting is nice if you pay for it. In history timeline, future archaeologists will probably see almost nothing, some books… as we are used to past centuries. But clouds, servers… gone. BTW don’t use SSD for archiving.

rbanffy 2mo ago
Never keep your data and your backups in the same place. That’s true for in-office servers, data-centres and cloud. If you must use cloud, use two different providers for your own services and backups. Also, have a disaster recovery plan ready, and exercise it regularly.
- sixtyj 2mo ago
  Maybe I am in echo chamber, but none I know exercised recovery plan… ;) except of power plants and othe critical infrastructures, and maybe large enterprises. Others imho use 3–2-1 approach but haven’t tried to recover data.
  - rbanffy 2mo ago
    I am happy to say I have a different experience, but I’m in a different echo chamber, and have been in very regulated spaces where DORA is unforgiving. Ideally, for a non-profit, you want a hands-off process as much as you can. If you need to, backup to whatever your cloud provider has for S3 buckets, on a different account.
- 3RTB297 2mo ago
  It really can't be understated how many non-profits operate on a shoestring budget and over-extend that few staff they can afford as a standard operating procedure, and have very low technical skill among everyone as they're mission-focused with what little resources they have. I've worked with and for a couple non-profits where IT help was someone's spouse or kid or brother willing to help out. Often I've been the spouse. Often a shared Google drive filled with poorly managed PII is the solution that works well enough...until something bad happens.
  - rbanffy 2mo ago
    I know. I would expect a very hands-off backup process (for files it’d work better - it’s easy to set up file backups from a OneDrive to a cloud backup service), and, if the recovery is easy and obvious enough, the need to exercise it falls by a lot. $500 also buys you 20+TB of local storage. It’s not cheap, and many non-profits might struggle with that, but it’s also a way to ensure that even if the world ends, the data is somewhere.
dgellow 2mo ago
As a society we actually generate a lots of books. Future generations wouldn’t be missing too much without the internet I think. Also, not everything is worth preserving. Easily 90% of Reddit is complete garbage
- sixtyj 2mo ago
  Sure 90% of internet is foam of days.
- inigyou 2mo ago
  That was in 2018. I'd upgrade it now to 99.99%.
  - Anamon 1mo ago
    That may be true for the relative amount, but it doesn't negate the assumption that since at least around the turn of the millennium, a lot of our knowledge, culture, and communication happened purely digitally and is at severe risk of being lost. The thought that nobody apart from one person considered it worthwhile to archive the public web (or at least did something about it) still seems crazy to me. Also, keep in mind that humans are historically very bad at predicting what of their times might be of interest to future generations. As a representation of the times, even some slop content has its place.

by sixtyj 2mo ago

rbanffy 2mo ago

Never keep your data and your backups in the same place. That’s true for in-office servers, data-centres and cloud. If you must use cloud, use two different providers for your own services and backups. Also, have a disaster recovery plan ready, and exercise it regularly.

sixtyj 2mo ago
Maybe I am in echo chamber, but none I know exercised recovery plan… ;) except of power plants and othe critical infrastructures, and maybe large enterprises. Others imho use 3–2-1 approach but haven’t tried to recover data.
- rbanffy 2mo ago
  I am happy to say I have a different experience, but I’m in a different echo chamber, and have been in very regulated spaces where DORA is unforgiving. Ideally, for a non-profit, you want a hands-off process as much as you can. If you need to, backup to whatever your cloud provider has for S3 buckets, on a different account.
3RTB297 2mo ago
It really can't be understated how many non-profits operate on a shoestring budget and over-extend that few staff they can afford as a standard operating procedure, and have very low technical skill among everyone as they're mission-focused with what little resources they have. I've worked with and for a couple non-profits where IT help was someone's spouse or kid or brother willing to help out. Often I've been the spouse. Often a shared Google drive filled with poorly managed PII is the solution that works well enough...until something bad happens.
- rbanffy 2mo ago
  I know. I would expect a very hands-off backup process (for files it’d work better - it’s easy to set up file backups from a OneDrive to a cloud backup service), and, if the recovery is easy and obvious enough, the need to exercise it falls by a lot. $500 also buys you 20+TB of local storage. It’s not cheap, and many non-profits might struggle with that, but it’s also a way to ensure that even if the world ends, the data is somewhere.

dgellow 2mo ago

As a society we actually generate a lots of books. Future generations wouldn’t be missing too much without the internet I think. Also, not everything is worth preserving. Easily 90% of Reddit is complete garbage

sixtyj 2mo ago
Sure 90% of internet is foam of days.
inigyou 2mo ago
That was in 2018. I'd upgrade it now to 99.99%.
- Anamon 1mo ago
  That may be true for the relative amount, but it doesn't negate the assumption that since at least around the turn of the millennium, a lot of our knowledge, culture, and communication happened purely digitally and is at severe risk of being lost. The thought that nobody apart from one person considered it worthwhile to archive the public web (or at least did something about it) still seems crazy to me. Also, keep in mind that humans are historically very bad at predicting what of their times might be of interest to future generations. As a representation of the times, even some slop content has its place.