Windows' market position says all anyone will ever need to hear about big business' trust in it, so your point there is completely without merit.
There are also a great deal of hospital systems run on Windows, so your entire "big business or life depends on it" argument is gone.
Sound on Linux is STILL a giant pain in the ass. Fonts in X STILL look like shit. X in general is STILL a giant architectural nightmare.
When I start seeing anything that isn't complete and utter Windows dominance in the places where time is money, then we'll talk.
Despite the OS or DB used, any DB should be able to recover after host failure if the programer does his job right. Unfortunately solid recovery code only seems to be used in the financial sector these days. IMHO it is just laziness.
...Quote..I had to order some parts from Farnell which I really needed the next day. Unfortunately Farnell (for the first time) forgot to put the parts in the envelope so I got nothing. Some parts worth 20 cents suddenly became a potential deal breaker. Fortunately these parts where generic so I could buy them in a local shop.
......
In your Farnell example, you could have ordered multiple parts from multiple suppliers to be delivered to multiple locations (home and work), if it was so critical to pay for next-day from Farnell. But as always, it comes down to cost vs. benefit.
In your Farnell example, you could have ordered multiple parts from multiple suppliers to be delivered to multiple locations (home and work), if it was so critical to pay for next-day from Farnell. But as always, it comes down to cost vs. benefit.
Windows' market position says all anyone will ever need to hear about big business' trust in it, so your point there is completely without merit.
Your opinion, no more valid than mine. On market dominance: Windows Server is actually in the minority worldwide. You might want to check that. On the desktop -- yes, no competition. On servers? No, sorry, you'd be wrong.
Ask Google, Facebook, Yahoo, LinkedIn... hell, pick any large-scale service provider anywhere in the world what they're running and they'll tell you it's Linux. Dave's server is running on Linux, as are most of the virtual hosts in the world, whether they're running on Xensource, Xen, KVM or VMWare. Take a look at the Top500 list sometime. See what dominates it. Technical merit *is* the reason, and the list grows day by day. IBM and HP rely on it internally, and IBM's Z196 midrange is designed to run it.QuoteThere are also a great deal of hospital systems run on Windows, so your entire "big business or life depends on it" argument is gone.
My wife works for one of the largest hospital systems around, and I can tell you, she (and the rest of the IT team supporting them) wishes they could get rid of Windows. The problem is the software, not the OS; the software hasn't been ported to Linux on the whole. It's just a matter of time... it will be. NASA, ESA and in fact most of the rest of the space industry went to Linux because they couldn't take the downtime anymore.QuoteSound on Linux is STILL a giant pain in the ass. Fonts in X STILL look like shit. X in general is STILL a giant architectural nightmare.
When you can show me what *servers* require sound, or for that matter even a GUI, I'll be happy to have that conversation with you. In the mean time, I can only presume you're talking about desktops, and that's just not where the effort has been invested.
Granted, I wish some additional effort were invested there.QuoteWhen I start seeing anything that isn't complete and utter Windows dominance in the places where time is money, then we'll talk.
NASDAQ, NYSE, DAX, FTSE... need I go on?
I think you really need to catch up. Really not trying to tweak you here, but... honestly, you need to spend a little time and catch up to events.
Despite the OS or DB used, any DB should be able to recover after host failure if the programer does his job right. Unfortunately solid recovery code only seems to be used in the financial sector these days. IMHO it is just laziness.
Actually, it's already there, and it's easy enough to implement. A stock MySQL install today is robust enough, as long as you have a battery-backed cache on your controller and UPS monitoring. All of our customers are set up this way, and none has ever had a database crash because of a power outage, or for that matter even a power supply failure (which a UPS can't help you with.)
Virtually every HP server sold is sold with a battery-backed cache, for example; it's nothing more than a tiny rechargeable cell pack that mounts inside the server and is connected to the controller. Takes about three hours to fully charge, and it's good to keep the cache valid for about 36 hours in a power failure.
Heck, even Microsoft SQL Server will survive that as long as it's on similar hardware and similarly configured.
Yes MySQL is a proper DB that has the ability to recover from a crash if the programer codes the ability to do so. My comment was in no way a MySQL bash. It was a disappointment that the forums code was not able to recover faster, and in-still more confidence in the user.
What are you talking about? The MyISAM storage engine is not robust or ACID compliant, but is the only one with properly implemented full text search (even today). How is this the programmer's or even the forum software's fault?
Banks, Telcos and Insurance companies can expect and demand continuous availability (barring natural disasters) year in year out.Those kind of businesses usually have SLAs in place with severe penalties so their websites are run on different hardware and seperate UPS with dual power feeds. SLAs come with a price tag though so many hosting providers don't provide them by default. Although the hosting provider I've been using for over a decade offers a minimal SLA of 99.8% (less than 18 hours down time per year) or money back on all their hosting services. Even the ones they charge €6 per month for.
Yes MySQL is a proper DB that has the ability to recover from a crash if the programer codes the ability to do so. My comment was in no way a MySQL bash. It was a disappointment that the forums code was not able to recover faster, and in-still more confidence in the user.What are you talking about? The MyISAM storage engine is not robust or ACID compliant, but is the only one with properly implemented full text search (even today). How is this the programmer's or even the forum software's fault? How is the programmer supposed to write robust code if the storage engine does not support transactions and makes START TRANSACTION a non-op?
ISAM is an accessor option which the programer selected. Full stop.
quit changing your argument. i started with end-user systems, you brought up architecture and business. i address architecture and business, you switch to servers. pick a damn point and stick to it.
I have noticed that most people are talking about UPS to avoid the problem, instead of recovering from such issues.
I guess it is a preference.
Apparently most of the good coding practices used there are not applicable here, which I find disappointing.
Yes these clusters are a mixture of UNIXies and Linux. No Windows because it is not capable of the required security, not because of the DB options.
Good coding only takes you so far, as important as it is. If power loss is imminent, you need to shut down the DB to preserve integrity -- no matter whose DB you're using.
Even Windows can be secured. Unplug the network and lock the door.
IMO this reason is faulty since those involved with Linux know that it is not like windows, you can just move it to new hardware and short of having to adjust a few things, like fstab entries, or ethernet configuration, it will work.
IMO this reason is faulty since those involved with Linux know that it is not like windows, you can just move it to new hardware and short of having to adjust a few things, like fstab entries, or ethernet configuration, it will work.
Not surprising how many people in the industry, are not really knowledgeable "in" the industry.
knowing what they're doing
If the datacenter hadn't wired their stuff wrong
IMO this reason is faulty since those involved with Linux know that it is not like windows, you can just move it to new hardware and short of having to adjust a few things, like fstab entries, or ethernet configuration, it will work.
Not surprising how many people in the industry, are not really knowledgeable "in" the industry.
Right, as a former sysadmin I certainly see where they are coming from. They have lots and lots of customers and they can't count on any given customer knowing what they're doing, even if it's clear that they do. If the datacenter hadn't wired their stuff wrong, that is to say "if there was never going to be an unexpected loss of power to the server hardware," the provider's failover plan would be sound. It also usually happens that the hardware a VM runs in is not the same hardware the VM's disk resides in, and often block-level de-duplication or other optimizations are done on the SAN which help out the provider. This is partially why they insist on a virtual machine.
Knowing what you're doing means extensive testing, multiple times, each and every contingency. Clearly something these amateurs forgot to cross off the checklist. As the former admin of hundreds of boxes, this mistake would have gotten me instantly fired in my line of work.
As for backups, I will discuss this with Dave, I should be able to accommodate him with a offsite backup to one of my spare servers in AU, again at no cost.
Edit: A MySQL slave is also being considered.
Agreed! The DC I use in AU (Host Networks) does load testing of their backup system every 3 months, which involves real testing, not dummy load, which is one of the main reasons I chose them for my mission critical infrastructure. A failure of that magnitude would cause heads to roll.