Data is there all around us, and when it comes to enterprise database administration, proper upkeep and availability of data are important. Data failure or loss may become a very annoying situation to both the enterprise users and the customers interacting with the business applications. So, enterprise database administrators need to know about the major causes of a database failure and ways of data recovery.
Before moving on to the recovery, it is important to know about the potential causes of a database failure and the process of data backup. If you have backed up your data stores regularly, then if a disaster occurs, you can easily recover the data from these backup stores. Let us evaluate some common use cases of a database failure and the reasons for the same.
Cases of Database Failures
Database failure is the least welcoming thing a database administrator wants to hear about. The entire livelihood of modern-day business enterprises relies purely on databases, which keep their systems up and running always. However, it is possible to have different types of database failures, and with careful consideration, you can easily tackle these and restore your database.
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A system crash
Database failure may occur with a system crash in which a bug or malware adversely affect the database system or operating system of the database server. This may instantly bring a halt to the processes based on that DB and may further cause loss of content hosted in the volatile storages like system memory, cache, or RAM.
A system crash may occur due to many reasons. Maintaining high-end security measures and maintenance protocols for the database systems, hosts, and the network should also ensure only minimal downtime. If something adverse happens, then the database administrator must build a crisis plan for restoring the database as early as possible.
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Media failure
This is another risky type of database failure. It may happen due to a head crash or due to unreadable media. Such data failures may end up in complete data loss. Such media failures may usually leave the database to be down for many hours until recovery is made. This is very critical in the case of large applications with a high number of transactions. The best approach to avoid such failures is to protect the database with malware protection and strong, frequent backup mechanisms for the data.
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Errors pertaining to application software
When resource limits get exhausted, or any internal logical error or any other key application software factors are compromised, the transactions may fail to complete the database failure. Possibility of application software errors needed to be eradicated during the software coding process itself. It is ideal for application developers to put any controls or mechanisms in place while designing the application architecture.
You may look for a free consultation to identify any types of database failures. Providers like RemoteDBA.com can offer you expert support in analyzing the scope for database failures and implement appropriate measures to counter them.
Data recovery
Even when you have a strong data backup, the data is not fully safe. It is because there can be backup failures, too, in some cases. So, you need to be aware of all these possibilities and be ready for data recovery. Here are some critical things to consider while planning for data recovery. Further, we will evaluate some key do’s and don’ts of data recovery.
Data recovery do’s and don’ts
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Preventing data overwriting
First of all, when there is a data loss occurring like accidental deletion of data, you should immediately stop any action on the storage system. In case you are deleting a file, technically, the file is just converted into “Deleted” status and not getting permanently removed. In other terms, even when you see the file deleted, it invisibly exists. So, you can recover the file. Just make sure that the storage space from where you deleted the file is not occupied by anything else.
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Ensure unrelenting power during data recovery
If you attempt data recovery, then ensuring an uninterrupted power supply during the process is very important. Once the power supply is down, then there could be various adverse consequences than what you can imagine. The level of data corruption due to power failure during recovery may be very difficult to be recovered further.
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Do not recover to the original disk.
While recovering data, you should not try to recover it back to the original disk. There is a possibility that the original data may be covered. It is best to save it or install it on another disk for data recovery.
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Do not format or scan the disk
When system failures or disk failures occur, you may be seeing some suggestions to fix the disk or scan it. Sometimes, it may be like whether you want to format the disk to gain access to it. But do not resort to any of these proposals. There is a chance that the data you are trying to restore may get overwritten in this process, which will be permanently lost.
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Use trustable data recovery software
Data recovery is not an easy affair. You need to be very careful and diligent while running data recovery processes. It needs relevant knowledge and so always try to resort to expert help while executing data recovery. This diligence needs to be shown while choosing any software also to facilitate the recovery process. If you tend to make even any smallest mistake in the recovery process, your data may be permanently lost. So, be cautious about choosing the software for recovery and while taking the assistance of expert consultants to attempt data recovery.
As you know, the primary causes of a database failure and the essentials to consider while making data recovery, it is important to devise a foolproof plan for your enterprise database management, backup, and recovery process. Consistently or data and security of data stores are two fundamental aspects of enterprise database management.